Sites and Online Tips from Genealogist Michael John Neill
Monday, June 27, 2011
How Often Do You Google?
Put a google search on your list for every "stuck" person you have. There will be some for whom you do not find anything ,but there will be others for whom you make significant finds.
I've built an online search tool that builds a Google search that is better-optimized to find web pages mentioning ancestors. The search returns a more focused set of results by using advanced Google search techniques including exact phrases, forward and reverse name order, alternate name spellings, logical operators, and so on.
Unlike some genealogy-specific web search sites, which inevitably miss indexing many web pages, the tool I built searches all of the web, but just attempts to filter out the "noise" of likely false matches. It's nothing magical, just a big time-saver. I've had lots of people say they found new connections and records they've not seen before by using the tool.
The tool is here: http://randymajors.com/p/ancestorsearch.html
And a write-up is here: http://randymajors.com/2011/06/new-ancestorsearch-version-15-see.html
I've built an online search tool that builds a Google search that is better-optimized to find web pages mentioning ancestors. The search returns a more focused set of results by using advanced Google search techniques including exact phrases, forward and reverse name order, alternate name spellings, logical operators, and so on.
ReplyDeleteUnlike some genealogy-specific web search sites, which inevitably miss indexing many web pages, the tool I built searches all of the web, but just attempts to filter out the "noise" of likely false matches. It's nothing magical, just a big time-saver. I've had lots of people say they found new connections and records they've not seen before by using the tool.
The tool is here: http://randymajors.com/p/ancestorsearch.html
And a write-up is here: http://randymajors.com/2011/06/new-ancestorsearch-version-15-see.html
Thanks much for all the great tips you send!
Randy
How about sharing the procedure for setting a Google Alert so that Google can do this automatically for you?
ReplyDeleteThanks-
Hits in Google books and newspaper archive will turn up with just a general Google search.
ReplyDelete