Google Image Search Adds New Image License Metadata

Feb 24, 2020 - 8:12 am 0 by
Filed Under Google

Licence Plates Google

Google announced that you can now use markup and metadata to tell Google about the image licensing rights and details. When you add this metadata and when Google decides to show the results in image search, Google may show a new Licensable badge for the image. I also covered this last week at Search Engine Land.

Here is a screen shot of what this may look like in Google Image Search:

click for full size

Note: This is a BETA release, so this may change, never launch fully or look completely different when it goes live.

There are two ways to add this metadata to your images:

(1) Structured data: Structured data is an association between the image and the page where it appears with the mark up. You need to add structured data for every instance an image is used, even if it's the same image. You can learn more about the structured data method there.

(2) IPTC photo metadata: IPTC photo metadata is embedded into the image itself, and the image and metadata can move from page to page while still staying intact. You only need to embed IPTC photo metadata once per image. You can learn more about the IPTC photo metadata method there.

The goal with this is to help those who license images make it clear on how others can use the image:

And this does not help you rank better:

Forum discussion at Twitter.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
- YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: July 11, 2025

Jul 11, 2025 - 10:00 am
Search Video Recaps

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Helpful Content Recoveries With Core Update, AI Mode Expands, Hidden Ad Terms & Fewer Ad Clicks

Jul 11, 2025 - 8:01 am
Google Maps

Google Local & Business Profiles Drops June 25th - Reporting Glitch?

Jul 11, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google

Google Tests Zoom Effect In On Images Within Search Results

Jul 11, 2025 - 7:41 am
Bing Search

Bing Search Image Box Tests Explore Image & Visual Search Buttons

Jul 11, 2025 - 7:31 am
Bing Search

Microsoft Bing Tests Delivery Truck Icon In Search Ads

Jul 11, 2025 - 7:21 am
Previous Story: Google In Europe Now Shows Other Local Search Providers