Google Search Retires ‘Cached’ Web Page Feature
Google has officially retired one of its oldest features, the ‘cached’ web page. This feature was designed to help users access pages when, in the past, loading a page wasn’t always reliable. However, with the significant improvements in technology and internet accessibility, Google decided it was time to retire this feature.
What Was Google’s ‘Cached’ Web Page?
The ‘cached’ web page was a feature that allowed users to view a version of a web page as it appeared when Google last crawled it. This was particularly useful when the actual page was temporarily unavailable, or the user wanted to see an older version of the page.
Why Was Google Cache Discontinued?
Google’s search liaison confirmed the retirement of the ‘cached’ web page, stating that it was “no longer required”. The feature was initially meant to help users access pages during times when you couldn’t depend on a page loading. However, these days, things have greatly improved, making the feature less necessary.
Is Google Still Supporting ‘Cached’ Web Page?
No, Google has stopped supporting the ‘cached’ web page feature. However, the cache operator currently works, at least for the time being. For example, if you search for [cache:https://www.webdigitalmarketing.com/] on Google, the cache will work. Check here: https://www.google.com/search?q=cache:https://www.webdigitalmarketing.com/
But Google has also announced that this too will be retired and stop working. “You’re going to see cache: go away in the near future, too,” Sullivan wrote.
Why did Google Retire’ Google ‘Cache’ Feature Now?
Google decided to retire the ‘cached’ web page feature due to significant improvements in page loading speeds. The feature was originally designed to help users access pages when page loading was unreliable. However, with the advancement of technology and the internet, page loading has become much more reliable, making the ‘cached’ feature less necessary.
Moreover, Google is in an era of cost savings. By retiring the ‘cached’ feature, it can start deleting cache data, potentially freeing up a lot of resources2. This move aligns with Google’s recent trend of removing underutilized features to prioritize an enhanced user experience.
It’s important to note that while the ‘cached’ feature is being retired, Google will still respect the ‘noarchive’ directive, which prevents Google from showing the cached link for a page. So, webmasters don’t need to make any changes regarding this.
What is the Impact of Google ‘cached’ Retirement on SEO?
As per the Web Digital Marketing perspective, the retirement of Google’s ‘cached’ feature could necessitate changes in SEO strategies and practices. However, it’s important to note that Google will continue to respect the ‘noarchive’ directive, and webmasters do not need to make any changes regarding this.
The retirement of Google’s ‘cached’ web page feature could have several impacts on SEO:
- Frequency of Indexing: The ‘cached’ feature used to check the frequency of Google’s indexing. With its retirement, SEOs may need to find other ways to monitor this.
- Insights into Google’s Web Crawling: The ‘cached’ feature provided some insight into how Google’s web crawler views the web page. Its retirement could make it more challenging for SEO Services Providers to understand how their pages are being crawled and indexed by Google.
- Error Checking: The SEO community often used the ‘cached’ feature to check their pages for errors. Without this feature, they may need to rely more heavily on other tools like Google’s Search Console.
- Content Verification: The ‘cached’ feature was often used to verify the authenticity of information and check for page updates..
- Access to Geoblocked Content: The ‘cached’ feature could sometimes be used to access content that was geoblocked in certain regions.
What Are the Alternatives to Check Google Cache Pages?
Even though the ‘cached’ web page feature is being retired, there are still ways to check Google Cache Pages. Anyone with a Search Console account can use the URL Inspector to see what Google’s crawler saw when looking at their own page.
Another alternative is to use the Wayback Machine link to check. The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web and other information on the Internet created by the Internet Archive, a non-profit organization.
Difference Between ‘cached’ and ‘noarchive’ Features
Google ‘cached’ feature was a service provided by Google to the users, the ‘noarchive’ directive is a tool for webmasters to control how Google interacts with their pages. The ‘cached’ and ‘noarchive’ directives serve different purposes in Google’s web crawling and indexing:
Google Cached Feature
The ‘cached’ feature was a Google service that allowed users to view a version of a web page as it appeared when Google last crawled it. This was particularly useful when the actual page was temporarily unavailable, or the user wanted to see an older version of the page. However, Google has officially retired this feature due to improvements in page loading speeds and internet accessibility.
Noarchive tag
The ‘noarchive’ directive is a meta tag that webmasters can use to tell Google not to store a cached copy of their page. When the ‘noarchive’ tag is used, Google will not provide a ‘Cached’ link in the search results for that page. This can be particularly useful if you’re frequently updating a page and don’t want Google to show an outdated version. Using the ‘noarchive’ tag has no major impact on search ranking.
What is the Wayback Machine?
The Wayback Machine allows users to go “back in time” to see how websites looked in the past. It provides a historical archive of a page’s changes over time. This is particularly useful for viewing the evolution of a website, checking the history of a particular webpage, or recovering information that has been lost on the live web. Check here Web Digital Marketing Wayback History from 2011.
The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web, created by the Internet Archive, a non-profit organization based in San Francisco, California. It was launched to the public in 2001.
As per Wiki data, In January 2024, the Wayback Machine has archived more than 860 billion web pages and well over 99 petabytes of data.
How to Use the Wayback Machine to Check Web Page Cache or History?
The Wayback Machine allows you to view historical versions of web pages. Here’s how you can use it:
Step 1) Open your web browser and go to the Wayback Machine website – https://archive.org/
Step 2) Enter the URL of the website into the search box and Hit Enter. For example, enter https://www.webdigitalmarketing.com/ in the search box.
Step 3) You’ll see a timeline at the top of the page.
Step 4) Select the year you want to view. For example, select 2011, the year when Web Digital Marketing was launched.
Step 5) Below the timeline, you’ll see a calendar. Dates highlighted in blue have snapshots available. Click on a date to view the Web Digital Marketing website as it appeared on that day.
Additionally, you can check the history of a website using different filters like Calendar, Collections, Changes, Summary, Site Map, and URLs.
What is the Difference Between Google Cached and Wayback Machine?
Key Difference Between Google Cached vs Wayback Machine: The Google ‘Cached’ feature and the Wayback Machine serve similar purposes but operate differently. Both services provide snapshots of web pages. However, Google’s ‘Cached’ feature focuses on the most recent version of a page, whereas the Wayback Machine provides a historical archive of a page’s changes over time.
Google’s ‘Cached’ feature allows users to view a version of a web page as it appeared when Google last crawled it. It was particularly useful for viewing a page that was temporarily unavailable or had been recently updated. However, Google has officially retired this feature. On the other hand, the Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web, created by the Internet Archive, a non-profit organization. Unlike Google’s ‘Cached’ feature, which only kept the most recent snapshot of a webpage, the Wayback Machine takes periodical snapshots over time. This allows users to see how a website looked at different points in the past.
A Personal Note from Google’s Search Liaison
In a recent tweet, Google’s search liaison expressed sadness over the retirement of the ‘cached’ web page feature, acknowledging it as one of Google’s oldest features. However, he also expressed hope that links to the Internet Archive might be added where the cache link was before, within the ‘About This Result’ section.
This would allow users to easily see how a page has changed over time, contributing to the information literacy goal of ‘About The Result’. However, he also clarified that this is just a personal hope and not a promise, as it involves discussions with people well beyond him.
FAQs:
1) Is Google ‘cached’ web page discontinued?
Yes, Google has officially discontinued the ‘cached’ web page feature.
2) Is Google still supporting a ‘cached’ web page?
No, Google is no longer supporting the ‘cached’ web page feature.
3) Has Google removed the cache?
Yes, Google has removed the ‘cache’ feature from its search results.
Conclusion
The retirement of Google’s ‘cached’ web page feature marks the end of an era. However, it also opens up possibilities for new features and improvements. As technology continues to evolve, we can look forward to more changes and advancements in the way we access and interact with web content.
