Google Search will stop caching or storing web pages for alternative loading functionality. This method is now obsolete according to a Google post on social media platform X.
Google Search will no longer automatically cache web links so that users have an option for loading older versions of web pages, which could be helpful for poor internet connections.
According to Google’s post on X, the options for loading web pages have been greatly improved over time. The old cache functionality that dates back to the early days of the search engine is therefore obsolete.
Copy Internet
The feature was created at a time when web page loading was far less reliable than it is today. Especially in the early days of Google (late 90s-early 00s) this was a highly relevant option. Via caching, the web page in question could still be loaded.
The cached links were visible under the drop-down menu next to every search result on Google. The web crawler indexed the internet for new and updated pages, but at the same time, it also saved a copy of what it had detected. In this way, the tech giant provided a copy of virtually the entire internet that consisted of countless petabytes of data.
In addition, the cached links in Google Search gave a good impression of how the Google Bot worked. For example, cached pages appeared in text-only form initially. Only later did Google enhance these old web pages with images and other features.
Cost savings
The end of the caching functionality within Google Search is possibly a result of the more efficient operations and cost reduction the tech giant is implementing. An end to caching and the discarding of this data will free up precious resources.
Ars Technica indicates that the cache functionality within Google Search has been gradually disappearing since December 2023, but it has occasionally crept up again. Right now, with some manual adjustments, the feature still works somewhat. It’s uncertain for how long that will be the case, however.
A well-known alternative to cached Web pages is Archive.org’s Wayback engine.
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