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How To Credit A Photo You Downloaded for FREE

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How to properly credit any image you download from a free stock photo website:

  • What your credit should say
  • Where to find the name of the photographer
  • Where to put your photo credit
  • How to get Google to love you
Step-by-step 3-minute video shows where to place the photo credit

If you’d like me to notify you each time I give a free, live 10-Minute Monday presentation, click here to sign up. You’ll also received my list of favorite free stock photos.

What Your Photo Credit Should Say

As a fashion and beauty editor for Glamour, Mademoiselle and Weight Watchers Magazine photo credits were a must.

Today many free stock image photo sites say, ‘Attribution is not required, but appreciated.’ I like to give credit to anyone who has given me something of value for free.

Where To Find the Name of the Photographer

  • Go to the site where the image is located (such as Pexels, Pikwizard, Pixabay, Unsplash, etc.)
  • Click on the image
  • Look for the following information
  1. Photo URL
  2. Photographer’s name

5 hand bump photo with photo image URL example
Each Stock Photo house is a bit different. This is Pexels
Pikwizard

PRO TIP

Copy & paste the photo URL and the photographer’s URL into a simple text document like this…

You will need this information when it’s time to credit the photo

Where To Put Your Photo Credit

The following instructions are for WordPress

  1. Go to your Media Library
  2. Click on the photo to bring up the Description field
  3. Add the Photo URL (from the stock photo house) in the Description field

Optional: Add a photo credit as a “Caption”

  1. Insert an image into your Post or page.
  2. Under the image look for “Write caption” (see below)
  3. Add “Photo courtesy of [link to photographer] via [link to stock  photo house]
closeup of icecream waffle cone full of small white flowers

How To Get Google to Love You

Part of giving credit is linking to the photographer and the stock photo house (“Photo courtesy of [link to photographer] via [link to stock  photo house].)

The problem is you don’t want the search engines, like Google, to follow the link because Google may think you are a spammer who is trying to create false links, just for attention.

The solution is to create a nofollow link. Here’s how:

  1. In your WordPress Post or Page click on the “Text” tab
  2. Type in nofollow as indicated below
example of where to place nofollow code for photo credits

Don’t Forget to Alt Tag Your Images

Super important!

Search engines cannot yet read your images so you need to describe each image you upload for people who are visually impaired.

This short article will show you how to tag your images in WordPress.

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Featured images courtesy of picjumbo via Pexels and Pikwizard

How To Credit A Photographer and Where To Add it in WordPress

by Leave a Comment

young girl taking a photo Andriyko Podilnyk photographer on Unsplash How To Credit a Photographer, Where to Add it in WordPress 5.4.1 & nofollow link
video below
Photo by Andriyko Podilnyk on Unsplash

What’s Covered in This Article

Be sure to check out the video below from my free LIVE training. 

If you’d like to come to my LIVE 10-Minute Monday trainings click here to sign up. You will receive an invitation via email with a link to join.

What Your Photo Credit Should Say

My first job out of college was as a magazine editor. Photo credits were a must.

Although many free stock photo sites say something like, ‘Attribution is not required, but appreciated,’ I like to give credit to anyone who has given me something of value for free. Here’s what I recommend:

Photo courtesy of (name of photographer) from (name of stock photo house)

Click here for a list of my favorite free stock photo houses.

Where To Find the Name of the Photographer

  • Go to the site where the image is located (such as Pexels, Pixabay, Unsplash, etc.)
  • Click on the image
  • Look for the following information
  1. Photo URL
  2. Photographer’s name
    NOTE: Click on the name of the photographer to bring up the page with his/her URL
5 hand bump photo with photo image URL example

To save time, copy & paste the photo URL and the photographer’s URL into a simple text document like this:

screen shot of photo credits noted from a photo downloaded from Pexels

Where To Put Your Photo Credit

The following instructions are for WordPress

  1. In the Description field of your photo (see below)
  2. Optional: At the end of your Post or Page enter “Photo courtesy of (name of photographer) from (name of stock photo house)”
  3. If required by the photographer or stock photo house: As a caption beneath the photo
image description field example
Description field located in Media folder

Add Photographer Credit As A Caption

Sometimes photographers ask you to add their attribution under the photo. To do this…

  1. Insert your image into your Post or Page
  2. Add the photo credit where it says “Write caption…”
  3. Click Update or Save Draft to save your change

If you must give a photographer or a stock photo house a credit by linking to the photographer and/or stock photo house website in your post or page, Google might think you are just trying to get attention and accuse you of spamming.

You can still create a link to the photographer, or photo stock house BUT you will need to tell the Google robots NOT to follow the link.

The solution is to create a nofollow link.

How To Add a nofollow Link in Gutenberg

  1. In your WordPress Post or Page add your photo
  2. Under “Write caption…” enter your photo credit as recommended by the stock photo house
  3. Select the name of the photographer and click on the link icon
  4. Paste the URL to photographer in the link field
  5. Click the Link Settings option
  6. Click “Open in New Tab” box so your visitor does not lose your page
  7. Click Apply to add the link
  8. Repeat steps 4-7 if you want to add a second credit for the stock photo house
  9. Now, open the HTML editor by clicking on the 3 dots on the menu bar
  10. Choose Edit as HTML
  11. Add your nofollow link(s) by typing in nofollow as indicated below. Be sure to add a space after “nofollow” and before “noreferrer”.
  12. Return to your visual editor by clicking on the 3 dots on the menu bar
  13. Save your changes
nofollow link illustration by Nancy Fields using photo of a Vietnamese rice field photo by CongVu from Pexels 1 of 4
nofollow link illustration by Nancy Fields using photo of a Vietnamese rice field photo by CongVu from Pexels 2 of 4
nofollow link illustration by Nancy Fields using photo of a Vietnamese rice field photo by CongVu from Pexels 3 of 4
html text with red frame indicating where to add nofollow link to photo

Watch Me Add Photographer Credits and nofollow Links

Join Me For My Next Live 10-Minute Monday

Get an invitation to join me LIVE on my next 10-Minute Monday, and receive a list of my favorite Free resources for great photography that you can use on your website or in any project.

It’s LIVE and only 10-minutes. The sessions are short and focused on one topic.

And because it’s LIVE you can ask questions. I also try to keep the sessions short because I know you’re busy and you don’t have time to waste.