Unsplash images can disappear for several reasons:
| Reason | Frequency | Description |
|--------|-----------|-------------|
| Photographer removal | Common | The original photographer deleted their account or removed the image |
| DMCA takedown | Occasional | Copyright claim resulted in removal |
| Terms violation | Rare | Image violated Unsplash content policies |
| URL restructuring | Rare | Unsplash changed their URL format |
When an image becomes unavailable, anyone viewing your content sees a broken image placeholder or empty space. This degrades user experience and can hurt SEO if search engines encounter broken media.
ILLIXIS runs an automated check every night to verify all Unsplash images in your published content.
Process:
What gets checked:
What doesn't get checked:
If any unavailable images are found, a digest email is generated and sent the following morning.
| Process | Time (UTC) | Description |
|---------|------------|-------------|
| Availability check | Daily at 3:00 AM | Checks all Unsplash URLs for availability |
| Digest email | Daily at 4:00 AM | Sends digest email if issues found |
The one-hour gap ensures availability checks complete before the digest is generated.
When issues are found, the digest email includes:
Summary section:
Per-article details:
| Field | Description |
|-------|-------------|
| Article title | Linked to the article in Content Hub |
| Image URL | The unavailable Unsplash URL |
| Image location | Hero image, inline, or social |
| Last known working | When the image was last verified available |
| Suggested action | Replace with new image |
Quick actions:
Click any article link in the digest to go directly to that content in Content Hub.
When unavailable images exist, a warning badge appears on the Content Hub dashboard card showing the count.
Click the article link from the digest or find it in Content Hub.
Broken images display a placeholder with:
Click "Replace Image" to open the image selector:
Option A: Search Unsplash
Option B: Upload Custom Image
Option C: Generate with AI
After replacing images:
Control how you receive unavailable image alerts.
Navigate: Settings > Notifications > Content Alerts
Options:
| Setting | Description |
|---------|-------------|
| Email digest | Receive daily digest when issues found (default: on) |
| Dashboard alerts | Show badge on Content Hub dashboard (default: on) |
| Digest recipients | Email addresses for digest (default: account owner) |
| Alert threshold | Minimum broken images before alerting (default: 1) |
By default, digests are sent daily when issues exist. Change to weekly in Settings if you prefer less frequent notifications.
If you're aware of broken images and working on fixes, temporarily suppress alerts:
Instead of hotlinking to Unsplash, download images and host them yourself:
This option is available in all image selectors.
AI-generated images are hosted automatically. They never become unavailable due to third-party actions.
Turn on automatic downloading for all Unsplash selections:
The monitoring system identifies Unsplash images by their URL, specifically any image hosted at:
images.unsplash.comunsplash.com/photosImages from other sources (Pexels, Pixabay, uploaded files) are not monitored by this feature.
Each image is checked quickly and efficiently:
To avoid overloading Unsplash, checks are spread out over time. Accounts with large image libraries may take several hours to complete a full check. This does not affect your workflow -- results are delivered in the daily digest regardless of how long the scan takes.
How quickly will I know if an image becomes unavailable? Within 24 hours. The availability check runs at 3:00 AM UTC daily, with digest sent at 4:00 AM UTC.
Does monitoring cost extra? No. Image monitoring is included in all plans.
What if the image comes back? If an image becomes available again before you replace it, the next daily check will clear the flag. You'll see it removed from the broken images list.
Are Pexels/Pixabay images monitored? Not currently. Monitoring focuses on Unsplash, which is the most commonly used free image source. Other sources may be added in future updates.
What happens if I ignore broken images? Nothing automatic. Broken images remain in your content until you replace them. Your visitors will see broken image placeholders. Consider addressing them promptly for better user experience.
Can I check images manually? Yes. In Content Hub, click "Check Images" on any article to run an immediate availability check for that article's images only.
ILLIXIS automatically generates AI-powered hero images for every article. The system analyzes your brief's content strategy, extracts your brand's visual guidelines, and creates photorealistic images that match your brand aesthetic.
ILLIXIS automatically generates data visualizations from your content and research. Charts are placed strategically throughout long-form articles to break up text and make data more scannable.
Location: Advertising → Dashboard → Google Ads Tab → Create Banner
What It Does
Organize, browse, and reuse all your AI-generated images, charts, infographics, and uploaded media assets in one centralized location.
One platform. You approve. ILLIXIS executes. Marketing that just happens.
Marketing, Unstacked.