How to Use Internet Wayback Machine to Archive a Website

06 Feb How to Use Internet Wayback Machine to Archive a Website

Everybody knows how important it is to do regular backups of your website.

If you have a WordPress website, there are numerous options and tools available. WordPress has many excellent plugins that can do a regular backup of your website. You can also use the revision feature to roll back the recent changes you made if you need to.

However, if your website is not built using WordPress or if you need to find a very old version of your website, you might be out of luck.

Fortunately, there is Internet Archive Wayback Machine. The Wayback Machine is an internet service and web portal established in 2001 by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California.

The Internet Archive Wayback Machine is a digital library of web pages, digital media, and other materials that allow users to browse the history of the internet. You can use it to view and explore archived web pages from sites that have been taken down or moved to a new domain. It also allows users to access archived web pages that are no longer available on the current web.

Internet Wayback Archive Machine can save you a ton of headache if you accidentally delete digital content from the website you’re working on. If you didn’t take a screenshot or don’t have a photographic memory and no way to retrieve it, an Internet Wayback machine can help. By regularly using Wayback Machine website to archive content, you have another great option to find your deleted pages. The only thing you have to remember is to save pages and submit your website to Web archive website.

Another useful application of Website archive for web developers is for showing potential clients how the website evolved over time. By showing how much better the new and improved website looks and functions compared to the old one you can get clients on board more easily.

So even if your website is not backed up, and some information got deleted, all is not lost and you might still be able to retrieve it by searching Internet Archive website for the old version and archived pages of your website.

Did you also know that you can make Wayback Machine take a snapshot and save a version of your website at any given moment?
To take a snapshot of your website, all you have to do is go to Wayback Machine submission page and look for “Save Page” submission form on the main page. Type the url of the website you want to save and Internet Archive Machine will archive that page for your future reference.

Wayback Website Machine can also come handy if you’re looking for a website that is no longer online. If it’s no longer available and was taken down, there is a good chance Wayback Machine archived it before it was removed.

You can also use Archive Machine for research and to see how websites have evolved over time.

Wayward Machine can be a lifesaver if you remember to take a screenshot before making any major developments. It’s always a good idea to take a snapshot of the website your working on, just in case something goes wrong or you need to reference the old website. I was even able to restore the client’s site fairly quickly after it was deleted accidentally by them.

Just remember to take frequent snapshots of your websites to make sure there is a version you can reference later on when you need it. And now Wayback Machine added a new Compare feature where you can track the content changes and compare theme

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Finally, if you plan to use Internet Archive frequently, please consider making a donation on their website, so they can continue providing their valuable service by archiving the web.

BONUS: Internet Wayback Machine Alternative

Wayback Machine is great, but if you’re looking for another service to capture your pages there is another excellent Wayback alternative.

archive.today

Archive today works in a similar way. You can enter the URL of any website and it will create a digital archive record of your website. There is also a Chrome extension you can use if you plan to frequently archive websites.

So next time you need to archive a website to reference later you can use either of these tools.

Gene

Gene is Web Developer & the Founder of BigAppleMedia. He helps clients get leads & grow traffic by building smart & result driven websites and applying the latest SEO strategies. Schedule a Free Consultation