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Google search (symbolic image): What is offline stays offline
Photo: Lukas Schulze / dpa
Observant Google users noticed early on: the so-called cache function, which allowed you to view copies of many websites, has disappeared from the search engine. The company now confirms: The cache will no longer be publicly accessible in the future.
The cache was a byproduct of the search engine. To ensure that Google can always find up-to-date results on the Internet, the company's automated programs constantly search the Internet and save copies of most of the websites they visit. After evaluating the search terms, Google did not simply delete the data, but also made a current copy publicly available.
A breakthrough for the public network
On When the cache was introduced, users could not have relied on a website actually appearing in the browser. This is no longer the case and the cache is therefore no longer needed.
But that was just one of the use cases. When particularly explosive content was deleted, the cache often exposed false denials. Courts were also repeatedly convinced by the Google timestamp that disputed content was actually online as described. However, users had no control over when Google saved a website. The copies also did not contain all content such as graphics.
Experienced users can still view the cache if they manually enter a special Internet address. To see the cached version of bundestag.de, you would have to type https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:bundestag.de in the browser address line or "cache:bundestag.de" in the search mask input. But this option will also disappear in the “near future,” explains Sullivan. Instead, Google is considering placing links to the Internet Archive, which is financed by donations and which also contains many website copies in its Wayback Machine and, unlike Google, also allows a targeted look into the past.
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