All the Web Without Fear of Favor (Since, um, 1996) 0
Previously, I suggested using Google’s “cached” links to locate search terms quickly due to automatic highlighting. But what if your search leads to the dreaded “404 not found” message? For most surfers, once a page disappears from Google’s cache it no longer exists.
Fortunately, the Internet Archives’ “Wayback Machine” has been archiving the web since 1996. If the website you’re trying to find is more than six months old and has been linked to, chances are you can find it using the Wayback Machine.
When you find a page that no longer exists, copy and paste the old URL into the Wayback Machine. If it is there, you will be presented with a list of dates showing when it was archived. Simply click on one of the dates to view the archived page. An asterisk after some dates indicates that the page’s content had changed. This gives you an advantage for citing webages by date over Google/Yahoo’s cache which lack this feature.
The Internet Archives also offers you a book marklet to place in your browser’s toolbar. When surfing any page, simply click on the book marklet and it will load in the Wayback Machine. Alternatively, Yahoo cached links (but not Google) give you the option to check the link via the Wayback Machine from the header at the top of the page.
Researchers may find the Internet Archives useful to study the social or historical growth of the web since 1996 (e.g. CNN coverage of the Iraq war from the start until today); to view evolving website designs (e.g. to check out the competition’s changes over time); and for tracking down resources from an outdated bibliography.