diff --git a/beetsplug/fetchart.py b/beetsplug/fetchart.py
index 81137dc28..a56f9f95a 100644
--- a/beetsplug/fetchart.py
+++ b/beetsplug/fetchart.py
@@ -157,34 +157,6 @@ class AlbumArtOrg(ArtSource):
             self._log.debug(u'no image found on page')
 
 
-class GoogleImages(ArtSource):
-    URL = 'https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/services/search/images'
-
-    def get(self, album):
-        """Return art URL from google.org given an album title and
-        interpreter.
-        """
-        if not (album.albumartist and album.album):
-            return
-        search_string = (album.albumartist + ',' + album.album).encode('utf-8')
-        response = self.request(self.URL, params={
-            'v': '1.0',
-            'q': search_string,
-            'start': '0',
-        })
-
-        # Get results using JSON.
-        try:
-            results = response.json()
-            data = results['responseData']
-            dataInfo = data['results']
-            for myUrl in dataInfo:
-                yield myUrl['unescapedUrl']
-        except:
-            self._log.debug(u'error scraping art page')
-            return
-
-
 class ITunesStore(ArtSource):
     # Art from the iTunes Store.
     def get(self, album):
@@ -388,7 +360,7 @@ class FileSystem(ArtSource):
 
 # Try each source in turn.
 
-SOURCES_ALL = [u'coverart', u'itunes', u'amazon', u'albumart', u'google',
+SOURCES_ALL = [u'coverart', u'itunes', u'amazon', u'albumart',
                u'wikipedia']
 
 ART_SOURCES = {
@@ -396,7 +368,6 @@ ART_SOURCES = {
     u'itunes': ITunesStore,
     u'albumart': AlbumArtOrg,
     u'amazon': Amazon,
-    u'google': GoogleImages,
     u'wikipedia': Wikipedia,
 }
 
diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index eceda093c..b1cddc59e 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -73,6 +73,8 @@ Fixes:
   ImageMagick on Windows. :bug:`1721`
 * Fix a crash when writing some Unicode comment strings to MP3s that used
   older encodings. The encoding is now always updated to UTF-8. :bug:`879`
+* :doc:`/plugins/fetchart`: The Google Images backend has been removed. It
+  used an API that has been shut down. :bug:`1760`
 
 .. _Emby Server: http://emby.media
 
diff --git a/docs/plugins/fetchart.rst b/docs/plugins/fetchart.rst
index beaf7f951..80149d478 100644
--- a/docs/plugins/fetchart.rst
+++ b/docs/plugins/fetchart.rst
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ file. The available options are:
 - **sources**: List of sources to search for images. An asterisk `*` expands
   to all available sources.
   Default: ``coverart itunes amazon albumart``, i.e., everything but
-  ``wikipedia`` and ``google``. Enable those two sources for more matches at
+  ``wikipedia``. Enable those two sources for more matches at
   the cost of some speed.
 
 Note: ``minwidth`` and ``enforce_ratio`` options require either `ImageMagick`_
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ no resizing is performed for album art found on the filesystem---only downloaded
 art is resized. Server-side resizing can also be slower than local resizing, so
 consider installing one of the two backends for better performance.
 
-When using ImageMagic, beets looks for the ``convert`` executable in your path.
+When using ImageMagick, beets looks for the ``convert`` executable in your path.
 On some versions of Windows, the program can be shadowed by a system-provided
 ``convert.exe``. On these systems, you may need to modify your ``%PATH%``
 environment variable so that ImageMagick comes first or use Pillow instead.
@@ -106,8 +106,9 @@ Album Art Sources
 -----------------
 
 By default, this plugin searches for art in the local filesystem as well as on
-the Cover Art Archive, the iTunes Store, Amazon, AlbumArt.org,
-and Google Image Search, and Wikipedia, in that order. You can reorder the sources or remove
+the Cover Art Archive, the iTunes Store, Amazon, and AlbumArt.org, in that
+order.
+You can reorder the sources or remove
 some to speed up the process using the ``sources`` configuration option.
 
 When looking for local album art, beets checks for image files located in the
@@ -136,16 +137,6 @@ Once the library is installed, the plugin will use it to search automatically.
 .. _python-itunes: https://github.com/ocelma/python-itunes
 .. _pip: http://pip.openplans.org/
 
-Google Image Search
-'''''''''''''''''''
-
-You can optionally search for cover art on `Google Images`_. This option uses
-the first hit for a search query consisting of the artist and album name. It
-is therefore approximate: "incorrect" image matches are possible (although
-unlikely).
-
-.. _Google Images: http://images.google.com/
-
 
 Embedding Album Art
 -------------------