GenealogyInTime’s 2015 list
Still wondering if DNA is really part of mainstream genealogy?
Wonder no longer.
GenealogyInTime Magazine just published its list of Top 100 Genealogy Websites of 2015.1
This is a list that “profiles and ranks the best ancestral websites based on their internet traffic (as measured by Alexa, the internet traffic people).”
And, the magazine explains, “The popularity of a website is measured by Alexa along three dimensions: how many people visit a website, how much time is spent at the website and how much content is consumed. It is not based solely on how many people go to a particular website. The time spent on a website and the amount of content that is consumed are also important factors when ranking websites.”
Among the Top 100:
• Ancestry.com, in the number one position, not specifically because of its DNA offerings, but you have to believe that its heavy move in that direction — it went over the million mark in people who’ve tested with AncestryDNA earlier this year2 — contibuted at least something to that top ranking.
• Family Tree DNA, in the number 14 spot, reflecting its dominant role as the DNA testing site for serious genealogists.
• GedMatch, in the number 31 position, and that can only be due to the fact that it offers tools that many of those who’ve tested with AncestryDNA don’t have anywhere else and need in order to make effective use of their test results.
As always, the list is top-heavy in sites that provide access to records, newspapers and family trees, so, as always, only a few blogs made the list in 2015:
• Eastman’s Genealogy Newsletter, at number 28;
• Australia’s Gould Genealogy, at number 87;
• Geneabloggers, at number 89;
• Canada’s Anglo-Celtic Connections, at number 97;
• IrishGenealogyNews.com, at number 99.
And there’s one more blog that made the list for the first time here in 2015: The Legal Genealogist, coming in at number 86.
Now anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that DNA is only one of the topics that’s covered here. So DNA posts aren’t going to be the only reason why the blog made the list.
Still, I can’t help but think DNA is a big reason why some readers come to this blog, and why they come back to it. Because I have the statistics on what individual posts have been the most popular in the going-on-four-years of The Legal Genealogist‘s web life. And from the top 20 individual postings ever made at this blog, 13 focus on DNA issues:
1. 2014: Most bang for DNA bucks
2. 2015: Most bang for the DNA buck
3. Gedmatch: a DNA geek’s dream site
6. A DNA test not to bother with
8. Update: More bang for DNA test bucks (July 2013)
9. NY and MD limits on 23andMe
10. More bang for DNA test bucks (May 2012)
11. The raw story at AncestryDNA
12. DNA and the locks of hair
17. Opting out
18. First looks at AncestryDNA
19. Facts matter!
20. Admixture: not soup yet
So… is DNA really part of mainstream genealogy?
Wonder no longer.
You bet it is.
SOURCES
- “Top 100 Genealogy Websites of 2015,” GenealogyInTime Magazine (http://www.genealogyintime.com/ : accessed 26 Sep 2015). ↩
- Judy G. Russell, “One million strong,” The Legal Genealogist, posted 16 July 2015 (https://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog : accessed 26 Sep 2015). ↩
I have learned a lot from reading your blog, Judy– and I read it religiously. Not only have you helped me understand the legal context of many of the documents I come across, you’ve taught me how to *read* those documents to get the greatest amount of information out of them. That alone makes my time reading and studying what you write worthwhile. As for DNA, while I’ve been interested in that topic since Watson and Crick and Rosemany broke the code, and have kept up to date on new developments, it is your blog that has helped me grasp the potential it has for solving certain problems in genealogy– and at the same time recognizing its limitations. Congratulions on making what looks to be a very sound list. You deserve it.
Thanks so much for the kind words!
I’ve just gotten results for a couple of DNA tests, and I’d love to become a “DNA geek.” I’ve been looking for a good book or two on the subject, but I don’t think the ideal book for our purposes is out there yet. They’re either too elementary or too immediately technical without good groundwork. Like Goldilocks, I’m having trouble finding anything that’s “just right.” Could you possibly recommend a couple? Thanks!
The two that might fit your bill are Emily D. Aulicino, Genetic Genealogy: The Basics and Beyond (Bloomington, IN : Authorhouse, 2013) and
David R. Dowell, NextGen Genealogy: The DNA Connection (Santa Barbara, California : Libraries Unlimited, 2015).