Google Images now displays photo IPTC metadata up front

Good news here for the photo licensing industry – Google Images are now showing photo IPTC metadata details directly below an image.
The image details were previously only available through a dropdown menu – is now displayed upfront with a link back to the owner.

Google say: ‘Photographers, photo agencies, and other related industries provide information about their images in image metadata. Google Images exposes IPTC metadata in search results whenever it is available.’

Add image rights metadata

• Google supports the IPTC metadata format to manage image copyright information.
• You can either embed metadata directly inside an image, or add it to a separate file (known as a sidecar file). Google recommends embedding the metadata inside the image because it helps prevent the metadata from being lost.
• Whenever possible, try to specify the IPTC fields creator, credit line, and copyright notice to provide proper attribution.

We recommend using metadata management software to manage your image metadata.

Is it okay to remove image metadata?
Removing image metadata can reduce image file size, which helps webpages load faster. However, you should be careful, since removing metadata may be illegal in certain jurisdictions. Image metadata provide image copyright and licensing information online. Google recommends that, at the very least, you retain critical metadata related to image rights information and identification. For example, whenever possible try to keep the IPTC fields creator, credit line, and copyright notice to provide proper attribution.

• Related on PAN: CEPIC secures image metadata details on Google Images