Last week while looking up drawing reference, I instinctively clicked the button next to the visit button, which used to be view image or something along those lines. I instead was given a little orange square in the button notifying me I had saved the picture. I think the change happened relatively recently, but now instead of just opening an image to view it bigger through google images you have to save the image.
When exploring this new feature I decided to look at where saved images are placed, which doesn’t provide much explanation other than to try it out by saving your favorite images.
At first I was upset by the change but I actually think it will be useful for me because I was looking up reference for art, so now I can have that reference in a convenient space. I originally thought that this was changed so that google could keep better tabs on the things you are interested in, especially because it is directing you to save your favorite things. I looked into it more, however, and the change was supposedly added to make it harder for users to steal images. So, this new button constructs the user by being an inconvenience so you don’t steal.