Restore "Cached" links on Google search results pages

Note: This was tested on 2012-03-02 using Opera 11.01 with javascript disabled.

Some time towards the end of 2011, Google decided to take the "Cached" links off its search results pages. This was a pointlessly shit thing to do, because it helps nobody, but pisses off everyone who finds the "Cached" links useful.

Google's response is that they're still there in the so-called "site previews". But the site previews are also shit. Moreover, if you have javascript disabled on google, they don't work at all (and nor does a lot of other annoying shite).

Of course, Google are quite happy to make life awkward for people who disable javascript on google. They want you to make sure it's turned on, so they can invade your privacy by running scripts that track and record everything you do on the site. Whereas anyone with half a grain of sense makes sure it's turned off, for the same reason. (And also blocks google cookies and google analytics scripts.)

Fortunately there is a way to get the "Cached" links back anyway. They are not actually gone completely; they're just in a class with its CSS "display" property set to "none", and the "site preview" script changes this to "inline" to make them show up.

So you can get them back by overriding the CSS for that class. In Opera on Linux, you do that like this:

- Create a user CSS file for google:

$ cat > ~/.opera/styles/user/google.css
.vshid {
display: inline !important;
margin-left: 10px;
}
.vshid a {
color: #1122cc !important;
}
^D
$


- Go to Google

- Right-click, "Edit site preferences..." -> "Display"

- For "My style sheet" select the file you just created

- Click "OK".

That's it... If you now do a Google search you should find your search results have "Cached" links just as they always used to do before Google decided to start being cunts about it.

If you are using a browser other than Opera or an operating system other than Linux, I'm afraid you'll have to work out how to set a custom stylesheet yourself. But hopefully this page will have given you enough clue to do that.

Back to Pigeon's Nest


Be kind to pigeons