The Google Licensable Badge concept has been discussed for more than
two years and seems to be getting closer to a release.
Photographers will need to put a code in the IPTC header of each of their images. When a Google search finds such an image it will display the Licensable Badge with the image indicating that the image needs to be licensed for use. The viewer can then click on the badge and determine where they need to go to negotiate a license for use.
To make sure Google can discover and index your images photographers may want to start the process (
outlined here) of preparing their images. Initially setting up the code appears to be very complex, but hopefully once you have a standard code for your operation you will be able to copy and paste it into each of your images.
One of the big questions will be an economic one. Will you really earn enough to make it worthwhile to spend all the extra effort necessary to input the code into every image?
If you have a few specific images that you want to protect it may be worthwhile. But, if you have a large number, and no clear idea of which ones might ever sell, trying to protect them all may not be worth the extra effort over and above the actual work of producing the image in the first place.
Certainly, the Licensable Badge may discourage some potential users from making an unauthorized use of your image rather than just grabbing it and using it without thinking of paying. But, given the number of free images out there already, it is unclear how many users will go to the trouble of paying a reasonable sum for the use of an image rather than going somewhere else to find an image without the Badge that they can use.
For more information check out this
PetaPixel story.