Google & Internet Archive unite to bring back cached pages

[Garth Gator]

 

Google and the Internet Archive are turning back the clock on the web after the tech giant retired cached links on its search tool in February, citing improvements in web reliability as the reason for the discontinuation.

 

The collaboration integrates the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine into Google’s ‘About this page’ feature, allowing users to access historical snapshots of websites. This comes after Google removed its own cache feature earlier this year, citing improvements in web reliability as the reason for its discontinuation.

 

The Wayback Machine, a project that’s been dutifully archiving the internet for over 25 years, is now just a few clicks away from your everyday Google search. With this new partnership, searchers will now be able to easily access edited or removed content—a critical tool for tracking changes in news stories, retrieving deleted information, or simply exploring how websites have evolved over time.

 

To use this feature, simply conduct a search on Google. Beside each result, you’ll notice three dots that open the ‘About this Result’ panel. From there, clicking on ‘More About This Page’ will lead you to a direct link to the Wayback Machine, where you can explore past versions of that site.

 

“The web is aging, and with it, countless URLs now lead to digital ghosts,” explains Mark Graham, director of the Wayback Machine. “Enter the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine: for more than 25 years, it’s been preserving snapshots of the public web. This digital time capsule transforms our ‘now-only’ browsing into a journey through internet history. And now, it’s just a click away from Google search results, opening a portal to a fuller, richer web—one that remembers what others have forgotten.”

 

 

• https://gizmodo.com/google-teams-with-the-internet-archive-to-revive-cache-feature-2000497624 
• https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/search-engines/wayback-machine-links-are-now-are-part-of-google-search-heres-whats-new 
• https://www.engadget.com/computing/google-searches-now-link-to-the-internet-archive-164814487.html 

 

 

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