# Every Unsplash Photo On Your Site Legally Needs Attribution Unsplash's license requires attribution. Pexels' license requires attribution. Free stock doesn't mean no strings. Beyond legal exposure, missing image credit disqualifies you from Google's image-rich-results (requires ImageObject.creditText or copyrightNotice). The audit checks every image for attribution + C2PA manifest + ImageObject schema. Author: J.A. Watte Published: May 9, 2026 Source: https://jwatte.com/blog/blog-tool-image-licensing-credit-audit/ --- The Unsplash license says attribution is "appreciated but not required." Unsplash's terms of service say attribution is required for certain commercial uses. Pexels is clearer: attribution is required. Shutterstock: paid license with specific attribution rules. Getty: pay the license fee and follow the credit line exactly. Legal risk aside, Google's image-rich-results program explicitly requires `ImageObject.creditText` or `copyrightNotice` in the page's JSON-LD for the image to qualify for the licensable-badge feature. Missing that = ineligible for the visual enhancement in SERPs. [Image Licensing + Credit Audit](/tools/image-licensing-credit-audit/) checks every `` on a page for figcaption credit, ImageObject JSON-LD (with the four Google-required fields), C2PA manifest, and stock-source detection. ## What the audit detects - **Alt text present.** Already covered by [image-alt-audit](/tools/image-alt-audit/), repeated here for completeness. - **Figcaption credit.** A `
` within a `
` that contains attribution. - **ImageObject schema fields.** `creditText`, `copyrightNotice`, `license` (URL), `acquireLicensePage` (URL). Google rich-results docs name these four as eligibility-critical. - **C2PA manifest.** Cryptographic provenance chain embedded in the image binary. The modern signal; most stock sites don't carry it yet, but provenance-aware platforms do. - **Stock-source host detection.** `images.unsplash.com`, `pexels.com`, `shutterstock.com`, `gettyimages.com`, `istockphoto.com`, `adobe.stock.com`, `depositphotos.com`, `dreamstime.com`. For any image served from a stock host without visible figcaption credit or schema creditText, the audit flags "stock source without credit" — the legal-risk flag. ## The three disposition options per flagged image 1. **Add the figcaption.** Easiest fix. Wrap the `` in `
` with a `
` containing "Photo by [Name] on Unsplash" (with link to photographer profile where possible). 2. **Add ImageObject schema.** Emit JSON-LD with creditText, copyrightNotice, license URL, and acquireLicensePage URL. Enables the licensable-badge rich result. 3. **Swap to a license-clean image.** Use the site's own photography, AI-generated imagery with C2PA, or CC0-licensed sources (Pixabay, Pexels CC0 selections). Pick whichever matches the image's value to the article. For hero images worth licensing: schema. For decorative stock: swap to CC0. ## Related reading - [Image Alt Audit](/tools/image-alt-audit/) — WCAG 1.1.1 + CLS - [Content Credentials](/tools/content-credentials/) — C2PA manifest detection ## Fact-check notes and sources - Google image license metadata: [developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/image-license-metadata](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/image-license-metadata) - Unsplash license: [unsplash.com/license](https://unsplash.com/license) - Pexels license: [www.pexels.com/license/](https://www.pexels.com/license/) - C2PA: [c2pa.org](https://c2pa.org/) --- *The $20 Dollar Agency covers image hygiene as a deliverable. The audit is how you catch client sites shipping stock without credit.* --- Canonical HTML: https://jwatte.com/blog/blog-tool-image-licensing-credit-audit/ RSS: https://jwatte.com/feed.xml JSON Feed: https://jwatte.com/feed.json Hero image: https://jwatte.com/images/blog-tool-image-licensing-credit-audit.webp