In my previous post, I explained one of the major reasons why promoting your own website is so difficult, and I said I would explain how I personally fixed this part of the problem.
Before getting into how, I want to pause for a moment and explain why image attribution matters so much, especially now.
Why image attribution is a core problem
Today, every serious indexing system increasingly relies on image originality to define content originality as a whole.
Some platforms don’t do this, like Poshmark or Mercari.
Not because image originality doesn’t matter — but because their systems simply aren’t strong enough to analyze images at scale.
Google can.
And eBay is rapidly approaching that level.
That’s one of the reasons eBay’s algorithms have changed so much in the last 1–2 years, leaving many sellers confused and struggling. There’s a whole separate discussion to be had about how Google and eBay differ in image-based ranking — but the core idea is the same:
Images are a stronger footprint than text.
Text is easy to copy, rewrite, and manipulate.
Images are more complex objects. Even though they can be copied and faked, they still carry more detectable signals.
That’s why image originality now sits at the center of how originality itself is defined.
For anyone running their own website, the key is not to fight this reality — but to use the available tools to outplay content thieves.
What I actually did (Shopify-based store)
In my case, I solved the image attribution problem by following 4-5 not very basic steps (details are below — yes, it’s technical). This process is already working for me.
So far, a little over 80 listings use the new workflow, and I can already see improvements in broader shop visibility, even though the process isn’t fully finished yet.
Why this is hard for most people
Shopify is marketed as easy and straightforward.
And in a narrow sense, it is — you can create a functioning shop quickly.
But a functioning shop is not the same as a discoverable shop.
If you:
- don’t have a massive social media following
- don’t want to spend thousands on ads
- don’t outsource SEO and customization to agencies
…then welcome to DIY territory.
It is difficult.
But it is doable.
The actual solution (step by step)
#1. I created a CDN on Google Cloud and hosted images there
Why this matters:
- Google knows the upload timestamp of images hosted on its own infrastructure
- Even if copies appear elsewhere later, originality can still be proven
- I no longer have to rely on watermarks or metadata
Visible watermarks are discouraged by marketplaces.
Invisible watermarks caused artifacts (yellow lines).
Metadata is unreliable — most tools strip or alter it anyway.
So instead, I relied on something Google actually trusts:
Google-created timestamps on Google-hosted assets.
Additional bonuses:
- Larger image size
- Higher resolution
Scrapers almost always downgrade images.
#2. I modified my Shopify theme to display images from Google CDN
This required custom coding.
Yes — I used ChatGPT.
Why this matters:
Images hosted on Shopify’s CDN are extremely easy to scrape — especially for new stores.
If you open a new Shopify shop and host all images on Shopify’s CDN, you are effectively gifting them to scrapers. When Google later indexes your site, it may already see your images everywhere else — and you end up looking like the thief.
This is the core trap no one warns you about.
#3. I fixed Shopify’s JSON-LD inconsistency
Even if you display images from an external CDN, Shopify will still push its own hosted image as the main product image in JSON-LD.
That creates conflicting signals again.
So:
- the visible product images
- the structured data
- the canonical signals
…all needed to point to the same Google-CDN-hosted image.
That required rewriting Shopify’s JSON-LD output for consistency.
#4. I created a custom Google Shopping feed
Shopify’s built-in Google integrations are clumsy and opaque.
Most apps:
- only pull Shopify-hosted images
- ignore external CDNs
- give you little control
I chose to build a custom Google Shopping feed for products using the custom image template.
Yes, this required coding.
Yes, it took about a day.
It solved multiple problems at once.
#5. The FB/IG lesson I learned the hard way
I initially ignored FB/IG limitations and allowed them to pull only one Shopify-hosted image.
Two weeks later:
- my FB catalog was disapproved
- product tags stopped working
- overall visibility dropped
At that point, Google had already indexed my product pages correctly — so I safely re-added all additional images to Shopify only to feed FB/IG.
Now I’m waiting for catalog re-evaluation (or I'll have to reconnect it, which will likely break working tags on IG at least temporarily).
Lesson learned:
Don’t neglect your FB/IG feed, even if Google indexing is your main goal.
Final thought
Selling on marketplaces is easier.
Running your own site:
- requires technical understanding
- requires deliberate sequencing
- requires patience
But it gives you something marketplaces never will:
Ownership.
And yes — it’s difficult.
But it is doable.
