A stored copy of a webpage. In older SEO instructions, this often refers to Google’s retired public cached-page feature.
Caching is a broad technical concept: browsers, hosting systems and content delivery networks can retain copies of resources. Google’s former public cache link was one particular feature, not the definition of all caching. Its retirement does not mean website caching has disappeared.
A stored copy can be older than the live page. Consequently, it is unsafe to treat any cache snapshot as a complete record of what visitors or search systems currently receive. Different caches can also hold different versions at the same time.
For a current indexing investigation, use Search Console evidence and the actual page response rather than an old cache command. For a delivery problem, identify which layer is stale before purging unrelated caches. The right diagnostic depends on whether the concern is indexing, site delivery or historical content.
Takeaway: Identify the specific cache involved before making a change or drawing an indexing conclusion.
Example
A company updates its phone number, but one visitor sees the old number. The team compares the live response and browser cache instead of assuming Google has rejected the edit.
What to check
Google documents noarchive as unused because its cached-link feature no longer exists. That rule does not clear a browser or CDN cache.
For more detail, see Google robots meta tag specifications.