What Is the Unsplash Featured Image Suggestion?
VeloCMS searches Unsplash automatically based on your post's keywords and suggests a royalty-free featured image so you don't have to hunt for one.
When you write a post, VeloCMS automatically queries Unsplash using your post's title and focus keywords to suggest a relevant royalty-free featured image. You'll see the suggestion appear in the Featured Image panel on the right side of the editor.
How does the image search actually decide what to suggest?
The search combines your post title with the focus keyword from the SEO panel and fires a query against the Unsplash API. It returns the top eight results and you see all eight as a horizontal strip of thumbnails. The first result is pre-selected as the suggestion but you can click any of the other seven to swap it in. If none of them fit, there's a search field where you can type your own query and browse further.
Do I need to credit the photographer?
Unsplash photos are free to use under the Unsplash License, which doesn't require attribution — but it's good practice and the photographers appreciate it. VeloCMS adds the photographer's name and a link to their Unsplash profile as a caption beneath the featured image by default. You can remove this caption if you want, but we'd encourage leaving it. It's a small gesture that keeps the ecosystem healthy.
The Unsplash License covers editorial and commercial use but prohibits selling the photos themselves or using them in competing stock photo services. For a blog post or landing page you're completely fine.
How do I use my own image instead?
Click the Upload tab in the Featured Image panel to pick a file from your computer, or paste a direct image URL into the URL tab. Your uploaded image goes straight to Cloudflare R2 and becomes the featured image immediately. The Unsplash suggestion disappears once you've set your own — it won't override your choice on subsequent saves.