4 ms·

Tell HN: Google Search points users to the Web Archive

3 points by gtirloni 2y ago

Looked for a website that was down today and clicked on the three-dot icon which showed "Open page in Web Archive" which send me to web.archive.org Does anyone know if Google is paying the Internet Archive anything for this?

rvnx 2y ago
Very unlikely, because no need to pay from their perspective. Could be argued as free audience for Internet Archive. It's possible they give a bit of grants through "free press"-grants or equivalent, but not expecting much.
- gtirloni 2y ago
  My understanding is that the Internet Archive doesn't make money from getting more audience. I think it couldn't care less if more people are acessing their archives. It might actually cause more problems for them, considering they don't have many resources to work with in the first place. I think if Google is not contributing to the Internet Archive, this is really absurd.
layer8 2y ago
I see no reason why Google should pay for linking to the Internet Archive. Google pays Wikipedia because Google Search displays Wikipedia content separate from link results, but they aren’t displaying Internet Archive content with those links. And it’s exactly the purpose of the Web Archive to provide access to content that isn’t available under its original URL anymore.
- gtirloni 2y ago
  They used to have an option to show cached page so they think this is a useful feature in their search product. It's clearly a feature in their product that they are benefiniting from. Maybe the Internet Archive should block google.com referrer? The Internet Archive's mission is to provide access but it's not to enhance some for-profit's company products for free (when they have a cost to serve the content).
gtirloni 2y ago
For other people coming here: I cannot reproduce this anymore. I don't know if this was an experiment or what.
- gus_massa 2y ago
  Google is know for testing features in a small number of users (where small is perhaps a few millons). Perhaps they roll a dice and you were the lucky tested of the feature, and the second time you were unlucky.

3 points by gtirloni 2y ago

rvnx 2y ago

Very unlikely, because no need to pay from their perspective. Could be argued as free audience for Internet Archive. It's possible they give a bit of grants through "free press"-grants or equivalent, but not expecting much.

gtirloni 2y ago
My understanding is that the Internet Archive doesn't make money from getting more audience. I think it couldn't care less if more people are acessing their archives. It might actually cause more problems for them, considering they don't have many resources to work with in the first place. I think if Google is not contributing to the Internet Archive, this is really absurd.

layer8 2y ago

I see no reason why Google should pay for linking to the Internet Archive. Google pays Wikipedia because Google Search displays Wikipedia content separate from link results, but they aren’t displaying Internet Archive content with those links. And it’s exactly the purpose of the Web Archive to provide access to content that isn’t available under its original URL anymore.

gtirloni 2y ago
They used to have an option to show cached page so they think this is a useful feature in their search product. It's clearly a feature in their product that they are benefiniting from. Maybe the Internet Archive should block google.com referrer? The Internet Archive's mission is to provide access but it's not to enhance some for-profit's company products for free (when they have a cost to serve the content).

gtirloni 2y ago

For other people coming here: I cannot reproduce this anymore. I don't know if this was an experiment or what.

gus_massa 2y ago
Google is know for testing features in a small number of users (where small is perhaps a few millons). Perhaps they roll a dice and you were the lucky tested of the feature, and the second time you were unlucky.