Ban generic stock photography from your marketing. Stock images of anonymous people signal that your brand is interchangeable — the same laughing team appears on a thousand sites — and add zero information. Replace them with real employee photos, product screenshots, functional diagrams, and charts that convey actual data. Every image should either build trust (real people) or do a job (explain something); if it does neither, cut it.
You’ve seen the photo: three colleagues of implausible diversity laughing at a laptop that clearly has nothing funny on it. It’s on your competitor’s site too, and a thousand others, because it came from the same library. To a visitor, it says exactly one thing — this brand had nothing specific to show, so it rented a mood. For more on improving your UX, consider the impact of a fast landing page.
The rule is simple: ban decorative stock, and make every image earn its place.
Why stock imagery costs you
A generic photo doesn’t just fail to help — it actively signals sameness. When your visuals are indistinguishable from every competitor’s, you train the visitor to see you as interchangeable, which is the opposite of what branding is for. And it adds no information: a stranger at a desk tells the buyer nothing about whether you can solve their problem. Don't forget that optimizing your quality score reduces CPC.
| Generic stock | Functional / real | |
|---|---|---|
| Signals | Interchangeable | Specific, credible |
| Information conveyed | None | Explains or proves something |
| Trust effect | Neutral to negative | Positive |
| Seen on rivals’ sites | Yes | No — it’s yours |
What to use instead
Every image should do one of two jobs: build trust or convey information. Real photos of your actual team and workspace build trust because they prove there are real people behind the brand. Product screenshots, annotated diagrams, and data charts convey information because they show how something works or what it produced. Both beat a rented smile.
The one test for every image
Before an image ships, ask: does this build trust or do a job? If it’s a real person or team, it builds trust. If it’s a chart, diagram, or product view, it does a job. If it’s neither — a generic mood shot — delete it. The page is stronger with white space than with a stranger.
No image earns a spot on the page unless it builds trust or conveys information. “It looks nice” is not a job.
Audit your images right now
Scroll your site and challenge each photo with the test. Every generic stock image you find is a small credibility leak — swap it for something real or functional, or remove it. Distinctive, useful visuals are a brand asset; rented ones are noise.
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