Before I started writing this post I found this post on webmasterworld in the webmasterworld thread you can see XOC point out he is ranking for Boxter in google.com .. the reason I have pointed this out is to stop people saying Google will ban you or move you off the first page etc etc..
The first Question I asked myself was why would I need a Google cached link in the serps :
Common arguments are what if your site is down people can’t see your site, well I run a blog I want people to interact with my site and see the latest comments that I have allowed I don’t want to wake up in the morning and find someone has left Matt Cutts cell number on my blog and Google has cached it (Google is quick at getting data slow at removing selective bits of your site)
so again I asked myself why would I need a google cached link… I mean I have seen sites like XOC’s hold rankings for years and all my new posts that rank in Google don’t have a cached link for days sometimes take the cleaners in london post early today:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=cleaners+in+london
Another argument was people like to see how Google see’s their site, the fact that google show you text version and a full version, but they also say “It is a snapshot of the page as it appeared on 7 Nov 2009 20:45:03 GMT. The current page could have changed in the meantime.” should be a signal that the data could be wrong but I can get real time what Googlebot see’s
So the only reason I can see why I should leave the Google Cached link is so that other people can see what my website looks like in Googles eyes and why would I do that ?
Dave
12 Comments
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[...] Why you should USE the NoArchive Meta tag, David Naylor [...]
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1) Cache hash values can show up when you have multiple instances of a page indexed – occasionally useful
2) Cache dates let you track the *eaxct* moment a site go screwed, and how it cascaded
3) Serve a different page for select IPs to make it look like you are cloaking. Nothing funnier than competitors tryting to dob you in for cloaking that only they can see, and missing everything else you are doing. The IPs making cache requests are a good place to start
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This is an interesting point… I use the cache version of my sites to see what Google has indexed and only really look at it when I’ve added new copy or changed around page titles or something. As a measuring stick it’s quite useful! But I really get your point about not wanting to share what google sees with your competitors.
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I agree with you Dave.
However, I’ve seen the cache serve people well when WordPress gets hacked.
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I have come across a couple of occasions where the Google cashed copy was used to rebuild a page on a client’s CMS that they kind of ‘lost’ when editing. It was handy then!
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Interesting. The post reads a bit like “why shouldn’t you” to me instead of “you should”.
I see the “why not?” argued but don’t see the “why” answered.
What’s the upshot of doing this, David?
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Great way to hide whether your cloaking a website
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From a website owner perspective the only use I have for the cached link is to see when G latest did an update of my sites that don’t get done daily.
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Well re. non seo (subject) sites, should you want to look natural, leaving the cached link could be as you very well know a good idea.
If you use “noarchive” everywhere on all your pages, it sounds like you may want to hide a few cloaked pages .
Understand your points Dave, but not convincedYou could also have added 2 other reasons for using noarchive : fresh and perishable news,
or even better : on UGC sites (user generated content) trying to avoid the legal liabilities (hence illegal UGC content removed by moderators, but which could already appear in Google cached version) …
still you raise a flag !
Cu, Oscar - 11
Never thought about using NoArchive. I can certainly find use of it for a couple of our clients. Nice one.
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[...] Why You Should Use the NoArchive Meta Tag: Dave Naylor’s stance on Google’s cache can be argued, but he provides an interesting point of view, as well as several valid points. [...]
Is there any way to find out when Google last visited and cached a website (that you don’t own) without using the cached link?
I agree with you completely though, a cache link lead to my whole parent directory once, packed with stuff I don’t really want the world seeing (but not bothered by it enough to block it)