Google Removes ‘View Image’ Button From Image Search Results

Google has introduced a change in how it presents image search results yesterday. Google has removed the convenient “view image” button from image search which allowed users to open the image alone instead of opening the website where the image was originally published.

“Today we're launching some changes on Google Images to help connect users and useful websites. This will include removing the View Image button,” Google said on its SearchLiaison Twitter page. “The Visit button remains, so users can see images in the context of the webpages they're on.”

The view image feature was a convenient way for users to quickly find the image they’re searching for without opening the website. It’s a feature that’s pretty useful considering that users are searching for a picture and not a website. With the view image feature removed, users will now have to click the “visit” button instead to view the image on the website. Reverse image search is still available from the search bar of Google Images.

The view image feature may have been great for majority of users, but it has drawn complaints from photographers and publishers, as pointed out by The Verge. The view image feature made it very easy for anyone to steal photos. The removal of the feature may also be Google’s way of redirecting users to the website where an image is found so that the website will be able to serve ads and get revenue.

Although the removal of the view image button from Google image search results will certainly be an unavoidable annoyance to a lot of users, there’s actually an easy workaround to this inconvenience. As pointed out by 9To5Google, users can still right click on the image in Google Images search results and click “Copy image Address” in Chrome (or any web browser) and paste it to another tab to open the photo.

The removal of the view image button in Google Image search is also the result of Google and Getty Images’ licensing deal. Earlier this month, the two companies announced a new partnership that allowed Getty Images to appear in Google Images. The deal also meant that the companies will be working closely together to improve attribution of Getty Images contributor’s work.

“For those asking, yes, these changes came about in part due to our settlement with Getty Images this week,” Google said on Twitter. “They are designed to strike a balance between serving user needs and publisher concerns, both stakeholders we value.”