Google has decided to discontinue its long-standing practice of maintaining a backup of the entire Internet through its “cached” links feature in Google Search. This decision was confirmed by Google “Search Liaison” Danny Sullivan, who explained that the feature was originally intended to assist users in accessing web pages when reliability was an issue. However, with significant advancements in Internet stability over time, the necessity for this feature has diminished, leading to its retirement.
The removal of the cached links feature has been occurring intermittently since December, with users currently unable to access cached links through Google Search. Despite this, users can still generate their own cached links by manually inputting a website URL into the Google Search bar or by visiting “https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:” followed by the URL. Notably, all support pages related to cached sites have been removed by Google.
Previously, cached links could be found under the drop-down menu next to each search result on Google’s page. This feature allowed Google to create a backup of virtually the entire Internet, consuming significant amounts of storage resources. The removal of this feature aligns with Google’s current focus on cost-saving measures.
While cached links were beneficial for accessing websites that were down or had recently changed, they also provided insights into how Google’s web crawler, known as the “Google Bot,” perceives web content. Over time, Google Bot’s capabilities expanded from rendering text-only pages to processing media and JavaScript content. Despite Google’s efforts to keep details of its web crawling operations confidential, investigating cached pages offered valuable insights. With Google’s transition to mobile-first indexing in 2020, cached pages now reflect the mobile versions of websites.
The discontinuation of cached sites will place a heavier burden on organizations like the Internet Archive, responsible for archiving and tracking changes across the web.
