From month to month Alexa rankings of websites move up and down, especially those with rank in the hundreds of thousands and greater. Longer term rankings will change as more sites come online even with the same activity at a site. Here are the rankings for genealogy sites at the end of 2014 and 2015, and the percentage changes calculated so a positive change accompanies a more favourable ranking.
| Site | 2015 | 2014 | Trend (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| familysearch.org | 3,147 | 3,591 | 12 |
| ancestry.com | 531 | 740 | 28 |
| ancestry.co.uk | 4,494 | 5,105 | 12 |
| ancestry.ca | 16,056 | 19,287 | 17 |
| myHeritage.com | 4,692 | 6,673 | 30 |
| findmypast.co.uk | 14,031 | 17,512 | 20 |
| findmypast.com | 42,665 | 70,312 | 39 |
| canadiana.ca | 839,453 | 437,933 | -92 |
| familytreedna.com | 16,138 | 22,110 | 27 |
| 23andMe.com | 7,602 | 11,143 | 32 |
| isogg.org | - | - | - |
| genealogyintime.com | 94,657 | 52,225 | -81 |
| mocavo.com | 50,051 | 38,496 | -30 |
| eogn.com | 88,866 | 58,419 | -52 |
| lostcousins.com | 209,824 | 155,676 | -35 |
| britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk | 76,973 | 81,203 | 5 |
| newspapers.com | 12,909 | 17,750 | 27 |
| cyndislist.com | 76,047 | 35,149 | -116 |
| freebmd.org.uk | 63,737 | 63,079 | -1 |
| canadianheadstones.com | 571,301 | 445,215 | -28 |
| deceasedonline.com | 506,561 | 867,879 | 42 |
| bifhsgo.ca | 2,012,054 | 3,937,595 | 49 |
| ogs.on.ca | 463,116 | 403,476 | -15 |
| qfhs.ca | 9,308,553 | 4,206,665 | -121 |
| torontofamilyhistory.org | - | - | - |
| ngsgenealogy.org | 336,273 | 404,747 | 17 |
| americanancestors.org | 114,911 | 110,060 | -4 |
| scgsgenealogy.com | 980,171 | 1,120,531 | 13 |
| sog.org.uk | 879,196 | 668,105 | -32 |
| anglo-celtic-connections | 423,651 | 267,312 | -58 |
All the major commercial sites, and FamilySearch, saw double digit percent increases during the year. By that measure genealogy is thriving for the major online companies. Another site, trafficestimate.com shows similar trends with visits to familysearch.org up 18.5% year over year, ancestry.com gaining 27.5%, findmypast.com up 90.3%, and myheritage.com up 44.2%.
The situation is mixed for non-profit genealogy societies which show the largest percent gainers and losers. As long as a society website continues serving its members trends should be of less concern.
I'm not sure what to make of the 50% +/- 20% percent declines for several blog-like sites, including this one. Could it be an impact of social media?
1 comment:
Happy New Year John.
I have been a long-time member of the Ontario Genealogical Society and several UK FHS's. They are all in decline. I also write articles for their quarterlies, and for branch newsletters of the OGS. Have done for many years. I can see without a doubt that Social Media has eaten into many of these organizations. In fact, a Open Letter from me, about this, is being published in the OGS's February issue of their quarterly titled Families.
It is partly generational, of course, as family historians age, and the younger folk are more adept at finding things quickly, but of course, with misinformation and disinformation on Social Media, real research skills are lost.
Sigh.
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