4 Ways to Find Old Websites Using Archive Tools

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Use these free and easy sites to visit old webpages

Co-authored by Mobile Kangaroo and Travis Boylls

Last Updated: September 23, 2024 Fact Checked

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• Use The Wayback Machine
|
• Using Oldweb.Today
|
• Searching Google's Web Cache
|
• Using Library of Congress
|
• Video

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The internet has changed immensely over the years. For some, it can be hard to imagine what older websites even looked like. And yet, it is still possible to find dead websites that no longer exist! Whether you are simply curious, or want to revisit a specific webpage from long ago, this wikiHow article will teach you how to use various tools for surfing the internet of old.

Quick Steps

1. Go to web.archive.org/ in a web browser.
2. Enter a website URL or keyword in the Wayback Machine search bar.
3. Select a year in the timeline at the top.
4. Click a day in the calendar.
5. Click one of the snapshots in the pop-up menu.
6. View the website.

Steps

Method 1

Method 1 of 4:

Use The Wayback Machine

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1. 1
   Go to https://web.archive.org/ on your web browser. The Wayback Machine is a popular tool for archiving old websites, but anyone can also search its archives. Head to the site's URL to get started.
2. 2
   Conduct a search using the Machine's search bar. The search bar is centered towards the top of the page. You can either type in a specific URL or a few keywords relating to a site you are looking for.

   • The Wayback Machine doesn't quite support keyword searches like Google or Bing do. In other words, you should only search for specific sites on the Wayback Machine's search engine.
   • To conduct a broader search of the Wayback Machine, try doing a Google search using site:https://web.archive.org/.
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3. 3
   Choose a site. Depending on your search, the Wayback Machine will yield different sites to choose from. Pick one to continue.
4. 4
   Select a year on the bar graph. There should be a bar graph atop your screen indicating the website's history. Scrub along the bar graph with your cursor to see the different dates, and click one to discover what that site looked like in the past.

   • If you are searching for a specific site, click the year in the bar at the top, then click a day in the calendar you want to view the website. Days highlighted in blue or green are when a site capture was taken.
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Method 2

Method 2 of 4:

Using Oldweb.Today

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1. 1
   Go to https://oldweb.today/ in a web browser. Oldweb.today is a web archive site that mostly has the same content as the Internet Archive. However, it also emulates old web browsers, giving it some added nostalgia.
2. 2
   Select a web browser. Use the drop-down below "Browser/Emulator" to select a web browser. You can select from various old web browsers, including NCSA Mosaic, Netscape, Internet Explorer, Firefox, and more. This will load the web browser interface in the main window.
3. 3
   Enter the URL of the website you want to visit. You can enter the URL in the bar below "URL" in the panel to the left, or you can enter it in the web browser address bar in the main window.

   • If your mouse cursor gets stuck in the browser window, press Esc to get out of it.
4. 4
   Enter the date you want to visit. You can enter a specific date or just the year you want to visit. Enter it in the bar below "Visit archives at" in the menu to the left.
5. 5
   Click Reload. It's at the bottom of the panel on the left. This opens the website you enter using a snapshot taken from the date you entered.
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Method 3

Method 3 of 4:

Searching Google's Web Cache

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1. 1
   Go to Google.com. Open Google's main search page in a web browser. If a website just recently disappeared, you can search Google's Cache to see if it's still saved in the cache. This will only work with websites that were recently taken down. You probably won't be able to find 20-year-old websites using this method.
2. 2
   Enter cache: followed by the website URL. By placing "cache:" in front of a website URL, you are instructing Google to search the web cache of the website.
3. 3
   Press ↵ Enter. This displays the cache version of the website.
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Method 4

Method 4 of 4:

Using Library of Congress

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1. 1
   Go to https://www.loc.gov/web-archives/ in a web browser. The Library of Congress Web Archive program seeks to preserve web content so that it will be available for researchers today and in the future. You can use the Library of Congress Web Archives pages to search for old websites.
2. 2
   Enter the name of a website or keywords in the search bar. The search bar is at the top of the page.

   • Make sure "Web Archives" is selected in the drop-down menu at the top.
3. 3
   Click one of the search results. This takes you to the information page about the result.
4. 4
   Click View Captures. It's the blue bar in the image at the top of the page.
5. 5
   Select a year. You can click a year in the timeline at the top of the page.
6. 6
   Click one of the days a capture was made. Days that a capture was made are highlighted in blue in the calendar.
7. 7
   Click one of the captures. This displays the website content.
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