There might be other explanations, thought not necessary better. For example maybe they are following Steve Jobs' dream of single button apps? All not essential features confuse people[0]. Google have already hidden "cached" version link in tiny hamburger menu.

Or they assume they know better what the users wants than the users themselves. YouTube straight up ignores dislikes - and will show disliked video in mixes or at first place of search results.

If we give Google the benefit of doubt, maybe people just kept accidently blocking useful sites and later complained they couldn't find anything? Thought Steam deals with that perfectly: search results start with disclaimer: "8,875 results match your search. 2,053 titles have been excluded based on your preferences." - and it takes 2 clicks to go back to unfiltered results.

[0] - well, at least Gnome project follows that idea, killing any discoverability

the REMOVAL of this feature from Google…