Does the average surfer know what cache is?

googles cache feature.

[mack]

Just a thought. when the average joe surfer uses Google for a search, goes to his/her chosen site in the serps, finds the site to be unavailable. Does that person even know what the cache feature is there for. Cache seams like a pretty technichal name for what is suposed to be a simple to use search engine. Do you think Google should maybee concider re-naming this link to something a bit more user friendly like "recorded" or "snap shot" what are your views on this?

[Macguru]

110 % agreed.

Not an inviting link to click on. Google should update the term and you made very good sugestions.

A question, though : What does Joe Surfer has to do with cached pages at the first place? More a useless macho techno display by Google engineers than anything else IMHO.

Joe Surfer wants to get there, period.

[Woz]

>Does the average surfer know what cache is?

I have clients who didn't even know what Google was before I educated them.

Defintely techo stuff.

Onya
Woz

[mack]

Youre probably right about the macho display from google. A lot of people compare google cache with the way back machine. To be honest I don't have a problem with people viewing my site via the cache, has to be better that a 404. What would be better is, if google could send a tiny spider that requests the page before it sends the surefer. If the page is not found it anutomaticaly displays the cache feature. but this would probably adversly effect the speed of the search.

Just a suggestion though :)

[maccas]

I almost always use the cache for surfing, for the highlighting feature as opposed fo the 404 reason.

[Woz]

>I almost always use the cache for surfing

But then maccas, you are a WebmasterWorld member which definately puts you in the "above average" bracket.

Onya
Woz

[Paully]

I almost always use the cache for surfing, for the highlighting feature

You can use the highlight feature on the live page also.

But, I also agree, the average user has either no idea or the wrong idea of what a cache is.

I don’t know if Google does these sorts of things on purpose, to cater to the "nerd" community. Or it is just an oversight, because they are "nerds".

Disclaimer: I myself am a "nerd", therefore I reserve the right to use the word indiscriminately. :)

[edited by: Paully at 5:55 am (utc) on Sep. 23, 2002]

[vitaplease]

mack,

You are right "cache" is an impossible word.
No normal person would know what it means.
Few would be able to guess how to pronounce it.

The only data I have seen:
[webmasterworld.com...]

With 0,6 % searches people use the cache..

I guess that would qualify for full nerdiness ;)

[mack]

here is a suggestion...does clicking on cache cause googlebot to re-visit... perhaps thats why it is obscure :)

[mosley700]

I find that most people don't even know what Google is.
I queried the gal at the supermarket yesterday. ( I'm on medication for my obsessive polling of people I don't know about Search related issues. )
She gave me an answer I'm used to : She never heard of Google. Uses Yahoo! and MSN for search, and does not click on sponsored listings.
Of course, we know she clicks on sponsored listings, she just doesn't click on the ones that say "Sponsored Listing" by them.

As for people who know the Internet, don't we all use Google? It's the only ethical search engine. And the smartest. ( Hoping Googleguy hears my praise and rewards me with a PR 8 ).
:)

[Jane_Doe]

I run a Yahoo group for one of my son's boy scout groups, work on the school website and also I also coordinate activities for a soccer group via an email list. I live in a suburb of the San Francisco bay area where, per the local school survey, most of the parents have college degrees, many with graduate degrees.

Many of the scout and soccer parents have no clue how the Yahoo group works or even what it is, some don't know when they get attachments to emails or how to open them, some can't forward emails, some don't don't know how to cut and paste documents, etc. Recently one mom wanted me to fax her a soccer schedule because she could not figure out how to open the schedule she received as an attachment in email.

I can pretty much guarantee you that these relatively educated people would have absolutely no clue as to what a cache file is, and if they don't, I doubt if the general population in other parts of the country would be much more technically savvy.

[vitaplease]

Google could put an interactive search tutorial on their site, or team up with schools and universities in setting up a short, free schooling educational search programme. Could even be a type of mini-exam (with high-scores-another hype) you could download.

from this thread, where I quote myself :)
[webmasterworld.com...]

Google should really try to create some search game for the yourth, with a prize/winner etc. using all functions of Google.

[bird]

Don't forget that the word "cache" also has a meaning outside of computers.

[dictionary.com...]

cache n.

1.
- 1. A hiding place used especially for storing provisions.
- 2. A place for concealment and safekeeping, as of valuables.
- 3. A store of goods or valuables concealed in a hiding place: maintained a cache of food in case of emergencies.
2. Computer Science. A fast storage buffer in the central processing unit of a computer. Also called cache memory.

I actually think that this is a good term even for computer un-savvy people.

[edited by: ciml at 1:24 pm (utc) on Sep. 23, 2002]
[edit reason] removed scrolling [/edit]

[Hemsell]

They once renamed it "Matches" (first part of 99? I think)
I, probably along with hudreds others, sent them an email stating my opinion they were "dumming" the site down to the lowest common denominator and pointing out that the true value of the "cache" was that if you searched for something, and Google found the exact page you needed, you did not need to worry about it being gone.
As long as it was in the results it would be in the cache.

If someone wants to know what it does they can click it to find out.
If they lack that much curiosity about life they would not care if it is Cache or Matches anyway.
Matches just sounds dumb, for the guy that cannot find the word he searched on in the page he winds up at.

MHO

Todd

edited - added date approximation

[vitaplease]

maybe in English and French.

But I think it is unexisting in Dutch, but Google still uses it on google.nl

I would say the word "in archive" would be most appropriate.

If you check with google.de, they actually do use that: "Im Archiv"

[creative craig]

I work on a tech help desk for an ISP, and asking someone to clear their cache on their chosen browser is like asking some of them to build a rocket and fly to the moon :(

Gives me a job though :)

[vmcknight]

A large percentage of my visitors came through the cache - since it's a very low-tech population, I suspect they're clicking that link by mistake.

[Brett_Tabke]

As we saw with the recent chinese issue, there are entire regions of the world that do nothing but view Google out of the "cache" (horrible word since cache referrs to an unedited copy without any inserted advertisements like Google does).

Put a specific image or javascript counter on some pages that get indexed by google and compare the hits out of the cached page vs the real page. The cache is getting used more than most believe.

[knighty]

I often use the cache

It the best way to view information that I actually searched for, often the original page may no longer exist or even worse I may get redirected.

[Sasquatch]

Have your server get slashdotted and see how much use the cached copy gets.

I think you would be surprised at the number of people who know what cache means. Possibly not this specific use of cache, but anyone involved in any of the following areas should know. Backpackers, military, geocaching, D&D players, readers of mystery novels.

It's actually a fairly common term in a lot of areas.

Considering how much talk there is about the value of #1 placement, how much do you think changing the name of cache to something else would make a difference? I think those that are willing to dig for pages through the SERPs are the ones that are most likely to know what cache means, and also the most likely to use it.

[brotherhood of LAN]

cache is a five letter word.....if they used something a bit longer then bandwidth would go up a bit.

I think the only reason they use "cache" is because there is no word that's shorter and concise :)