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Google Cache Pages Removed? Best Cached View Alternatives

Google Cached Pages

You know that Google analyzes web pages and scans the content with crawler bots. But did you realize that Google analyzes more than just websites? All scanned sites are also recorded and stored in a database on the servers of the IT behemoth. This database is known as Google Cache. However, in response to Google’s removal of the ‘cached’ button from search results, users are now seeking alternatives to view historical snapshots of web pages. 

Web Archive Tools: Best Cached View Alternatives

You might be surprised to learn that Google isn’t the only search engine archiving web pages on the internet. Various online archiving tools are presently doing the same thing all around the world. They may not be as constant with updates and crawls as Google, but they can still be helpful when you need to obtain material that has been removed or geo-blocked. One such tool is the Wayback Machine.

Temporary Google Cache

Google Cache has been a valuable resource for users wanting to access past versions of pages. It is available for users for a little longer, here’s the temporary Google Cache URL: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:example.com. Here, instead of example.com, add the site URL you want to see the cache for.

Wayback Machine – Internet Archive

The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web provided by the Internet Archive. It allows users to browse and access snapshots of web pages captured over time. Users can enter a URL and view historical versions of websites, providing a valuable resource for researching the evolution of web content. The tool also serves as an extensive repository, preserving the internet’s history and enabling users to explore how websites looked and functioned in the past.

Extensions for Cache View

Web Cache Viewer is one of numerous Google Chrome extensions that allows you to browse cached versions of web pages on the move.

What Did Google Cache Do?

All of the websites we can visit are hosted on remote servers. Googlebot must visit websites, scan through the material, and index and categorize them to offer search results to users.

Google, on the other hand, did something else. It took a screenshot of each webpage and saved it as a backup option in the event a live page was unavailable for any reason. Google Cache was a uniform database that stored millions of websites as a backup. The customer experience was also improved as a result of the practice.

For example, if any search engine results pique your interest but are unavailable (removed, unavailable, or otherwise), you could retrieve the web page from Google Cache.

When you look at the Google search engine results pages, you’ll notice that the search results include pictures of the websites listed in the SERPS. This results from how Google’s platform has been tuned to offer search results with connections to relevant Google Cache sites.

Google Cache Uses

Everything has its place and time. Therefore, it was essential to know when to use Google Cache. In most cases, Google Cache was used to:

Get Access to Geo-Restricted Content

Geo-restrictions are frequently used on websites for several reasons. The Google Cache had no bounds. People would use Google Cache to view their favorite web material even if the original website was unavailable in their area. Thereby, overcoming geo-restrictions easily.

Examine the Latest Crawling Times and Dates 

The content you publish on your website can impact its ranking on search engine result pages (SERPs). However, simply updating your website with new content or making changes does not guarantee that your website will immediately appear higher in the SERPs.

First, Google must re-index your site. Additionally, until Google re-indexes your site, changes that result in a dynamic snippet will not be reflected in how your website appears in the SERPs.

Google Cache helped you determine when your website was last crawled by allowing you to examine the latest crawling times and dates. This information provided details on how often a website was being updated and whether or not it is still being actively maintained.

Recover Deleted Files

Google Cache made the recovery of deleted files easy for both site users and owners. In the event that your hosting company failed to take adequate website backup or the data was deleted due to a server fault or hack, you could have recovered the data using Google Cache.

Directly Access Cached Web Pages

Google provides instant access to all indexed web pages. It is by far the most practical method.

  • You enter your search term into Google’s search box and go to the results page.
  • Your search term should be www.websitename.com if you’re looking for a specific website.

Find the website you’re searching for in the search results, then choose Cached by clicking the little grey arrow beside the search result to view cached pages.

Check if Googlebot Had Indexed Your Website

When you selected Cached, Google showed you the most recent version of the page that Googlebot crawled. Full version, Text-only version, and View Source were the three cached web page views available.

When you selected Full version, you could see a rendered version of the cached page. The Text-only version removed the CSS and showed the web page without any graphics, whereas the View source showed the HTML code that Googlebot picked up.

Conclusion

Google Cache was a valuable tool to have on your side. It could aid in the recovery of lost material, the circumvention of geo-restrictions, the usage of indexed pages as a backup for your website, and the management of your marketing, content, and SEO activities. But, with the removal of Google Cache, using alternative may be your only option.

If you find this information relevant, we have various other ways to help you gain more traffic and increase the search result ranking — this is simply a back pocket tactic for a rainy day. However, using archiving tools is an excellent way to see what changes your competitors make and whether your content is relevant to Google, but don’t rely on it massively.

Do you want to improve your site? Get in touch with us! We can help!

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