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  4. Do the search engines penalise you for images being WATERMARKED?

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Do the search engines penalise you for images being WATERMARKED?

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  • KevinDunne
    KevinDunne last edited by Jun 20, 2012, 10:22 AM

    Our site contains a library of thousands of images which we are thinking of watermarking.  Does anyone know if Google penalise sites for this or is it best practice in order to protect revenues?

    As watermarking these images makes them less shareable (but protects revenues) i was thinking Google might then penalise us - which might affect traffic

    Any ideas?

    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
    • GregFindley.co.uk
      GregFindley.co.uk last edited by Jun 20, 2012, 11:16 AM Jun 20, 2012, 11:16 AM

      http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/pros-and-cons-of-watermarked-images.html

      "Will Google rank an image differently just because it's watermarked?
      Peter: Nope. The presence of a watermark doesn't itself cause an image to be ranked higher or lower."

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • KevinDunne
        KevinDunne @symbolphoto last edited by Jun 20, 2012, 11:07 AM Jun 20, 2012, 11:07 AM

        Thanks Russ, v helpful

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • symbolphoto
          symbolphoto last edited by Jun 20, 2012, 10:47 AM Jun 20, 2012, 10:47 AM

          Nope, if they did, i'd be in big trouble.

          KevinDunne 1 Reply Last reply Jun 20, 2012, 11:07 AM Reply Quote 0
          • HiveDigitalInc
            HiveDigitalInc last edited by Jun 20, 2012, 11:06 AM Jun 20, 2012, 10:29 AM

            I am fairly certain Google does not penalize sites for watermarking images. However, losing shares of those images could potentially lose rankings.

            One opportunity would be to include a section of your images free of charge with a link attribution policy. This would get you a nice link (don't manipulate the alt text, just the name of the image or your service)

            Also, have you checked to see how often your images are being stolen? You can use a service like tineye.com to do this.

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