How to Open Cached Pages From Google

Do a Google cache search to open old web pages

By
Marziah Karch
Marziah Karch
Marziah Karch
Writer
  • Michigan State University
  • Emporia State University
Marziah Karch is a former writer for Lifewire who also excels at Serious Game Design and develops online help systems, manuals, and interactive training modules.
lifewire's editorial guidelines
Updated on December 22, 2020
Reviewed by
Jon Fisher
Jon Fisher headshot
Reviewed by Jon Fisher
  • Wichita Technical Institute
Jonathan Fisher is a CompTIA certified technologist with more than 6 years' experience writing for publications like TechNorms and Help Desk Geek.
lifewire's editorial guidelines

What to Know

  • Method 1: Search for a word or website. In the search results, click the triangle above the page title and select Cached from the menu.
  • Method 2: Type cache:[site name] in the search field in all lowercase letters with no spaces and press Enter.

There are two ways to view the cached version of a page on Google. Do a regular search on the desktop site and then open the cached version from there, or add one word to your Google search in either the desktop or mobile sites to immediately open the cached version.

Perform a Normal Google Search

Using a normal Google search to find the cached page is as simple as performing a regular search and then clicking a link in the search results to open the cached page.

  1. Search for a word, phrase, or entire website.

  2. Locate the specific page in the results for which you want a cached version.

  3. Click on the triangle above the page title and then select Cached.

    Cached menu in Google search results

Clicking on the Cached link often shows you the page as it was last indexed on Google, but with your search keywords highlighted. This method is extremely useful if you want to find a particular piece of information without having to scan the entire page.

If your search term isn't highlighted, use the Ctrl+F (Windows) or Command+F (Mac) keyboard shortcut to find the word(s).

Go Straight to the Cache

You can instead cut to the chase and go directly to the cached page by adding cache: just before the Google search.

  1. Open a new Google search field and type cache: (including the colon).

  2. Type the URL of the page for which you want to see the cached version. For example, type cache:lifewire.com in all lowercase letters and with no spaces. Leave out the standard "http" or "https" that appears at the beginning of URLs.

    cache:Lifewire.com in Google search field

  3. Press Enter to immediately open the cached page.

As Google indexes web pages, it retains snapshots of the pages' content, known as cached pages. URLs are updated periodically with new cached images. Use this Google power search trick to open a cached image of the page and find the information you need.

Limitations of Caches

Keep in mind that the cache shows the last time the page was indexed, so sometimes images won't display, and the information will be outdated. However, depending on what you're looking for, that might not be a concern.

Some pages instruct Google through the use of a protocol called robots.txt to make historical pages unavailable. Website designers can also elect to keep pages private from Google searches by removing them from the site index (also known as "noindexing" them).

Google only stores the most recent cache of the page, so if you're trying to access a really old page—maybe one that has changed a lot or has been offline for a long time—try the Wayback Machine.

Was this page helpful?