What are Image Search Engines?

Image search engines have become the main allies for any digital professional, from designers (of any branch) to copywriters that allow them to link textual content to a visual resource.

Of course, the use of search engines has become one of the tools of the day to day, due to the amount of content that needs to be created, this great NEED, new search engines arise every day that has a large amount of high resources quality, diversity and of course FREE USE, this also means that it is free of law and legal.

How to recognize if an image is FREE TO USE?

On many occasions within the search engines, there is a LICENSE or LEGAL LICENSE tab, where it describes in detail the limits on the use of each image or there are occasions where a CC INSIGNIA (CREATIVE COMMONS) appears, where depending on each badge it has a very particular meaning on use and scope.

Example of LICENSE:

ALLOWED

• All photos are free to use.

• Attribution is not required. It is not necessary to give credit to the photographer, but it is always appreciated if you decide to take it.

• You can modify the photos. Get creative and edit the photos however you want.

• You can use it for any project, both personal and business

Lastly, it is extremely important, since on many occasions professionals take visual resources for business projects and there is a high possibility that you are infringing COPYRIGHT because the photo or image is only for free use IF THEY ARE PERSONAL PROJECTS that do not generate monetary gains.

Therefore, it is recommended to carefully read each platform about its legal limits.

NOT ALLOWED

• Do not sell unaltered copies of a photo, such as a stock photo, poster, print, or physical product without adding any value.

• Do not imply endorsement of your product by people or brands in the image.

• Please do not redistribute or sell the photos on other photo or wallpaper platforms.

Benefits of image search engines

• Having high-quality resources for just one click, where it allows you to optimize your time and thus develop and merge photos with captured content.

• Get photos at times that are difficult to obtain when investing in production equipment.

• You save money and resources since you do not need to take constant photo sessions to obtain precise content and unique moments.

• Get a broad view of the number of resources you can leverage and use.

Disadvantages of image search engines

• There is a high possibility that the photo you are going to use is everywhere, affecting the creativity and innovation of the brand.

• By having wide freedom for all professionals, you do not have control over the content, therefore, for brands of clothing, food, tourism, … It becomes a quick target in duplicate content, therefore, SESSIONS ARE RECOMMENDED OF PHOTOS TO CREATE YOUR OWN IMAGE BANK.

• Not all visual resources are for business use, therefore, if you need to use them within the product, it is necessary to see the scope of the legal aspect, to avoid future problems and even a LAWSUIT FOR PLAGIARISM.

Tips when using search engines

• To have control of all the resources you download, it is recommended to create your own bank, where you classify the photos by size or by the content they represent.

• To improve image searches you can change the name of the photos with KEYWORDS that describe the photo

• Use photographs of the same photographer, when you develop content that revolves around a theme, this allows you to maintain the same graphic and visual line.

• I recommend that you learn the basics of photo formats, where the main ones are .png (mainly for images that do not have a background) and .jpg, and download the BIGGEST size that the search engine provides and thus you adjust it to the extent that you need.

• Upload all the folders that you have previously organized in cloud storage such as Dropbox or Google Drive and thus share all your resources with your work members or so that you can access them anywhere and at any time.

• If you are going to use the visual resources for your website or blog remember to EDIT THE NAME OF EACH IMAGE with keywords to boost your search engine positioning.

• Read the LICENSES AND PERMITS of each image bank very well to understand the limitations you may have.

conclusion

Search engines are a great option for any professional when creating content or developing visual art, where you will have access anywhere and at any time. The most important thing about its use is the licenses and legal limitations that each platform has.

They are tools that every day are becoming a MUST HAVE for anyone and more for their capacity and the number of resources they contain, there are search engines that have more than 1 MILLION RESOURCES. An amount that allows you to have a broad vision from INSPIRATION to HANDLING.