Using stock images - will hurt SEO?

[noirKnuit]

Just add some text, flip it, add some filters and upload your image to google to make sure it's unique
But I never bother doing this, no need to over-think it

 

[Purush]

This is a HUGE case of over-thinking.
I've never heard of anyone trying to make unique images

I am not overthinking mate but generally I use stock image hence I wanted to clarify as i come across many time of this.

 

[voxclan]

nonsense! Whoever gave you that seo advice, run away!

 

[Rasi Wilsy]

Just go to photoshop and modify everything.

 

[Purush]

nonsense! Whoever

I shared the source too . In subsequent message

 

[Deleted member 1258334]

A

Are you kidding mate?

Why would I be?

 

[Stuffedegg]

I have had a stock image rank #1 on images. The article it was on, was, and is #2. I've never known it to make a difference.

(Edit: the image was linked to my article. )

 

[Purush]

I've never known it to make a difference.

Still no clear evidence that make any difference . Thanks for your input .

 

[Stuffedegg]

Still no clear evidence that make any difference . Thanks for your input .

You asked for our take on it. You didnt ask for clear evidence.

 

[nSnoopy]

Using stock images can't really hurt your website rankings, by using images you can increase your CTR and might give you some small traffic from google images.
I also use stock images and copyright free images and to be honest i didn't notice any drop in rankings.

 

[AeroXbird]

I believe this has nothing to do with SEO. You don't have to worry about it. Almost all the websites are using free & reusable images/pictures on their sites and remain the ranking higher. In case you doubt this, you can do some minor changes like adding a logo, 'dot' with photoshop and a unique alt tag.

 

[Purush]

images and to be honest i didn't notice any drop in rankings.

changes like adding a logo, 'dot' with photoshop and a unique alt tag.

Thanks for your response mate. That's what most of the response suggest

 

[Seven4]

Make sure you are able to use the stock images. Many of these sites are paid ones, so if you pay to be on the site, you should be ok. I do feel that images you take though are a lot better for your site if you can manage it.

 

[SearchEnginers]

Most probably stock images are not hurting your site. And don't forget to change the name.

 

[BuildMoreLinks]

if you are really paranoid about using the free stock images then there is a paid option, but using a paid option like shutterstock does that guarantees that the images that you have used on your website will not be used by your competition.

 

[AeroXbird]

if you are really paranoid about using the free stock images then there is a paid option, but using a paid option like shutterstock does that guarantees that the images that you have used on your website will not be used by your competition.

This makes sense, the paid stock images might be re-used by other websites for sure.

 

[SEOMadHatter]

There's no chance I'm finding the source but Google said ages ago that they didn't look at uniqueness in images because they can't verify the original source.

Of course what Google does and what Google says don't necessarily line up but the only real way you're getting an answer this is is testing it.

It's not personally something I'd worry about though.

 

[Gogol]

I don't think it will matter. I mean, think about it bro. Will google query if you bought some license, before ranking you? Probably not...

If indeed they cared about images (for ranking that is), they would penalise you for using any re-usable image no matter whether you bought it or not.

Now, I am not a seo guru, so ... Tata salt is your friend.

 

[hatfromthewilds]

links,links,links,content

all else means nothing

This is a HUGE case of over-thinking.
I've never heard of anyone trying to make unique images. All the amazon review sites are just using amazon's images, but it doesn't stop them ranking. Google isn't expecting every webpage to come up with its own completely unique images. That would be madness. Content has to be unique, not images.

Using stock images, using images from another website or any other sort of image will have NO negative effect on your SEO.

this is true



that being said, i found way to make images look almost like originals, but google treats them as original (wont find duplicates) and i do dis on my site

 

[EazyViral Support]

It’s not hurt at all. Many website having duplicate images. It is totally olay