Can I Use Images from Google on My Website?

Usually not. A picture showing up in Google Images doesn't make it free to use. Google is showing you pictures that live on other people's websites, and most of them belong to whoever took them. You can use one if its owner has said yes, either by licensing it or by giving you permission, and the rest is about checking which pictures those are. This is general information about UK copyright, not legal advice.

Can I use pictures I found on Google on my website?

Only the ones whose owner lets you. The government's page on how copyright works says copyright covers original artistic work "including illustration and photography", that the protection is automatic with nothing to apply for, and that it stops other people using the work without permission. So a photo doesn't need a watermark, a copyright symbol or a registration to be protected. If someone took it, it's theirs from the moment they did.

Google says as much on its own help page about finding images you can use and share, which opens by warning that "images might be subject to copyright". Google is the search engine here, not the owner, so it can't give you permission for somebody else's photo.

Where did the picture come from, and can you use it?

Start with where the picture came from, because that decides almost everything else. This is the short version most owners need, worked through for a picture you're thinking of putting on your homepage.

The Maps row catches people out. A picture of your own street, or even your own shopfront, is still somebody else's photo if Google or another person took it. The simple fix is to walk outside and take your own.

Does the Usage rights filter make a picture safe to use?

It helps you find likely candidates, but it doesn't settle the question. In Google Images, the Usage rights filter narrows results to pictures that carry licence information, split into Creative Commons licences and commercial or other licences. Google's help page says Creative Commons pictures are "usually available at no charge to use, but require credit".

The catch is where that label comes from. Google says it filters "based on information provided by the sites that host those images, or the image provider", and tells you to "always confirm an image's license information" with both the licence provider and the site hosting the picture. So a label is somebody's claim about the picture. Click through, read the actual licence, and check it allows use on a business website before you rely on it.

Isn't there an exception for small businesses?

No, not one that fits putting a photo on your business's website. The government's list of exceptions to copyright is narrow. Research and private study have to be non-commercial. Criticism, review and quotation are allowed under what the law calls fair dealing, meaning use that's limited and fair, and they need an acknowledgement. Reporting current events is an exception too, but the page states plainly that a photograph can't be reproduced for that purpose.

Whether a use counts as fair dealing is, in that page's words, a matter of "fact, degree and impression", and one of the things that counts is whether your use takes away from the market for the original. A photo filling the top of your homepage is doing the job the photographer could have been paid for, which is about as far from those exceptions as it gets.

How do I ask for permission to use a photo?

Ask the person who took it, in writing, and keep the reply. Sometimes the photo you want belongs to a supplier, a venue you worked at, or a customer who sent you a picture of the finished job, and a short, specific message usually gets a straight answer. Something like this works:

If they say yes, save the email with a note of which picture it covers. If they don't reply, take that as a no. A customer's photo needs the same care, and if a face is in it, there's a second question about the person in the picture, which our guide to what photos your website actually needs covers.

Where can I get pictures I'm allowed to use?

Your own photos are the safest, and on a small business site they're often the most convincing too, because they show your real work. A phone and a bit of daylight go further than most people expect. After that come pictures with a licence you've read: a Creative Commons image whose conditions you can meet, or a stock photo licensed for business use. Keep a simple note of where each one came from, so you can answer the question if anyone ever asks.

Generated pictures are another option, with their own rules about not passing them off as real work, which our guide to using AI-generated images on your website walks through. And if someone else is building your site, it's fair to ask who owns the photos and words in it, which our guide to who owns your website answers.

If you'd rather see your business on a finished site first, we build your whole website for free, you look round it, and you only pay if you want to keep it. More starting-out questions are answered in our guides to your first website, or you can tell us about your business.

Frequently asked questions

Is it fine if I credit the photographer under the picture?

A credit on its own isn't permission. It's what a Creative Commons licence usually asks for in return for letting you use the picture, but for a photo with no such licence, naming the photographer still means you used their work without asking.

What about pictures from a free stock photo site?

Free stock sites publish their own licence, and that's the thing to read, not the word free in the site's name. Check what it allows for a business website and keep a note of where each picture came from.

My web designer added the photos. Am I covered?

Ask them where each picture came from and whether there's a licence that covers your site. Whoever put it there, it's on your business's website, so it's worth knowing the answer before anyone else asks.

What if I get a letter asking me to pay for a picture on my site?

Don't ignore it, and don't pay straight away either. Take the picture down while you check whether the sender really owns it and whether you had a licence, and if real money is involved, speak to a solicitor before replying.