Adding Images in SEO

When a person owns a website, they should understand how important it is to include images alongside text. It creates value and makes consuming words much more enjoyable. When a person decides to add images to their website, they have three choices -- use stock photos, ask permission to use copyrighted images or create originals.

Do Images Factor In Google's Algorithm?

A question recently appeared on a forum regarding the use of images that they created. They wanted to know if someone used their pictures on another site, would they receive any benefits from Google. Here is a breakdown of the main responses:

Images Have No Link Juice

One person indicated that Google did not rank image ownership into its algorithm. If someone else posted a copy of another website owner's original image on their site, there would be no link juice sent back to the original site where the image was copied from.

Sue for Copyrighted Material

Another individual noted that copyrighted material cannot be used without asking permission. From personal experience, they sued another website owner for using their copyrighted image in a blog post. It wasn't mentioned, but copyrighted material can be used for fair use. This depends on how the copyrighted material is used and how much. Typically, copyrighted material can be used by someone else if it is a parody of the original material.

Stopping Copying of Images

It was also pointed out that there are plug-ins that a person can use to prevent someone else from copying an image. These type of plug-ins would prevent another person from right-clicking and use the "copy" function. They also wrote that it was a good idea to use images that contain watermarks. This may help stop someone from copying an image.

This may be the case of someone not understanding the rules associated with copyright law. Some new website owners don't realize that they cannot copy images from other websites and put them on their own site. If they do this and the original owner finds out, it's most likely that the original owner will ask for the image to be taken down. Typically, the person who copied the image will not realize their fault and remove the image.