This post was originally published on February 11, 2016 and has been updated.

Let me repeat, Google Images are not for free use. It is literally just a search engine for any images on the internet. This can land you in a lot of trouble down the road.

When I read this blog post “The $7,500 Blogging Mistake That Every Blogger Needs to Avoid!”, I knew I had to write about the cautionary tale and how using a random google image in your blog can get you sued. It’s not good practice to take and use random images from Google Image for your business’ use. When you Google Image, the search engine is crawling the entire internet for your results. Google doesn’t ask permission for usage.

So you want to know how to avoid this trap? Just don’t do it. Here are some good alternatives.

1. Create your own images. Learn to take your own photos. There is a lot of weekend photography courses out there. If you are only using the photos online on your blog, newer cell phones have great cameras built right in. You might have all the equipment you need already.
2. Hire a photographer or designer. When you hire a professional make sure you own the rights to use the images in the way you would like to. One tip, if you own a blog and have an editorial calendar, you can batch your images with a professional and have the same look across all of them.
3. Images you have licenses for. You can buy licenses for images from stock image websites. Here’s a list of great stock image websites:
   • iStock
   • Getty Images
   • Adobe Stock
   • Envato Elements
4. Creative Commons licensed images. Using an image that has a Creative Commons license is an option. There is a feature on Google Image search for images with a CC license and here’s more detailed instructions. Make sure it’s a genuine license because Google does not check.
   Websites that offer free images for Commercial Use:
   • Pixabay
   • Unsplash
   • Pexels
   • Canva
5. Fair Use images. Fair use allows you to use copyrighted images for the purpose or research, criticism, review, news reporting, education, satire or parody provided that what you do with it is fair. So if you are creating a blog post exploring a brand’s design choices, the images you use would fall under Fair Use. An example would be my post about Tiffany & Co. There are examples of their work in the post and a disclaimer at the foot of the post. I also think it’s good to create links back to the brands website.

If you need help with original custom images for your social media, website or any printed work please contact me.