The 9 best websites for free royalty-free photos

Of course, you should not just pluck an image from the Internet and attach it to your blog. In fact, that can get you into big trouble. You are violating the copyright of the creator of the photo. And that can result in a large fine.

To avoid that, you can use royalty-free photos. In this blog, we have listed the 9 best websites for free royalty-free photos for you.

Why are photos important for SEO?

Using images is good for the findability of your page. Besides being an easy way to enrich your content, search engines really like images.

The filename and alt tag of the image help Google better understand what the page is about. Provided you have optimized it for the keyword of course ;).

What kind of photos are best to use?

The best photos for your company are of course photos of the company and the people themselves. Preferably taken by a professional photographer who knows exactly how to put your company on film.

Is hiring a photographer not possible? For example, because the budget does not allow it. Then you quickly end up with stock photos. And we're not talking about those awkward, exaggerated and posed stock photos, but beautiful images that fit your subject.

What exactly are royalty-free photos?

Images may have some rights attached to them:

Copyright: The main one. A photographer has the right to decide where and when his work is published. This is valid up to 70 years after a photographer's death. After this, the photo falls into the "public domain" and can then be used by anyone. Then it is again a royalty-free photograph.

Portrait rights: If a photographer has commissioned a portrait from someone, the person depicted may or may not give permission for publication.

Personality rights: Photographers can object if others tarnish his or her work or rename it.

A royalty-free image is one in which you don't infringe on any of these 3 rights. And there are some very good websites that offer only free royalty-free images. Check them out below.

The 9 best websites for royalty-free images

1. Unsplash

• Helpful categories that allow you to quickly find a matching image
• You can also find cool animated GIFs here
• Large selection of free high-quality photos

2. Burst

• Burst is part of Shopify
• You can also find cool animated gifs here
• All images can be used under the Creative Commons license, or in other words, free and royalty-free

3. Pexels

• Free high-quality photos
• Good search function that shows relevant results
• You can also go here for free stock videos

4. Free Images

• You can search in the "free images" category
• Can be used for all your personal projects, also used commercially
• Dutch search function

5. Kaboompics

• Convenient search function that allows you to search by color
• The color codes from the images are included, making it easy to create the most beautiful social posts
• You can download the images in any format you choose

6. Canva

• This graphic design tool has its own collection of royalty-free photos
• You can immediately edit the photos to match your corporate identity
• With Canva Pro, you have even more photos at your disposal

7. Life of Pix

• Convenient search filters so you get results that better suit you
• You can follow your favorite photographers
• A photographer of the week is highlighted weekly

8. Flickr

• Very large database of royalty-free photos
• Various licenses including a free license
• Easily download in different formats

9. PicJumbo

• Free high-resolution images
• Easy search thanks to convenient categories
• Paid premium collection