The Importance Of Putting Photo Credits In Your Posts [Infographic]

I’m going to do something that I rarely do today, and that is get on my soapbox about one of my blogging pet peeves. I’m still surprised at how many people write posts that have no links in them, which is sometimes no big deal, but often times means they aren’t crediting anyone for the awesome pictures they’ve found online. In my opinion, listing and linking proper photo credits preserves the integrity of the Internet as a whole, as well as the people who work so hard to post shareable pictures.

People who do list photo credits do it in all kinds of different ways, so if you look at a post and don’t see them, look a little closer to be sure. For me personally, I sometimes link them along with each photo like in this post about Star Wars Inspired Party Foods. Other times I link them all at the bottom like in this post about Star Wars Snow Sculptures, and sometimes I put the link in the body of the article, or at the bottom in a “via.” It really just depends on how I write that particular post.

The point is, in my humble opinion, the people on the Internet who post their pictures deserve to be listed and linked somewhere on our posts. If you are using the image, it’s because you like it, and the person who posted it deserves to be credited for uploading shareable content to the Internet. By listing and linking to them, you not only give their website another incoming link to add credibility to their site (and a tiny boost in SEO if your site has a better Alexa rating than theirs), but you also give people who read your post the opportunity to click on the link which will possibly give that person a little more traffic.

Giving proper photo credits is one way to say ‘thank you’ to other people online. Sometimes you might not get it right, and that’s okay – nobody’s perfect. If you find out how to correct it, just correct it. For example, in the Star Wars Snow Sculptures article I listed above someone left me a comment that said I credited someone wrong. I thanked that person and went in and modified the photo credits.

If you ever want to know the nitty-gritty truth about an image, you can always use TinEye which is way more accurate than Google Images for that kind of thing since it can still identify an image even if modifications have been made. I don’t use that site often, but there have been a few times when it’s come in real handy.

So, the next time you finish a post, and you realize you haven’t included any links, do the right thing and at least list the photo credits for wherever you found your pictures. There are a few photography sites that don’t require any photo credits, or perhaps you purchased the image. In both of those situations, it’s not necessary to give photo credits, but those are rare circumstances, at least for me. This infographic called So You Found Something Cool On The Internet by Loldwell Cartoons & Illustration goes into this in a visual way. Enjoy!