Image link building uses visual assets to earn links. Original charts, diagrams, screenshots, illustrations and photos get reused by writers who need visuals, and many will credit the source with a link. The approach has two parts: creating images worth reusing, and finding sites that already used your images without credit and asking for attribution.
Images that get reused
Writers borrow visuals that save them work or explain something better than words.
- Charts from your original data
- Clear diagrams of how a process or architecture works
- Annotated screenshots of common workflows
- Frameworks and models drawn as simple graphics
- Photos and illustrations you own the rights to
Finding uncredited use
Reverse image search tools can find copies of your images across the web. For each use, check whether there is a credit and a link. Where there is neither, a short note asking for a source link is reasonable, since you created the image. Keep the tone friendly: most uses are well-meaning.
Putting your brand or URL in a corner of the image, and stating a reuse policy next to it, makes attribution more likely from the start.
Images and search
Good alt text, descriptive file names and surrounding text help your images appear in Google Images and make the page more accessible. Image search visibility then exposes the images to more writers who might reuse them.
Example
A widely copied diagram
An illustrative data pipeline company, Streamquarry, publishes a clear diagram comparing batch and streaming architectures. A reverse image search later finds it on many blogs and slide decks. Streamquarry adds a reuse note to the page and emails blog authors who used it without credit. Several add a source link.
Common mistakes
Sending legal threats first
A takedown demand gets the image removed, not credited. Ask for attribution first unless the use is clearly abusive.
Locking images behind sign-ups
Visuals people cannot see or copy cannot spread.
Questions
Google uses the alt text of a linked image somewhat like anchor text. Beyond that, how image links are weighted is not documented.
