With the popularity of my AncestorSearch using Google Custom Search tool (as of July 2019, over 115,000 hits and climbing), I was overdue in making some enhancements suggested by users of the tool.
If you haven’t used it lately, as a reminder, AncestorSearch “builds a better, genealogy-specific Google search using terms you fill into blanks,” to quote Family Tree Magazine. (Thank you once again Family Tree Magazine for the great honor of listing AncestorSearch and my Historical Maps tools in your ranking of the Top 101 Best Websites for Genealogy in 2016!)
The two key enhancements are highlighted in the screenshot below.
First, you can now filter on Marriages, Births and Deaths (or all three!) by checking the corresponding boxes.
Finally, I’ve also made some performance improvements which should make the tool a bit quicker and more responsive to use.
Be sure and read the “QUICK TIPS” shown in the green box on the AncestorSearch page. But to make things easier, here’s a summary of the tips:
– Type in as many search criteria as you want. Use of alternate names, a second person, place, or year are all optional.
– You can also optionally filter on marriages, births, and deaths.
– Check the “Show sample of search results as I type” checkbox to quickly test alternate name spellings, locations, etc to see how they may impact your search results.
– Click the “Run Full Google Search” button to run your search. Search results appear in a new tab; close that new tab to come back and refine your search.
– Save time by using shortcut keys: Use the Tab key to move to the next field, and press the Enter key to run the full search.
– PRO-TIP: After clicking the “Run Full Google Search” button, you can edit the search string on the Google Search page that appears (this is useful for adding other Google advanced search strings to your search, such as excluding pages that contain certain words by using the “-” (minus) sign).
I hope these enhancements make the tool more useful for you, and as always I welcome your suggestions and ideas in the Comments section below.
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