Cached links, one of Google Search's oldest and most well-known features, are being phased out, Google search officials have announced. ×post can be seen in The Verge. These buttons, best known as “cache” buttons, are snapshots of your web pages when they were last indexed by Google. However, according to Google, you don't need them anymore.
Google's Danny Sullivan said: “In the old days, when you couldn't rely on page loads, it was about getting people to a page. Things have improved a lot these days. . So we decided to retire it,” Google's Danny Sullivan wrote in a post. .
Hey, I caught up. Yes, it has been removed. I understand, it's sad. I'm sad too. This is one of our oldest features. But this was meant to help people access pages back in the day, when you often couldn't rely on page loads. The situation has improved significantly recently. So it was decided…
— Google Search Liaison (@searchliaison) February 1, 2024
But now this feature is used for more than just backing up web pages. Many people use this feature to check the effectiveness of their sites, and SEO managers can use this feature to check pages for errors. Many users, especially news professionals, use the cache to see if a website has been recently updated and information has been added or removed. Caching may also help you see which sites are geo-blocked in your area.
Previously, when you clicked the three-dot menu next to a result, in the bottom right[キャッシュ済み]with button[この結果について]A dialog has opened. But now it opens a much larger menu that shows the website's “about” page, Wikipedia description, privacy settings, and more. Cached buttons no longer appear anywhere.
Sullivan's reply didn't have any positive comments, with one SEO user saying, “Hey, why remove this feature? This is really helpful for all SEOs.” Sullivan said Google may someday add a link to the Internet Archive where there was a cache link button within “About this result.”
However, this appears to be far from an agreement, and a large amount of traffic will likely be directed to the Internet Archive. “There are no promises. We have to talk to them. We'll see how everything goes. There are people involved that are far beyond me. But I think it's good for all. ” he wrote.