Google has partnered with image creators and stock photo providers to design and roll out licensing features for images.

Several new features aim to make it easier to find the correct images, as well as provide guidelines for how to license an image for business or personal use, such as images used on Facebook or in an advertisement.

When the publisher or image creator provide licensing information, Google will display a “licensable” badge over the image. When selecting a badged image to view, Google will show a link to the license details of the image, and if provided by the publisher, a link to purchase or license the image.  

Those searching for content also can filter results to only return those images that include licensing information.

Google said it is also making it easier to find images with licensing metadata. Select images that either have a Creative Commons license or those that have commercial or other licenses. The type will appear in the Usage Rights dropdown menu on Google Images.

The updates are part of changes Google Images made in recent years to make it more clear who holds the creator or copyrights. Those searching also can see information related to image credit, copyright and creator when the person searching selects an image to view on Google Images and the publisher made the data available.