How-to

Can I use my supplier's product descriptions on my website?

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

Probably, with permission — but that's the smaller question. The bigger one is what a customer gets from your page that they couldn't get from the forty other shops using exactly the same paragraph.

We're a hosting company, not lawyers. The copyright lines below are quoted from GOV.UK's guidance on copyright, and the search lines from Google's guidance on helpful content (updated 1 October 2026), both checked on 5 October 2026.

The words belong to someone

A product description is writing, and writing is covered. GOV.UK: "You automatically get copyright protection when you create:" — and the list includes "original non-literary written work, such as software, web content and databases". It goes on: "Copyright prevents people from:" — among other things — "copying your work" and "putting it on the internet".

That's the same position as your supplier's product photos: they feel like part of the deal because you sell the thing, but they're someone else's work. The owner can say yes — GOV.UK: "You can license the use of your work if you own the copyright." So if your supplier has given you a pack of descriptions and pictures for stockists, read what it says you can do with them. That's your permission, or not. If they haven't, ask.

The harder question: why your page?

Say the answer is yes. You now have the same 120 words as every other shop that stocks it, and the manufacturer's own site, and the big online retailers. Someone searching for that product sees the same paragraph again and again.

Google's guidance on what makes content helpful asks questions that a pasted description can't answer well:

"Does the content provide original information, reporting, research, or analysis?"
"If the content draws on other sources, does it avoid simply copying or rewriting those sources, and instead provide substantial additional value and originality?"
"Does the content provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?"

That last one is the whole problem in a sentence. Compared with forty identical pages, what does yours add? If the honest answer is 'the same words, a different logo', there's nothing for a searcher to choose — and nothing for a customer in your shop's town to know they can buy it round the corner.

What only you can write

Google again: "Does your content clearly demonstrate first-hand expertise and a depth of knowledge (for example, expertise that comes from having actually used a product or service, or visiting a place)?" That's the bit you have and the supplier doesn't. A few lines of it beat any amount of brochure copy:

What it's actually like. 'Comes up small — most people go a size up.' 'Heavier than it looks; fine on a wall, not on a door.'
Who it suits, and who it doesn't. Saying no to the wrong customer is the most trustworthy sentence on a product page.
The question everyone asks. If you've answered it across the counter twenty times, it belongs on the page.
How it compares with the one next to it. You know why someone should pick this over the cheaper one. Say so.
Where and when. In stock today, collect from the shop, delivered locally. The national sites can't say that.

Keep the details people compare — sizes, materials, care instructions — wherever your supplier's terms allow, and put your own words around them. And put your own photo next to theirs if you can: the product in your shop, in a customer's hand, next to something for scale.

It's the same principle as writing the rest of your site: words that appear on every site in your trade are doing no work on yours.

Start with ten

Nobody rewrites four hundred products in a weekend. Start with the ten that sell best or get asked about most, give each one a few lines only you could have written, and leave the rest until you have time. A shop with ten products described properly reads like a shop with someone in it.

Say it, then let the AI write it up

Tell the AI you already use what you know about each product — the sizing quirk, who it suits, what people ask — and it'll turn that into a proper description on your page. Rewording the supplier's paragraph isn't the point; your knowledge is.

Connect your AI

Questions people ask

Can I copy the manufacturer's product description?

Only with permission. GOV.UK's copyright guidance covers "original non-literary written work, such as software, web content and databases", and lists "copying your work" and "putting it on the internet" among the things copyright prevents. If your supplier has given stockists text to use, check what it says you can do with it; if not, ask.

Will copying supplier descriptions hurt my Google ranking?

The question Google asks of a page is whether it adds anything. Its guidance asks: "Does the content provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?" A paragraph that's on forty other sites gives a searcher no reason to pick yours.

What should I write instead?

What only you know: what it's like to use, who it suits and who it doesn't, the question customers always ask, how it compares with the one next to it on the shelf, and whether they can collect it today.

Can I keep the measurements and specifications?

Keep the details people compare — sizes, materials, care instructions — wherever your supplier's terms allow, and put your own words around them.

Do I have to rewrite every product?

No. Start with the ten that sell best or get asked about most. A few products described properly do more than a hundred pasted paragraphs.

Can AI rewrite the descriptions for me?

It can reword them, but rewording isn't the point. Google asks: "If the content draws on other sources, does it avoid simply copying or rewriting those sources, and instead provide substantial additional value and originality?" What adds value is the first-hand detail only you have — give the AI that, and it'll write it up well.