Website Photos: Stock Images or Your Own?

Updated: 09 November, 2026

Few things shape a first impression of your site as quickly as website photos. Visitors look at the pictures before they read a word, and they use them to judge whether your business feels real and trustworthy. So the question many Liverpool and Merseyside business owners ask is a fair one: should you pay for stock images, or use photos of your own team, premises and work?

The short answer is that it is rarely all one or the other. This guide explains where each option works best, how to keep photos from slowing your site down, and what to check on copyright.

The case for your own photos

Your own photos show what is genuinely different about you. A picture of your shopfront on a real Liverpool street, your team at work or a finished job tells visitors something no generic image can.

Your own photos are usually the better choice for:

• Your "About" and "Contact" pages, where people want to see who they are dealing with.

• Your team, because a real face makes an enquiry feel less like contacting a stranger.

• Your products and work, where accuracy matters. If you sell something, customers want to see the actual item.

• Your premises, so first-time visitors know what to look for when they arrive.

You do not need a professional studio for every shot, although a half-day with a local photographer can cover a lot of ground. Good natural light, a tidy background and a recent phone camera will get you a long way for everyday images. Take them in landscape orientation, keep the subject sharp, and take more than you need so you can pick the best.

The case for stock images

Stock images are useful when you need a picture of something you cannot easily photograph: an abstract idea, a service with nothing visual to show, or a quick header image for a blog post.

The risks are worth knowing about:

• They can look generic. Visitors have seen the same smiling handshake many times, and it does little to build trust.

• They are not exclusive. A competitor may be using the same picture.

• They can mislead. A stock "team" photo on an About page suggests people who do not work for you.

If you do use stock, choose images that look natural, match your brand colours and fit the page's message, and use them to support your own photos rather than replace them. Our guide to what pages a small business website should have is a good place to decide which pages need genuine photography first.

A simple way to decide

Ask three questions for each image:

1. Does this show something real about my business? If yes, use your own photo.

2. Is it a person, a place or a product that a customer will meet? If yes, use your own photo.

3. Is it only illustrating an idea? Then stock may be fine.

Putting your own photos on the pages that matter most (home, about, contact and your main service pages) and using stock sparingly elsewhere is a sensible balance for a small budget.

Copyright: do not just copy an image from the web

Whichever route you take, only use images you have the right to use. According to GOV.UK's guidance on copyright, copyright applies automatically to original works, including photographs, and others need the owner's permission to use them. You do not have to register it or add a © mark.

In practice that means:

• Do not copy pictures from Google Images or from another business's website.

• For stock images, read the licence. It tells you where and how you may use the picture, and whether you must credit the photographer.

• If a photographer takes your photos, agree in writing how you may use them, and make sure the agreement covers website use.

This is general information, not legal advice. If you are unsure about your own situation, speak to a solicitor, or contact the Intellectual Property Office.

Keep your photos fast

Big photos are the most common reason a small business website feels slow. Google's own advice says images often make up most of a page's weight, so it is worth optimising them and checking your pages with PageSpeed Insights. These habits make the biggest difference:

• Resize before you upload. A photo straight from a phone can be several thousand pixels wide. Your page will rarely show it that big.

• Compress sensibly. web.dev's guide to JPEG explains that JPEG is usually a good choice for photographs, and that most tools offer a quality setting where lower numbers give smaller files but more visible loss. Aim for a size that looks good without being larger than it needs to be.

• Set width and height. web.dev advises adding width and height attributes to images so the browser reserves space and the page does not jump about as pictures load.

• Lazy-load images further down the page. Adding loading="lazy" tells the browser to wait for images that are off screen. The same web.dev article warns against lazy-loading the main image visible when the page first opens.

A good developer or website builder will handle most of this for you. Outible builds websites with Gatsby, and if you would like to talk through how photos fit into a new site, you can get in touch.

Make photos work for search and accessibility

Google Search Central gives clear advice that applies to every site:

• Write useful alt text. Alt text describes the picture for people who cannot see it, and helps Google understand it. Google advises against stuffing it with keywords. "Two joiners fitting a kitchen worktop in Wirral" is better than a string of repeated phrases.

• Use descriptive file names. team-at-work-liverpool.jpg is more useful than IMG00023.JPG.

• Put images near relevant text on a page about the same subject.

• Use standard image elements. Google does not index CSS background images, so important photos should not be background-only.

Nobody can guarantee that photos will improve your rankings, but clear, well-described images help visitors and search engines alike. For more on this side of things, see our post on website copywriting.

Watch the video

Google Search Central's short video below gives four tips for faster images on your website.

Where to start

If you are planning a new site, put photography in your plan from the start rather than treating it as an afterthought. List the pages you need, note which images must be genuine, and book a shoot before launch. Our website requirements guide can help you gather what a designer will need, and our web design in Liverpool page explains how we work.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use photos I found on Google for my website?

Not unless you have permission. Photographs are protected by copyright as soon as they are taken, and GOV.UK explains that others need the owner's permission to use them. Use your own photos, images you have licensed, or images whose licence clearly allows your use.

How big should website photos be?

There is no single size, because it depends on where the image appears. As a rule, resize each photo to roughly the largest size it will be shown at, then compress it. Using responsive images (the srcset attribute) lets browsers pick a suitable size for each device, as Google recommends.

Do I need a professional photographer?

Not for everything. A professional is worth it for your team, premises and key products. For everyday updates, careful phone photos in good light can be enough.

Do photos affect how fast my website loads?

Yes. Images are often the heaviest part of a page, so large, uncompressed photos can slow it down. Resizing, compressing and lazy-loading lower-down images help.

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