How to find royalty-free images for your WordPress blog

Choosing the right images for your WordPress blog can enhance its beauty and attract the attention of readers. However,  Finding high-quality, royalty-free images that can be used legally can be challenging.

To help you find the best royalty-free images, we have researched reliable sources and focused on ease of use, image quality, variety, and usage conditions.

In this article, we will introduce popular sources for downloading royalty-free images for your WordPress blog.

Why should you use royalty-free images for your WordPress blog?

Using images on your website helps increase user engagement, improve SEO, and create awareness of your brand. However, if you are just starting a blog, you may not have the budget to purchase royalty-free images, which are images that the owner requires compensation for their use.

Using royalty-free images can help save costs and make your website look more attractive. These images can be legally used for blogs, online courses, social media, online stores, magazines, and more.

The best sources for downloading royalty-free images

1. FreeImages

• FreeImages is a source for downloading royalty-free images with a vast collection, including vector images and icons. You can easily search for and download images by clicking the "Free Download" button to save the images to your computer.

2. Pixabay

• Pixabay has a library of over 2.7 million images, including royalty-free videos and audio. This platform allows you to quickly search for images and download them in various sizes.

3. Unsplash

• Unsplash is a collection of high-quality images that can be downloaded for free.  There is a large image library and a search feature that helps you easily find images that match your theme.

4. Vecteezy

• Vecteezy offers vector images, icons, and graphics for free and for a fee. It also has an online image editor that allows you to customize images without needing to download additional software.

5. Public Domain Pictures

• Public Domain Pictures has a collection of images that can be used without crediting the owner.  You can easily search for images using filters for size, orientation, and color.

6. New Old Stock

• New Old Stock is a collection of vintage photographs in the public domain, featuring interesting historical images along with information about the dates and locations of the photos.

7. Pickup Image

• Pickup Image has a large collection of royalty-free images, along with search and categorization features for easy access.

8. Public Domain Archive

• Public Domain Archive offers free stock images that include both modern and vintage photos, which can be searched through categories or the search bar.

9. SplitShire

• SplitShire has over 20,000 free stock photos, with a mosaic view feature and various download options.

10. LibreShot

• LibreShot is a website with over 1 million free images covering various topics such as nature, people, and objects. It is easy to search and download.

11. Skitterphoto

• Skitterphoto offers high-resolution images that are royalty-free and can be edited as needed.

12. StockSnap.io

• StockSnap is a platform that curates high-quality free images and also offers an API for integrating content into your application.

13. Wikimedia Commons

• Wikimedia Commons is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation that has a large repository of images, videos, and sounds. Some images can be used without copyright restrictions, but some may require crediting the owner.

14. PDPics

• PDPics has over 92,000 royalty-free images.  Organized into categories and easily searchable.

Customizing and optimizing images for WordPress

When you find the desired image, you should edit and optimize the image before using it on your website to make the website load faster and improve SEO.

• Choose the appropriate file type, such as JPEG for colorful images and PNG for images that require high clarity.
• Use file compression tools like Adobe Photoshop or WordPress plugins like Optimole to help reduce image size without losing quality.

I hope this article helps you find and use royalty-free images for your WordPress blog more easily. If you need more information about creating responsive image galleries in WordPress or image creation tools for your blog, don't forget to check out our other articles.