Google Images is making it easier for users to find images they have a right to use

Google Images is getting an update soon that is going to make it easier to license photographs and pictures that are covered by copyright. This update will help publishers, artists and photographers stand out for users and also helo users find images they have a “right” to use.

Images that have licensing information provided by the publisher will now appear in search results with a “Licensable” badge over the thumbnail once the update rolls out. When users click on the image the licensing requirements and the link where you can buy the rights to it will be visible.

Publishers will have the option of specifying a purchasing link that is different from the page that the image has shown up from, writes The Verge.

Google is also making it easier for users to search for images according to the type of license attached by allowing you to filter your image search results accordingly. So, users can search for images that are covered under a less strict Creative Commons license or search for commercial photos that are not covered under any license.

Google wrote in a blog post that they have worked with the imaging licensing industry on these features and believe that this is a step towards helping people understand the nature of content they are looking at on Google Images and use them responsibly.

Shutterstock’s VP of content operations Paul Brennan said that they have worked closely with Google on this feature which will help both image creators and image consumers by bringing more visibility to how creators’ content can be licensed properly.

While Google Images has so far been a catalogue of free to use images amassed from across the internet, over time Google made changes in an attempt to “mollify copyright owners who argued that it made stealing images too easy”.