How image backlinks work and how to earn them

Image backlinks come from finding pages that use your original images, such as infographics, charts or illustrations, and asking the publisher to credit you with a link to your page. It only works if you made the image, and the links are earned from people who already used your work. If a search for "buy image backlinks" brought you here: do not buy them (see the Google rule below).

How to do it

1. Pick your most reusable images. Infographics, GIFs, illustrations and logos are the ones people most often embed without crediting the source, according to Ahrefs.
2. Run a reverse image search on each one. Go to Google, click Search by image, and upload the file or paste the image URL (Google's instructions). The results include websites with the image or a similar one. TinEye is a second tool; Ahrefs says it usually finds more results than Google but has no export button on its results.
3. Open each page and check whether it links to you. View the page source, or search the page for your domain. Skip pages that already link to a page on your site.
4. Find links that point at the image file itself. In a backlink tool such as Ahrefs Site Explorer, open the Backlinks report and filter the target URL for .png or .jpg. Those links give a visitor the file, not your article, so asking for the link to be moved to your page is a small request.
5. Send a short, polite request. Name the image, link the original page, and ask for a credit line with a link. Keep it two or three sentences. Ahrefs notes that authors are often more likely to add a link soon after they publish.
6. Make it easier next time. Put a credit line or embed snippet beside each infographic, with the HTML for a link back. Add image license metadata (structured data or IPTC) so Google can show a Licensable badge with a link to your license terms.

Examples

Ahrefs' guide shows a case: an image from the blog Wait But Why, embedded on another site with no link back to the original. Ahrefs describes this as the kind of find a reverse image search turns up, and says the owner could ask the site for a link. That is an illustration of the method in Ahrefs' article, not a reported result.

When it backfires

• You do not own the image. If you licensed it or used a stock photo, you cannot ask for credit. Check your rights first.
• Buying or trading for links. Google's spam policies list buying or selling links for ranking, and exchanging goods or services for links, as link spam. Bulk "image backlink" packages and image-sharing sites for rankings are the same pattern.
• Aggressive outreach. Sending a demand with a copyright threat gets deleted or reported. Ask once, offer a credit line, and stop if they say no.
• Low value. A link on a scraped or junk site adds little. Prioritize pages that are real articles on topics related to yours.
• Most requests get no reply. There is no public data on a typical success rate, so treat each link as a bonus.

Questions people ask

How do I create backlinks with images? Make an original image people want to reuse, put a credit line or embed code next to it, then run reverse image searches and ask the sites using it for a link.

Is an image backlink different from a normal backlink? The link is the same. What differs is where it comes from: a page that used your image. Links that point to the image file rather than a page are a case worth fixing.

Do image backlinks help SEO? A link from a relevant page can count like any link. There is no source for a fixed effect, so do not count on a ranking change.

Sources

• Ahrefs: unlinked mentions guide, section on reverse image search, read Oct 8, 2026
• Google Search Help: search with an image, read Oct 8, 2026
• Google Search Central: image license metadata, read Oct 8, 2026
• Google Search Central: spam policies, link spam, read Oct 8, 2026