A website is to customers what a book is to kindergarteners: if it doesn’t have good photos, it might as well not exist.

But does yours have good photos?

Choosing Stock Photos

If you are starting off with a budget that’s not too high, find refuge in sites such as Shutterstock for images. The thing about stock photo websites is that people often don’t know how to select the right stock photo—because not all of them are good.

Look, for examples, at these photos:

These are all stock photos, and will work for any website that wants to use photos and not pay for them—but these are photos that screamI am a stock photo. One look at them is enough to tell you that they are picked from a website that provides royalty-free photos.

Besides, they aren’t the best in terms of quality either. We wouldn’t suggest you use any of these photos—and especially not the one with the kid who looks like he’s planning to kill you.

Instead, check these photos out:

Picked from the same website as the bad-quality stock photos, these photos are very obviously better in quality, look refined, and aren’t generic.

Now, you might be asking yourself if Google can really tell the difference between a good-quality stock photo and a bad one. The answer is no, it can’t—but people can. If the visitors on your website find you using half-baked (pun intended) photos that look like absolutely no effort was put into their selection, they won’t return to your website.

That will, in turn, affect your web traffic, and lower web traffic tells Google that something on your website isn’t working. The algorithm might not be able to tell just what it is—but it’s bad for SEO all the same.

Do Your Own Photography

Sure, websites like Shutterstock will let you buy good quality stock photos—but at the end of the day, they’re stock photos. Dozens of other websites will have the same photos, such as:

This is a classic example of a photo that tells the customers it’s not from your restaurant. And while you might find better photos to use, such as,

there’s a reason we’re telling you to do your own photography, and it’s this: it’s not your restaurant. Imagine selling customers something on your website, and they expect that from you. However, when they arrive, the reality is completely different.

This leads to negative reviews, accusations of false advertising and scams, and more.



And you don’t even need much for photography: all you need is a good camera, a macro lens, tripod, a reflector, good lighting, and a proper setting.

Image SEO for Your Website

As far as the image SEO for the website for your restaurant goes, you should always reach out to a reliable website design company in your local area. If you’re in Ontario, Canada, reach out to Customer Contact Solutions today.