Marketers should attention to this: Bing has announced another new feature to their search engine, this time focusing specifically on their image searches. In addition to searching by image size, the date it was published and other options you can now search by license type. If you’re looking for an image to use on your website, for example, you can choose to look only at public domain images or those that are set as free to share and use. If you are just browsing through images, or don’t mind having to pay to use one that you like, you can choose to set the license search to “all” and see all types.
There are six options to choose from in total, and they are:
- All – This will display all the images, regardless of the license type.
- Public Domain – The rights to this image have been waived by the creator to the fullest extent allowed by law.
- Free to Share and Use – You can share this image and use it freely, though modifying it or using it for commercial purposes may be restricted.
- Free to Share and Use Commercially – You can share and use this image freely, even on commercial sites or projects.
- Free to Modify, Share and Use – You can use this image and share it freely, and also edit it in any way you would like. Using it for commercial purposes may be restricted.
- Free to Modify, Share, and Use Commercially – This option allows you to use the image in any way you would like for personal or commercial purposes. You can also modify the image and use it as you see fit.
This new feature will be very useful for website owners and other marketers who will now have an easier way to quickly find images they want. While many sites have offered access to free images in the past, it is very likely that the Bing image search will have a far larger selection to choose from.
This same feature is also available in Microsoft Office 2013 so any time someone searches for images within any Office application they will have the option to choose what type of licensing they require.
