Featured and inline images

A post can have a featured image, the picture your theme shows at the top of the post, in lists of posts and when the post is shared, plus other images you keep with it. You can generate images with AI or upload your own. Everything happens in the Images section of the post's side panel.

What each option costs

Generate an image

1. Open the post and find Images in the side panel.
2. Describe the image, or leave it blank. For a post Blog AI wrote, the box starts with the writer's own description of a featured image; generate from it as it is and the image keeps the writer's alt text. Otherwise, under Describe the image, write what you want to see, for example "a café owner reading analytics on a laptop, warm morning light, photo style". Concrete scenes work better than abstract ideas. Leave it blank and Blog AI suggests a scene from the post's title and opening.
3. Pick the image type. Featured image makes a wide image that suits the top of a post and social sharing. In the post makes a square image for use inside the text.
4. Click Generate. The button shows the cost. The image usually appears in the panel within half a minute; you're only charged if it's created.
5. Check the featured image. If the post had no featured image, the first featured image you generate becomes it straight away, marked Featured. To use a different one, click Use as featured under it.

Blog AI asks the image service for a clean photo or illustration of one clear subject, with no text, words, numbers, labels, logos, charts or screenshots in it, whatever you write in the description. Generate again with a different description if the first one isn't right. Every image you generate stays in the panel, so you can compare them.

Upload your own image

1. Click Upload in the Images section.
2. Choose a file. JPEG, PNG, WebP and GIF files work. Very large files are refused, and the message gives the size limit.
3. Click Use as featured under it, if it's for the top of the post.

Your own photos are often the better choice: a real photo of your shop, team or work says more than any generated scene. Uploading is always free.

What's sent to your site

When you publish, or schedule on WordPress:

• The featured image is uploaded to your site's media library and set as the post's featured image. On WordPress it's the post's featured image; on Strapi it fills the thumbnail and ogImage fields if your schema has them.
• Its alt text (the description screen readers read out, and search engines use) is the one under Featured image alt text in the Images card: the writer's, for an image made from its own description, or yours. Describe what the picture shows, in a sentence. Left empty, the post's title is used. If you change it on a live post, Update live post sends the image again with the new text.
• When you update a live post later, the same image is reused rather than uploaded again. If you added a featured image or chose a different one since the post went live, Update live post lists "Featured image" under the changes to send and uploads the new one. Removing the featured image in Blog AI doesn't remove it from your site.

Images inside the text are sent as they appear in the editor. To put an image inside the post's text, use the image button in the editor's toolbar with the image's web address. Generated "In the post" images aren't placed into the text automatically.

Where images are stored

Blog AI keeps a copy of every image you generate or upload with your post, in private storage tied to your account. That matters for generated images: the AI service that creates them only keeps its copy for about a week, so Blog AI saves its own straight away and publishes from that. Your links don't break later.

Images are deleted when you delete your account.

Good image habits

• Add any text yourself. Blog AI asks for images without writing, because AI image models still misspell words on signs and screens. If you need a title on the image, add it in your own design tool and upload the result.
• Check people and places. Generated people can look slightly off, and generated places are not real places. Don't present them as photos of your business.
• Match your site's look. If your blog uses illustrations, ask for "flat illustration" rather than photos, so posts sit well together.
• Keep an eye on the credit cost. One or two tries per post is usually enough. Uploading your own is free.

Common problems

"Image generation failed"

The AI image service was busy or refused the description. Try again, or reword it; no credit is charged for a failed image.

"Upload failed"

Check the file type (JPEG, PNG, WebP or GIF) and its size: the message says if it's too large. Resize big photos before uploading; a blog image rarely needs to be wider than 2,000 pixels.

My site shows no featured image

Check the image is marked Featured in the panel. If the post is already live, use Update live post to send it. On Strapi, your articles collection needs a thumbnail field for the image to land anywhere. On WordPress, your theme decides where the featured image appears.

An old post's image link is broken

Images generated before Blog AI started keeping its own copies still point at the AI service, which deletes them after about a week. Generate a new image or upload one, and choose it as featured.