How to find out if someone is using your photos.

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Are you curious if your images are being used by someone else? Or if your images are being “stolen” from your site and pasted to another site? Today I’m going to show you how to find out if someone is using your photos and a few steps you can take if this is happening to you!

Trust me, bloggers get robbed every day. It’s sad that others will copy and paste your images and content, passing it off as their own. THIS DOES HAPPEN AND I WANT YOU TO KNOW WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT!

One of the major issues of someone “copying and pasting” your content is that Google doesn’t like duplicate content and if they find duplicate content, it could hurt your SEO (search engine optimization) efforts. Note: I’m talking about someone copying and pasting your entire blog post and images, not a brief summary and a couple of pictures, that can hurt your SEO.

Here’s how you can find out if someone is using your photos.

To discover if someone is using your photos, we’re going to use a super simple (free) tool from Google called Search By Image.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Go to https://images.google.com/

  1. Drag an image from your computer and drop it onto the search bar. (see example above)
  2. Google will display all matching + visually similar images found on the web. (seen below)

Pretty simple, right?!

Okay, now what do you do if someone is using your photos?

Don’t freak out! This could be a REALLY GREAT THING! When people share you with their followers, it’s an opportunity for new people to learn about you and your blog. In the example of the bathroom image I’m using from Leslie of The Leslie Style, she’d be thrilled to see that Glitter Guide is using her image!

Here’s a few steps you can take if someone is using your photos:

  1. Follow the link and see if you were given credit and a link to your site. If not, I’d recommend you ask the site owner to give you credit and include a link to your site.
  2. If you don’t want your photo on their site, ask the site owner to remove it.
  3. You could legally present a “cease and desist” demand letter or prepare a DMCA Take Down Notice. Both of these are a pain and can be costly, but if this is a major problem for you, know that legally you have rights.

I hope you enjoyed learning about how to find out if someone is using your photos!

 

*main photo by our talented client The Leslie Style.

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tana Founder of Your Marketing BFF & Dental Marketing BFF
She is the founder and owner of a 6-figure digital marketing brand with more than 20 years experience helping over 5,400 small businesses strengthen their online presence, attract more customers and increase sales. Her work has been featured on CNBC, ABC, HGTV and in numerous national magazines and online publications.
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