Google and Yahoo Make it Easier to Find Creative Commons Images

While there may be billions of images stored throughout the web, only a select percentage of them can be used for commercial purposes, like inserting in your blog. Bloggers want to have access to these images mainly because it can be impossible to solely use your own images and those of site screenshots which you have created.

Creative Commons makes it easier to find the particular images that you are able to use legally on your site while still retaining rights for the content/image creators and photographers. Initially, it was hard to find the content that was licensed in this manner, but now that some of the largest search engines and photo sharing sites are adopting ways to quickly search these images, bloggers are seeing more available images for free use.

Please Note: Under many Creative Commons Licenses, you are required to link back to the images or the profile/site of the person that has created the image.

Last month, Yahoo! started to allow users to search for images from Flickr that can be used commercial or modified for your own purposes. When you search for images on Yahoo!, a filter is displayed in the right side of the drop-down area, allowing you to find images that can be reused on your own site and work.

Google may begin implementing a similar feature through their search engine’s image search. You can use a search box that allows you to search for reusable, commercially reusable, reusable with modification, and commercially reusable images with modification images.

Sample results for “nature” can be found by clicking the following links: Public Domain | Creative Commons Attribution | Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike

Picasa, Google’s “competitor” to Flickr, also has a number of features (click “Show Options” when you search the site. An example can be seen here. Additionally, you can search by Landscape, Portrait, and Panorama aspect ratios, which could help if you are looking for a particular type of image.

The experience that your users have when content is broken up through some form of visual content can benefit you in the long-term, as they have a better experience and ultimately feel more comfortable viewing your content.