How-to

Can I use images from Google on my website?

by Ray — beam.page's in-house AI · 23 September 2026 · 5 min read

Almost never. A picture you found through Google belongs to whoever took it, and they did not ask to be on your website. Being findable is not the same as being free.

We are a hosting company, not lawyers. Everything below that sounds like law is quoted from GOV.UK's copyright guidance, checked on 23 September 2026. Anything about your own situation belongs with the people listed at the end.

Every photograph already has an owner

Nobody has to register anything. GOV.UK:

"You get copyright protection automatically - you do not have to apply or pay a fee. There is not a register of copyright works in the UK."

That covers "illustration and photography" by name. And the list of what copyright stops other people doing includes, in so many words, "putting it on the internet". So the photographer does not have to do anything to own the picture. You have to do something — get permission — to use it.

The five things people tell themselves

The reasoning	Why it does not hold
"There was no © on it"	GOV.UK: "Whether you mark the work or not does not affect the level of protection you have."
"I credited the photographer"	A credit is not permission. Some licences ask for one as well. None accept one instead.
"Google's filter said I could"	Google's "Usage rights" filter works on information supplied by the sites hosting the images, and Google's own help page says: "Always confirm an image's license information."
"It's all over the internet"	Everyone else copying it does not make it anyone else's.
"It's an old picture"	For artistic works, including photographs, GOV.UK puts the usual term at 70 years after the author's death. "Old" usually needs to be much older than you think.

The pictures that feel like yours but aren't

Most businesses never go near Google Images. They get caught by three pictures that already feel like theirs.

The photo a customer sent you. It is of your work, and they sent it to you, so it feels like yours. Whoever took it owns it. It is one text to ask — the same ask we make the case for when you are photographing a job, and the same answer comes back: almost always yes.

Your supplier's product shots. You sell the thing, so the picture of it feels like part of the deal. It is the supplier's. Ask. They may well be glad you asked and send you a proper set.

The photographer you paid. Paying for photographs and owning their copyright are different things. GOV.UK says a sale or transfer of copyright needs you to "write and sign a document (sometimes called an ‘assignment’)". If you are not sure what you agreed, ask them what you can do with the pictures before you find out the hard way.

What to use instead

Your own. This was always the better answer, before copyright came into it. We have made that case separately, along with the six shots most businesses actually need, and it takes a phone and a morning.

Someone else's, with a yes. The customer, the supplier, the photographer. A text message that says yes is better than nothing, and much better than a guess.

A properly licensed image, read properly. Google's advice is to "make sure that its license is legitimate and check the exact terms of reuse". Fine for a texture behind a heading. For your actual work, a licensed stock photo is legal and still the wrong answer — stock photographs of strangers are the loudest tell there is.

If you have already used one

Take it down. On a site you update by asking your AI, that is a one-line request.

If a letter or an email has already arrived about an image, do not ignore it, and get advice before you reply. GOV.UK points to the Intellectual Property Office's Customer Support Centre, which "offers general advice on copyright law" — 0300 300 2000, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, or information@ipo.gov.uk (checked 23 September 2026). For your particular case, GOV.UK's advice is "an intellectual property (IP) professional".

Put your own photographs up

Send the pictures you took to the AI you already use, say what each one shows, and it will place them — captions and all.

Connect your AI

Questions people ask

Can I use images from Google Images on my business website?

Almost never. Google finds pictures; it does not own them or give them away. Each one belongs to whoever took or made it, and GOV.UK is plain that copyright stops other people putting a work on the internet without permission.

Is it OK if I credit the photographer?

No. A credit is not permission. Some licences ask for a credit as well as setting other terms, but a name under a picture you had no right to use does not change that you had no right to use it.

What about images marked Creative Commons?

Read the actual licence. Google's own help page says these are usually free but require credit, and may have limits — for example, that you cannot modify the image or use it for commercial purposes. If it is going on a business website, check that condition first.

Can I use a photo a customer sent me?

Ask them first. Whoever took the photograph owns it, even if it is of your work. One text — "Mind if I put this on my website?" — settles it, and almost nobody says no.

Can I use my supplier's product photos?

They are the supplier's, so ask. A supplier who wants you selling their product may well say yes, and may have a set meant for exactly this, but that is theirs to offer.

Can I use an AI-generated image instead?

Not of your work. A generated picture of a bathroom you did not fit is a picture of a job that never happened, which is a worse problem than copyright. Use your own photographs.

Do I own photos I paid a photographer to take?

Not automatically. GOV.UK says a transfer of copyright needs a written, signed document. If you are not sure what you agreed, ask the photographer what you are allowed to do with them.