In this area of image use, there is no rule. As so often is true, it depends on your usage, if you hired a photographer, where you obtained the image from and other factors. Google says, people add copyright text, watermarks, or other information to their images. This kind of information won't impact your image's performance in search results, and does help photographers claim credit for their work and deter unknown usage. However, if a feature such as watermarking reduces the user-perceived quality of your image or your image's thumbnail, users may click it less often in search results. In our experience, for most purchased images, we leave it off as we didn't create the image; as well, our users, in general, seem to prefer imagery without text or logo overlays. If it is ours because we hired a photographer to showcase our office, products, an act of service, or selves while publicly speaking, etc., we may. If your preference is to use an image watermark, keep its size limited; it shouldn't become a focal point of the image. Also see our Search Marketing FAQs. Avoid watermarked images for your mobile AdWords advertising; let viewers focus only on the product. Author Jon Fingas addresses this in the US internet providers stop sending piracy warnings article posted on January 28, 2017 and speculated that one reason the imagery pirate streams are becoming more common is due to the burgeoning profession of online media. The MPAA claims that Americans illegally downloaded 981 million movies and TV shows in 2016, let alone pictures!