Google officially removed cached links from search results snippets last week, and officials confirmed that they will completely remove the cache feature in the near future. Google search liaison Danny Sullivan told us that the company has "decided to retire it" and remove it from search results pages, and will soon remove caching altogether.
The cache was removed around January 25. As you can see from this screenshot, the cache link is completely gone:
But at least the cache operator is currently valid, that is, after adding the cache:domain.com parameter search, the cache will continue to work. But Google said this feature will also be retired and stop working.
As a website operator, you can continue to keep the noarchive mark and Google will still respect it.
Sullivan added that he would like to see Google add a link to WaybackMachine so that users can access archived versions of these pages. Many users would like to add a link to @internetarchive in the "About this result" where the link was previously cached. This is a very good resource.
While caching isn't a great helper when it comes to debugging SEO issues, it has become a fact-checking tool for many SEOs and searchers over the years, but Google decided it was time to let it go and we'll have to find a replacement.
WaybackMachine is currently a great way to view older versions of a specific URL, and it's free.