Google has officially retired the “cached” link feature that allowed users to access archived backups of websites.
Cached links have been a staple of Google Search for a long time, working as a way to view unavailable or modified web pages.
“It was meant to help people access pages when back in the day, you often couldn’t depend on a page loading. These days, things have gotten a lot better. So it was decided to retire it,” he said. say google search link danny sullivan a statement confirming the change.
Sullivan mentioned the possibility of Google partnering with the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine to display historical versions of web pages in Google’s “About This Result” feature. However, he clarified that these discussions continue and that any collaboration is not confirmed.
For website owners and developers who want to see how Google’s crawler interprets their pages, Sullivan recommended using the URL Inspection tool in Google Search Console, which remains available as a resource.
The cost of data storage
Previously, cached links were accessible via a drop-down menu next to each search result. As Google’s web crawler indexed the Internet, it created backup copies of websites, which amount to an archive of much of the Internet’s content.
With Google’s recent focus on cost savings, deleting this data from the cache will free up computing resources.
The cache link feature has been disappearing sporadically over the past few months. There are currently no cache links visible in Google Search results. All Google support pages related to cached links have also been removed.
The growing role of the Internet Archive
With Google removing cached links, the archive of websites falls largely to the Internet Archive and its Wayback Machine.
Browser extensions like the official Wayback Machine Extension allow users to view archived copies of sites with ease.
The Wayback Machine extension offers features for saving web pages, restoring missing pages, reading digitized books, sharing archived links on social networks, and more. Most features work without the need for an account.
Creating personal cache links
An alternative exists for users who still want to access cached pages. Typing “cache:” plus a URL into Google Search can still reveal some cached versions.
Additionally, you can create your own cache links by adding a website URL to “
looking ahead
Google’s decision to discontinue its web caching service signals a change in the way online content is stored and made available over time. When Google removes this feature, the responsibility for preserving old versions of web pages and keeping the history of the Internet intact falls more on groups like the Internet Archive.
As the online world continues to rapidly develop, entities like the Archive that intentionally maintain caches of websites and data will only become more important in preserving a record of the Internet’s past.
Featured image: Sharaf Maksumov/Shutterstock
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