Imagine you’ve taken an amazing photo like a beautiful sunset, a tasty meal or a cool product you want to sell. You want people on the internet to see it right? That’s where “image submission sites” come in. These are online places made for you to share your photos and for others to find them. The digital advertising market around the world is massive and keeps growing. In 2025 it’s expected to be worth about $763.6 billion. And guess what? A big part of digital advertising relies on visuals! Research shows that articles with images receive 94% more views than those without. People are more likely to click and engage when they see pictures.
To see why this matters let’s take a step back and look at the internet today. It’s very focused on visuals! Think about platforms like Instagram, Pinterest and even news websites. Overall the internet is increasingly about images and videos. Image submission websites are tools that help people share their pictures and get them noticed online.
Not all image upload sites are created equal. They have various purposes and come in different forms. Let’s consider some of the typical forms that you might come across:
They are cloud-based storage sites just for your images. Think of them as photo albums stored in the cloud. Imgur, Flickr, and 500px are good examples that easily come to mind. They are simple and ideal to share images with ease.
These are Image Submission Sites where pictures are sold and purchased. You can post your good photographs to websites like Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, or Getty Images. Your images are sold to businesses, bloggers, and designers who need photographs for their projects. You get a share of the revenue when your work is licensed by someone.
As a visual creator – a photographer, illustrator, designer – you might want to show your best work professionally. There are Behance and Dribbble for that. They’re basically portfolios online where you can upload your images to prove your skill and attract clients or jobs.
While social media is not only for posting images, platforms like Pinterest and Instagram are visually oriented. They are wonderful platforms to post your pictures and get a following. Pinterest is a more visual discovery platform where images are used to link to websites and products.
If you have a business, especially a local business, you can use web directories like Yelp, Google My Business, or industry-specific business-class directories. Some of them offer the ability to add photos with your business listing.
So, why would anyone be using these submission sites? What’s in it for you? Let’s demystify the top reasons:
Now, let’s discuss something termed “Domain Authority” or DA. Suppose sites have reputations, as do people. The greater the DA, the more authoritative and trustworthy the site is viewed.
So, why do we need to target “High DA” image submission websites? It’s all about the strength of those backlinks that we discussed before.
Explore off-page sites: Article submission sites
Sites where images can be submitted are an excellent source for creating such valuable backlinks. When you submit an image, you will typically have the ability to include a link back to your site. This link is a backlink. Getting backlinks from various sources, like image submission websites, helps create a good foundation of backlinks for your site, which is a very significant aspect in SEO.
When you upload your pictures on these sites, your pictures are now visible on another site. People visiting these picture sites can view your pictures and see the link back to your site. This actually enhances your online presence. Your site and brand are now exposed to a wider audience who might not have found you through a direct search by themselves.
Getting backlinks from high DA submission sites is a way of promoting your website’s authority. It is like being endorsed by an extremely credible source. When a high authority site links to you, Google will consider it as a signal that your website is probably good and trustworthy as well. Over time, acquiring backlinks from credible sites will help boost your website’s overall authority score, leading to better search engine rankings.
The people looking for these submission websites are often seeking information visually. If your pictures are suitable and compelling, and your title and description are compelling, people might click your picture. If you have put up a prominent link to your website, and if their interest is piqued, they are likely to go through and visit your website. This is “referral traffic” – visitors that arrive from a referral coming in from a second site to your site.
When people search for images related to your business or topic on Google Images, your image-optimized images hosted on image submission websites are likely to be displayed in these results. This is another visibility and traffic boost opportunity, but this time from people who are actually searching for visual content related to what you have to offer.
Here’s how you can get your pictures looking terrific and doing good work for you online:
Ready to implement this? Here’s a quick step-by-step guide to uploading your optimized images to Submission Sites:
Do you remember we discussed “Domain Authority” (DA) before? It’s a website’s reputation score. We would like to target Submission Sites with high DA since backlinks from these websites are worth more in SEO.
Before you begin submitting, have your image optimized! Work through the steps we just discussed: Use a keyword-rich, descriptive file name, Write a concise and descriptive description and ensure it’s web-friendly size and file size.
Most Image Submission Sites will ask you to sign up for a free account before you can submit images. This is normally a simple process: Visit the website of the Image Submission Site. Find a “Sign Up,” “Register,” or “Create Account” button. Enter the information needed (normally just an email and password). Occasionally you’ll have to confirm your email address by clicking on a link sent to your inbox.
Once you’re logged in (or on sites that don’t require login), look for an “Upload,” “Submit Image,” or similar button. The upload process is usually straightforward: Click the “Upload” button. You’ll probably see a button that says “Choose File” or “Browse.” Click it and find your optimized image file on your computer. Select your image and click “Open” or “Upload.”
Once you have uploaded, you will typically be prompted to add some details about your photo. This is where you make the most of your SEO potential and allow others to find your photo: Give your photo a descriptive title that is engaging.
This is the most important SEO step! Find a place where you can enter a website link. It may be called “Website,” “Source URL,” or something else. Paste the URL of your site (or the page you wish to link to) carefully into this space. Double-check that the link is correct!
Lastly, press the “Submit,” “Publish,” or “Share” button to complete your submission of the image. Once you have submitted, navigate to the page of the image on the Image Submission Site and verify that your image is displayed. Click on the link you embedded in order to ensure that it properly links to your site.
SEO Do follow sites: social bookmarking sites
They’re also powerful tools for building your brand and even attracting potential customers, what we call “lead generation.” Let’s see how:
Think of your brand as your personality – what makes you unique and recognizable. Just like your logo and brand colors help people identify you, your visual style does too. These submission sites are fantastic platforms to consistently showcase your brand’s visual identity.
Lead generation is all about attracting people who are potentially interested in what you offer and turning them into customers. These submission sites can be surprisingly effective for this. If you’re selling fitness equipment, share images of people achieving their fitness goals using your equipment. If you offer travel tours, showcase breathtaking destinations you offer tours to.
People love stories, and images are a powerful way to tell them visually. Instead of just posting product photos, try to create mini-stories with your images. Showcase the benefits of your product or service. For a cooking class, don’t just show the kitchen; show people laughing, learning, and enjoying delicious food they’ve cooked themselves. Visual storytelling is much more engaging than just promotional pictures.
Don’t just upload images and hope for the best. Strategically include calls to action to guide people to the next step. In your image descriptions, you can gently encourage viewers to: “Visit our website to learn more” (and include your website link).
Instead of always linking to your homepage, consider linking to specific “landing pages” on your website that are directly related to the image content. For example, if you’re sharing an image of a specific product, link directly to that product page on your site.
Following are some common mistakes to watch out for, and how to keep on track:
Image submission sites are more than just digital photo collections. They are useful tools that can greatly improve your online presence search engine optimization (SEO) branding and even help you find new customers. By learning about the different kinds of submission sites enhancing your images and using these platforms wisely you can reach a larger audience, create a stronger brand image and attract more people. Whether you are a business owner, a marketer, an artist or anyone wanting to grow their online presence using submission sites effectively is a smart choice. Share your images, let them work for you and watch your online presence increase!
They are websites made for sharing images online similar to digital photo albums.
No! While improving SEO is a big advantage they are also great for branding, increasing visibility and finding potential customers.
Not usually. Most of them are easy to use and navigate even if you are not very good with technology.
Yes, if you use them wisely! By improving your images and using them carefully they can be an important part of your online strategy.