By: Illia Belichenko Which images you may use on a company website
An image from a search results page does not become free just because it was easy to download. The rights holder keeps their rights even when the file sits unprotected online, and using it without permission stays a violation no matter how casual the find felt.
Three image sources carry three different rule sets. A company's own photography belongs to it outright and can be used anywhere. Paid stock grants a licence for specific uses set out in that platform's own terms. Free stock under an open licence often permits use but frequently requires crediting the author directly next to the image.
Crediting the author is mandatory exactly where the specific licence requires it, and that requirement does not expire after years of use on a website. Removing the credit without reviewing the licence violates it retroactively from the first day.
A licence bought for a website does not automatically cover advertising. Many stock platforms sell a web licence separately from an extended licence for paid ads, and an image that sits lawfully on a services page can require an extra fee to run in Google Ads or Meta Ads.
Photos of staff and customers need the depicted person's consent, obtained before publication rather than patched in after a complaint. That person can withdraw consent later, and the photo then has to come down from the website and social media, even if it has been there for years.
Photographing someone else's buildings, interiors and brands from the outside carries its own risk. A photo of a partner's shopfront or a logo in the background needs the consent of the property or brand owner, not just the photographer's good intentions.
Websites often inherit images from a previous provider along with the source code, and the origin of those files is rarely documented. Before carrying them onto a new site, it is worth checking whether a purchased licence exists at all, rather than assuming an image is fine simply because it was already there.
Licences belong in one place, a dedicated list with the purchase date, order number and a link to that platform's terms. Without that list, a year later there is no quick way to answer where a specific image came from and what it actually permits.
This text explains common practice around image use and does not replace legal advice. Assessing a specific licence and a specific use depends on the platform's terms and the details of the case.
Sites Illia BizTech builds come with a provenance list for every image rather than a folder of files with no explanation. That removes exactly the risk of nobody remembering, years later, where a photo on an old page came from or whether it is even cleared for advertising.
Illia BizTech builds and maintains websites for small and medium businesses in Russian, German and English, from the first version through ongoing maintenance and SEO work. A team carries the project from idea to launch without long internal approval chains, so the client speaks directly with the people writing the code and managing the content, not through a chain of account managers. That fits businesses moving to Germany or expanding into the German-speaking market who want to explain their task once, not repeat it on every call.