Image from a stock agency

Why it matters

Stock agencies, and the claim firms that work for them, search the web for their photos. Without proof of a licence the owner of the site gets a bill, often hundreds of euros per photo. That also goes for a photo a previous builder placed years ago. For an agency that manages sites for clients, the result is the proof that it raised the risk: it records, with a date, that you warned your client. If a claim comes, the decision about the photo lies demonstrably with the client.

How Snaglist checks it

The Rights check is a separate check next to the crawl, in Studio and Bureau, and only on a site you have verified, just like the security check. It looks at the images of the last crawl in three ways. The address: an image loaded straight from a stock agency. The file name the agency gives it, such as shutterstock_123456789 or istockphoto-123456789, also after WordPress resized it. And the data inside the file: creator, credit line, copyright notice, source, licensor and the link to the licence, in IPTC, XMP and EXIF. It only reads the start of each file. Each photo is listed once, with the agency, where it was found and the page it is on, and the result carries the date of the check.

Snaglist reports this as a notice. It costs 5 percent of the page in the health score. Good to know, and sometimes a deliberate choice.

Common causes

• A photo bought by a previous builder or agency, with the licence in their name
• A photo from the demo of a theme or template that stayed on the site
• A preview with a watermark, loaded straight from the agency
• A licence that was bought but never kept

How to fix it

1. Look up the licence in the account at the stock agency, with the number from the file name or the credit line.
2. Keep the proof with the site: the invoice or the download history with the number of the photo.
3. If a previous builder bought it, ask whose name the licence is in and ask for a copy.
4. No proof? Replace the photo with your own image, or buy a licence after all.
5. Do you manage the site for a client? Send the result. It records, with a date, that you warned your client, and the decision lies with them.
6. Renaming the file or removing its data does not remove the rights. Agencies find their photos by the image itself.

How it shows in the report

In the report for your client this appears under the heading "Photos from a stock agency: is your licence in order?". When everything is in order, the report says: "No images from a stock agency found".