Cached Page: A Guide to Understanding and Viewing It

Loading pages quickly can help users access information easily. This is one aspect that is considered in SEO. So that the website can provide content in a short time, you can use a cached page.

Cache may not be a foreign term to the ears of website administrators. Caching systems are usually used to speed up page loading times. This can optimize the website and improve its performance on the SERP.

So, how important is a cached page, and how do you view it? To find out the full discussion, read the guide below.

What is a Cached Page?

Cached pages are copies of website pages that are stored temporarily. The storage area itself is called a cache. The process of storing data is called caching.

The purpose of caching itself is to store files from a page to improve data retrieval performance. In other words, caching can help users request the same data in the future more quickly.

There are two kinds of caches that you should know about: those on servers and those in browsers. A cache in the browser can help users access information more quickly when visiting the same page for the second or umpteenth time.

On the other hand, there is a cache on a server called the Content Delivery Network (CDN). This server will store web content, such as images, videos, and web pages. The trick is to archive the cache using the server closest to the user.

Apart from web browsers and servers, Google also implements a cached page system. Usually the cache is obtained after the crawler crawls and indexes the new site. During this process, Google makes backups or copies of web pages to display to users even if the live page is not accessible.

The Importance of Cached Pages

Pages that are stored in the cache will be faster and easier to access because the data is already on the browser, server, or search engine. This can benefit the user because accessing pages containing database information no longer requires a long loading time.

In this case, the user can see the cached page or the updated live version. Usually, there will be a notification about the latest version of the page on the cached version.

The use of caching here is useful to speed up the delivery of information to the user. This method can increase the convenience of page access, thereby reducing the bounce rate and improving the user experience, which has a positive impact on SEO.

Caching is especially useful for websites that have high traffic and use database information to serve pages to users. On the other hand, the cached page is not the most recent version of the page, and so updates cannot be seen.

Page Caching Types

The process of caching or storing page data is crucial to displaying cached pages to the user. There are three types of caching that you need to know below:

Via Servers

As previously mentioned, caching on the server is generally done using a Content Delivery Network (CDN). Website page data will be stored on proxy servers scattered in various locations.

If the CDN has a copy or copies of the page requested by the proxy server, then that version will be displayed to the user. With a CDN, accessing pages is easier and faster because the information delivery doesn't have to rely on the main server.

Via Browser

To access a page, the browser needs to download a small amount of data. After the download process is complete, the page will be displayed in full. With a caching system, data will be automatically stored on the user's device.

By keeping the cache, the browser can display pages that have been accessed more quickly in the future. In this case, the browser does not need to re-download data, allowing it to save bandwidth and reduce server load.

Via Search Engine 

As mentioned above, search engines, such as Google, carry out the caching process by creating copies of pages during the page crawl process. In other words, these pages are part of the cache owned by search engines.

You can view cached pages by clicking the three dots next to the site URL on the search page. On the lower right side, you will see the words "Cached". You only need to select the option to view the cached page without waiting for it to load.

An Alternative Way to View Cached Pages

Apart from clicking the button next to the site URL on the search page, viewing a Google cached page can also be done in other ways. You only need to type the word "cache" in front of the URL of the page you want to access.

For example, you can type "cache:https://cmlabs.co/en-en/seo-guidelines/seo-guide" to see a cached version of the cmlabs SEO guide page.

But keep in mind that caching cannot store JavaScript data. Usually, this system only applies to HTML pages. Even so, JavaScript pages can still be crawled and entered into the indexing process by search engines.

How Do You Use Google Cache?

Using a Google cached page is one way to speed up the loading time. This can benefit you from an SEO standpoint. To maximize the optimization process in this case, you can take the following steps:

Use Google Cache on Hard-to-Load Pages

If you encounter slow or unresponsive pages, try accessing the cached version provided by Google. Even if the page does not look exactly like the live version, the information is still accessible through the copy that Googlebot has created during the crawl process. 

Check Pages Visited by Googlebot

If you want to know the last time a crawler visited a page without having to access server logs, use cached pages. This version of the page can tell you when the crawler last crawled the page.

Information from cached pages can also tell you about changes or updates that make the page unresponsive. That way, you can fix the problematic parts and optimize them according to SEO rules so that pages can rank higher on the SERPs.

Check Website Index Process

Please note that not all websites will have their data stored in Google's cache. Why so? There are several reasons for this, including:

• Check the "noarchive" attribute in the page code source.
• Pages that are banned or blocked from being indexed are not cached.
• The page is still relatively new, so it will take some time for the cached version to become available.

Even though the page cannot be cached, Google can still display it to the user. However, when the page is unresponsive, there will be no other options for accessing the requested information.

That's all there is to the guide to understanding a cached page, how to view it, and how to use Google Cache for website management purposes. In order for the website to maintain its quality and performance, you can use SEO services with specialists who work to carry out monitoring and audits in a professional manner.