Google Discontinues Cached Web Pages Feature

Google search users will no longer be able to access cached versions of web pages as Google officially discontinues this feature. This change was confirmed by Google's search representative, Danny Sullivan, marking the end of an era when users could view pages from Google's perspective, useful for various purposes such as debugging sites or accessing content from blocked sites.

Hey, catching up. Yes, it's been removed. I know, it's sad. I'm sad too. It's one of our oldest features. But it was meant for helping people access pages when way back, you often couldn't depend on a page loading. These days, things have greatly improved. So, it was decided to…
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) February 1, 2024

Cache links have been gradually removed over the past month, a reliable resource for users encountering slowly-loading pages or seeking past versions of websites. While citing improved internet reliability as the reason for this feature's discontinuation, Google acknowledges it impacts groups including SEO practitioners, journalists, and users in restricted access regions who rely on cached pages.

Despite the disappearance of the cache view option, Google is considering alternatives such as linking to the Internet Archive to indicate changes to web pages. However, Sullivan emphasizes that this potential alternative is not yet finalized and requires further discussion.