Friday, October 9, 2015

Ancestor Landing Pages Update

So my ancestor landing pages--those tabs at the top of my blog, each for a different surname branch of my family tree--have been part of my blog since January 2013.

The purpose is to have a special page devoted to each surname group, so when a distant relative or researcher does an online search for a name like "McClure" or "Slatter," they will "land" on my ancestor's page and see what I've discovered about those ancestors.

Over the months, these ancestor landing pages have been attracting views and, on occasion, comments from cousins and regular readers!

As of October 9, here are the statistics for the TOP 10. (The dates indicate the most recent time that I updated or added to each of the pages.)

Most popular is my page about the Herman & Hana Schwartz family from Ungvar, Hungary (now Uzhorod, Ukraine). This was my grandpa Tivador Schwartz's family.

Next most popular is my page about hubby's McClure family, originally from the Isle of Skye, then Donegal. This family sailed en masse to Philadelphia and then walked to Virginia to buy land.

Unquestionably, ancestor landing pages are an effective way to showcase genealogical breakthroughs, family information, photos, stories, and connections. For me, the best part is when I get a comment or an e-mail from a cousin who found the page, recognized some of the names, and got in touch!

4 comments:

  1. Marion, please forgive me but what does "Ancestor Landing" mean? Are you talking about their first arrival in the USA? Is Landing a family name?

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    1. Colleen, I edited my post to explain that the ancestor landing pages are tabs at the top of my blog where I summarize what I know about each branch of the family tree. They're "Landing Pages" because someone who does an online search for one of these names might "land" on my page after seeing it in the results for, say, "Schwartz" or "Demarest" or "Steiner." Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  2. I'm sure you get more connections because you have those "landing" pages - I think they're a great idea. I have a "Some Surnames I am researching" page on each of my blogs, which is a much simpler way of letting readers and potential readers know who I'm writing about.

    Once I finish writing about all my third great grandparents, I plan to add another tab where I will list all of them with a link to the primary post for each. (Many are 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks posts.) I hope that this will come in handy as I work on determining common ancestors with DNA matches.

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    1. Elizabeth, I like your idea of the extra tab showing a list and links to details about your 3GGparents. The more often we present surnames, the more opportunities we have to appear in search results when distant relatives or newfound cousins are looking for family connections. Best of luck with your DNA matches!

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