Free Stock Images For Content Marketing
Content marketing is a powerful marketing strategy companies use to attract people to a brand or service by creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content. Some people may think content marketing is only writing content, but it’s more than that. It also includes images, audio, and video content.
Based on research, visitors to a site only scan around 28% of the content on average. A study maintained that visitors only read about 20% of the text on the average page (Jakob Nielsen, 2008). Then, it is critical to include illustrations to maintain more interest in content marketing campaigns.
Content is a crucial way to provide truly relevant and valuable content to an audience and customers to solve specific issues.
There is no doubt that images help content marketing campaigns convert better, but the question is where to find free images. Is it possible to find good quality images to use in content marketing without paying for them? The answer is “Yes.”
We have put together a list of sites that people can use to find free images for illustrations or creating attraction to their content. Before jumping ahead, it is vital to quickly look at potential licensing issues when sourcing free images to avoid policy violations.
Each site has its policy and license. Never miss checking it!
After searching, we found about 35 sites where people can find free images. Some of the sites listed are free; some offer both free and selling photos. Besides, some sites provide a possibility for a free trial and paid registration at the end of the trial.
Please, read each target site license and policy before downloading any pictures or videos.
See the picture of a free downloading picture from Pexel
Here is the list of 35 sites to find free images.
2. Pexels
3. Unsplash
4. Pixabay
6. Pikwizard
7. Stockvault
8. Getty Images
9. Free Images
10. Reshot
11. Freerange Stock
12. Dreamstime
13. Shutterstock
15. Flickr
16. Adobe Stock
17. Stocksnap.io
18. Kaboompics
19. Gratisography
21. PicJumbo
22. Crello
23. Depositphotos
24. Google Advanced Image Search
25. CreateHER
26. FoodiesFeed
27. Freestock
28. Picography
29. Focastock
30. Picjumbo
31. SkitterPhoto
32. Picspree
33. Barn Images
34. Freepik
35. Free Food Photos
A Little Note About Licenses
Most of the sites stated on this list allow you to use their images with few or no restrictions. Some of them are free, and some others offer both free and paid options. Even though a site gives the possibility to use its pictures utterly free of charge, it may have some restrictions on how you are allowed to use them. Then, it is always wise and essential to double-check about licenses before downloading visuals from a site.
Below are three different licenses you can find when sourcing free images. If you don’t understand them well, you could end up paying high fees for using a photo you had no right to.
Creative Commons: Creative Commons share a lot of information through the internet, which can be used for free. It is essential to read these licensing terms so that you can continue using their services freely or within the framework of their licenses. Learn to identify the Creative Commons Zero (CCO) sign, which clarifies free stock images for commercial and noncommercial purposes.
Public Domain: People can use these kinds of images with no worries about copyright law. Generally, the picture states that it is in the public domain. When it is not clearly indicated, it is essential to contact the support service or the owner of the site to check if the image is available in the public domain. Alternatively, access sites that clearly state their images are free to use or have clear instructions about how they may be used. Also, check this link to learn more about public domain mark.
Royalty-Free: What are royalty-free images? These are images after paying a once-off fee. Because no royalties are payable after payment, you can use the image countless times because you have purchased this right. Most visuals on free image sites come with a CC0 license, which means you can use and adapt these to your heart’s content. Remember to read the fine print, and if you have doubts, contact the site owner to safeguard yourself from any potential backlash.
Continue reading for a list of selected sites containing free-to-use images to boost your content. And before choosing images, we recommend using the SEMrush Content Marketing Toolkit to find trending topics and keywords that will help you select relevant images that can reinforce your content. Remember, Royalty-free doesn’t mean completely free.
1. Creative Commons Search
Choose whether you want images to add to content for commercial reasons or choose the box for free images that can also be adapted or modified. You can observe all the licenses and public domain options, and you need to know the difference between each.
Some images from Creative Commons
It is easy to navigate through this site to get what you‘re looking. You don’t even need to register or login to access any free stock images. For a quick check as instance, search for “dogs,” and you will have further options to choose from in the left-hand menu.
Image, file type, and licensed or public domain are some of the choices available. You can also select whether you want to use photos, video, or audio related to the subject search.
2. Shutterstock
Shutterstock offers a collection of images across diverse categories. As soon as you begin a search and select enter, a menu appears on the screen’s left side to adapt the search parameters. Image type, orientation, colors, and people demographics are available to refine the search. You can also select a visual for editorial or noneditorial purposes from the same menu.
You can augment content with anything from music to videos, vectors, illustrations, photos, and editorials, making Shutterstock unique on this list. An array of helpful tools is also on offer, further increasing the appeal of this site. Unfortunately, you must sign up if you want to receive free images. The number of free images is also limited, so despite the beautiful attributes, unlimited access to free stuff is not one of them.
Shutterstock offers an assortment of pictures across different classifications. When you start an inquiry and select enter, a menu shows up on the screen’s left side to adjust the pursuit boundaries. Picture type, direction, shadings, and people demographics are accessible to refine the inquiry. You can likewise choose a visual for publication or noneditorial purposes from a similar menu.
You can increase content with anything from music to recordings, vectors, outlines, photographs, and articles, making Shutterstock unique on this rundown. A variety of accommodating devices is likewise on offer, further expanding the allure of this site. Lamentably, you should join in the event that you need to get free pictures. The quantity of free pictures is limited.
3. Unsplash
Feel free to download thousands of photos from Unsplash for any purpose. With so many to choose from, this site is full of visuals that will efficiently help you increase your content’s value.
A simple menu at the screen’s top right allows you to filter for orientation, color, and relevance. Move the mouse over the image to reveal the download icon, and a quick click will quickly give you the visual that you want. You may use these beautiful photos for any purpose. There is no required attribution. However, you should read the license to comply with the law.
Burst by Shopify has an extensive collection of high-quality visuals that you can download as needed. Although Burst does not demand that you credit their contributors, they kindly appreciate it.
From Burst by Shopify
Even though attribution is not always possible, it is a gesture that benefits photographers when applied. Photos can be edited, cropped, and manipulated to suit intentions. Through this link, you can get the free resources you need to achieve your content goal.
5. Flickr
This site allows you to create a free account or look for images without registration. Once you type in a search bar, such as “nature,” check the drop-down “Any License” menu. You will have many relevant pics, and you can select the category you want.
There is no particular image attribution approach, but the FAQ section requests users to use the image link address as a courtesy matter. If you want advanced features from this site, you will need to sign up for editing and save uploaded images.
6. Pikwizard
Pikwizard offers a variety of helpful visuals. With over 1 million free images, you can even choose to add videos to your content. A strong category selection promotes finding images as a simple process. Pikwizard has recently added its DesignWizard to help users edit photos conveniently on-site if needed.
All visual content is royalty-free. Not even attribution is required, making this a go-to site to improve your content publishing techniques. If you want to grow your content skills, remember to use the Content Marketing Toolkit to research, analyze your competitors, and optimize your content.
7. Stockvault
Stockvault consists of an impressive “vault” of image categories. You can choose from loads of free images with a menu that guides your licensing choices. Again, no login is required, and only contributors will need to sign up if they want to share images, according to the FAQ section.
Otherwise, downloading images is simple. You can download only in JPG format, but there are many tutorials about modifying images as preferred.
8. Getty Images
Getty Images offers visitors the choice of free images and use of their site with or without registration (always convenient). Type your topic into the search bar on the homepage. After you select “enter,” you will see a menu on the left-hand side of the page. However, it is essential to know that not all images are free.
A variety of options are available. Select a filter for the most recent or oldest images. Choose a date range, license type, image orientation, resolution, style, and other filters. Getty Images is well-known for charging usage fees, so contact them for further information related to image rights if you are in doubt.
9. Free Images
Like many other free image sites, this one also provides a vast selection of visuals to increase your content appeal. Browse from a selection of free photos from the drop-down menu, select an appropriate category, and attribute the image by copying the link address when you use it in any form of content.
The license guidelines are clear and include instructions on how you may use site images.
10. Reshot
“Completely free” is a welcome term when sourcing visuals through this to promote content. Reshot provides contributors with an inviting space to showcase their talent while helping others develop better quality content.
On Reshot, you can find uniquely free photos, handpicked and non-stocky images to use as you wish.
Access all visuals free of charge, but do the right thing by acknowledging where you sourced the work. Besides, be aware that you should read the license.
See some pictures on Reshot
11. Freerange Stock
Freerange Stock offers a vast library of free photos and illustrations, available for both and personal commercial use, with no attribution necessary. Download a range of fantastic vintage stock photos from this site, or use their image finder to source relevant material from other sites.
While users can implement the free images for commercial and noncommercial use, the site’s license includes a necessary provision. Any profits generated on products must not be primarily due to the image derived from the site.
Read this provision here for a better understanding of this restriction.
A sound content marketing strategy involves planning your content, defining what you want to achieve, and measuring results. Attractive and impactful imagery is vital for your readers. It makes them trust your content better. They can also break up the text, and they make remembering content easier. With free images to use, there is no reason no to use them to improve your content.
12. Dreamstime
Since 2000, as a Royalty-Free stock photography website, Dreamstime has evolved into a powerful and active community-based site. The exquisite stock image gallery you can browse today has been uploaded by photographers worldwide, shot on film or digital. Dreamstime chooses experienced editors to review and approve all images to ensure you receive the best content. The Dreamstime database is renewed with thousands of fresh pictures and titles daily.
Millions of premium stock images, free image database, friendliest stock photo community, unique features, and dedicated team make Dreamstime photo shoppers` favorite choice worldwide.
13. Pexels
Pexels provides high-quality and completely free stock photos and videos licensed under the Pexels license. Through this site, it is easy to discover images or videos as needed. You can use keywords to find a list of relevant images.
Photos
Pexels has many thousands of free stock photographs and continues adding new images constantly. All images are handpicked from photos transferred by our clients or sourced from free picture sites. We ensure all distributed pictures are top-notch and authorized under the Pexels permit.
Photograph Sources
Just free pictures from our local area of photographic artists are added to our photograph data set. We continually attempt to convey many great free stock photos to help people grow their content as needed.
See some pictures on Pexels
14. Pixabay
People can use all content on Pixabay for free for commercial and noncommercial use across print and digital, except in the cases mentioned in “What is not allowed.”
Attribution is not required. Giving credit to the contributor or Pixabay is not necessary but is always appreciated by our community.
You can make modifications to content from Pixabay. This site also offers videos that you may use for free if needed.
15. Canva
It has almost everything you need for outstanding design and content marketing.
It has:
Millions of Images
Get your designs with millions of stock photographs, vectors, and illustrations. It even allows users to upload their own.
Photo Filters
Edit your photos using preset filters or get advanced with photo editing tools.
Free Elements
Use icons, shapes, and elements with ease. Choose from thousands of pieces for your designs, or upload your own.
Hundreds of Fonts
Access a great selection of fonts perfect for every design—all ready to go and accessible within Canva.
Moreover, you can use Canva to prepare designs with the appropriate format for popular social media platforms. For instance, you can use Canva to schedule your Facebook cover page, Facebook post, Facebook ads, and so forth. It is the same for Twitter, Instagram, Linked In, and YouTube, among others.
You may choose the purpose of your design you the search bar on the right corner. This technique will help that Canva gives you the proper format and shape you need.
If you are new to Canva, make sure you create a free account, log in, and click on create a design to start building the design you want.
See a picture below
16. Adobe Stock
Try Adobe Stock Free for One Month
Get 10 Adobe Stock standard assets with your free 30-day trial
Adobe doesn’t charge you until your 2nd month when you sign up for one year of Adobe Stock (10 assets a month plan) at US$29.99/mo. (plus applicable taxes)
Cancel risk-free within the first month
17. Stocksnap.io
Stocksnap uses the Creative Commons CC0 license, so its photos are free to download, edit, and use commercial and noncommercial projects.
StockSnap is built to solve your problem in finding quality pictures that you can use for free. On this site, you’ll find no complicated credit requirements or expensive pricing schemes based on usage. All Stocknap visuals are entirely free to use for any purpose whatsoever.
Stocksnap promises its users an ever-expanding collection of the best, most beautiful stock images for free. And it offers these images under a single, simple CC0 license that lets the users do what they want with any photos, with no attribution required.
18. Kaboompics
Kaboompics uses its license, which is similar to Creative Commons Zero, except that you cannot redistribute its photos. I love two things about Kaboompics: one allows me to search by color, and two, it provides a complementary palette of colors in the picture.
19. Gratisography
Gratisography has its free photo license. Which lets you do “almost anything you can think of.” While they have a somewhat limited number of images now, many are high-quality images that people can use.
The Jopwell Collection contains several albums with hundreds of images featuring people in the Jopwell community. The photos are free to be downloaded and used as long as you visibly attribute Jopwell.
21. PicJumbo offers various free images for any kind of use—free of charge with no registration required. You can also get new free pictures by subscribing to the newsletter. PicJumbo also a premium photo collection that you can find through this, which looks fantastic. It even has vertical images for story content.
22. Crello
Like Canva, Crello is a free graphic design tool by Depositphotos, which has many free images for you to use. If you are familiar with Canva, you already know how to use Crello.
23. Depositphotos offers a sample of free images, vectors, editorial content, and footage, which is updated every week. You can also sign up for an account to get the free stock files every week.
24. Google Advanced Image Search is a method of finding free-to-use images through Google’s search tools. Here’s a quick guide.
25. CreateHER Stock’s team has manually curated more than 200 high-quality images of women of color, which might only be used for personal use. (Do check out the license here.) You can also receive new free images every month when you sign up for their newsletter.
26. FoodiesFeed offers thousands of beautiful realistic free food pictures in high resolution. It’s the perfect stock photo site for food bloggers.
27. FreeStock offers a wide range of high-quality photos, all released under Creative Commons CC0.
28. Picography contains beautiful free stock photos submitted by Dave Meier and various other photographers. All images are released under Creative Commons CC0.
29. Foca is a collection of high-resolution photos provided by Jeffrey Betts. Jeffrey specializes in photos of workspaces and nature. All images are released under Creative Commons CC0.
30. Picjumbo is a collection of totally free photos for your commercial & personal works. New images are added daily from various categories, including abstract, fashion, nature, technology, and much more.
31. SkitterPhoto
Released under Creative Commons CC0, SkitterPhoto offers a wide variety of free stock photos. All pictures are authentic and created by Skitterphoto’s owners.
32. Freepik
Freepik offers a variety of free stock photos. Go to freepik.com, click on Filters on the top right corner, select free to see all pictures that can be downloaded for free. However, users are required to give attribution for any image they download free. See an illustration of how to attribute below (taken from freepik.com).
33. Picspree
Backed by Getty Images, Picspree provides a large selection of high-quality stock photos completely royalty-free. With easy searching and frictionless downloading, Picspree is an excellent resource for small businesses and web professionals looking for high-quality images without worrying about licensing.
34. Barn Images
Started by a couple of photographer friends as an alternative to cheesy stock photos, this site features many more than just pics of barns. You’re free to use their royalty-free stock images without attribution for any purpose, but the site creators would appreciate a shoutout if you like their work.
License: CCO
35. Free Food Photos is an easy go-to for recipe mavens and kitchenettes of all kinds. The images are free to use for any purpose, commercial or noncommercial, as long as you credit them.
Explore your stock-free images and grow your business with high-quality content.
