On Sale at the Ancestry Store.

If you are a bargain hunter as I am, you might be interested in checking out the products that are on sale at the Ancestry store.

On Sale at Ancestry Store

The sale items are updated frequently and usually include software as well as reference books.

There are usually at least five pages of sale items so be sure to browse all the page to see if there are any items you have been waiting to go on sale. Look for the page links for the sale pages at the TOP of each webpage.

No coupon code needed.

Bing Your Family Tree?

Microsoft's new Bing search engine went live June 3rd. Bing is a completely rebuilt search engine to replace Microsoft Live Search. It is visually pleasing, but what really counts are the search results. Here are some of the first things I noticed:

• Bing has a very attractive interface. Each day features a new photo background with information about the scene revealed by scrolling across the surface. It is beautiful and makes me want to revisit each day to see the new photograph. On some days, you can click on the background for more images; on other days you can click through to video thumbnails.


• Bing has a very useful sidebar. When you enter a search term, the sidebar displays clickable refined versions of your query down the left side of the page. These refined queries seemed very relevant. This would be helpful for the times you get stuck in your searches.The sidebar also displays a list of your most recent search history. A click on the See All link takes you to a more complete search history. A search history is great to help find sites that you want to revisit.


• Bing pop ups an excerpt of the text on a search result if you hover over it (towards the right of the result). This is helpful and time-saving if you're not quite sure if you want to follow a result.


• Bing has a built-in dictionary. If you're looking for a definition or quick summary of a topic, you can use the question what is ? before the search term. For example, search for what is apoplexy and you will get the definition of apoplexy before all of the search results. OK, Google has that, too.


• Bing appears to be a solid and reliable search engine with a lot of useful functions. The results are very, very good, but different than Google. Which search engine gives the best results?

The only way to tell if you like Bing is to try it. Let me know what you think via the comments.

Google's New Search Options

This week Google announced a new set of features called Search Options - a collection of tools that let you slice and dice your Google search results to generate different views to find what you need faster and easier.

Starting this week, a "Show Options" link now appears on the blue bar above the Google search results. See arrow above. Click on Show Options to see the new Google features.

Search Options helps the user filter search results by different criteria without opening a new page. Generally, Google gives what it considers the most relevant results first, but Search Options allows you to change the filter to meet your own needs.

Google Search Options now allows you to organize your search results by time so that the newest results will appear first. I think the Search Options will be especially useful for genealogy queries that are performed frequently. Genealogists are constantly looking for new info posted on the web to further research. By putting the newest sites first in the list of search results you are less likely to miss them.



The Search Options panel gives you the ability to view your results in new ways. One view gives you more information about each result, including images as well as text, while others let you explore and iterate your search by time.

You could search for your name, then change the results order to Recent Results, then further filter your search to Recent Results in Forums only with just a few clicks.

You can check more than one option under the different text results.

Take a look at the Wonder Wheel option. Perhaps Google is trying to make the process of refining queries more visual by adding a Wonder Wheel of related search suggestions. I'm not sure how useful it is but if you think of any ideas for its use, leave a note in the comments here.

The new Google Search Options are going to be very helpful so that we don't miss any new results for our genealogy queries. Try some of your Google queries that you frequently search for and take a look at the different results you find as you put the newest sites first.

Google says to keep watching as they plan to add additional features to the Search Options.

Finding the Data from Geocities Sites

Geocities, home of many genealogy websites, is closing. Unfortunately, some webmasters may not move their sites before it does.

One reason is that webmasters may not be aware that Geocities is closing. It doesn't appear that Geocities is notifying their webmasters by email. Instead, the only notice Geocities is giving is a message about the closing when a webmaster logs into the Geocities file manager. Some webmasters haven't logged into the file manager for years!

Unless a Geocities webmaster reads about the closing on the news or in a blog, they might not know it is happening. If you know someone with a Geocities site, write to them to let them know Geocities is closing. Otherwise, they may find out about the closing too late to save their site.

There are many, many genealogy related sites on Geocities. When I searched Google for:

site:geocities.com ~genealogy

I got 1,090,000 genealogy related results on Geocities. That's a lot of genealogy on Geocities.


If you have not yet explored geocites sites, there is no time like the present to get started.

Use the command in the Google searchbox:

site:www.geocities.com ~genealogy

This will find genealogy related sites on Geocities. (See Google and the tilde for info about using the tilde in a Google search)

Add a surname and/or a town, county or state to the command to further narrow your search.

site:www.geocities.com ~genealogy smith pennsylvania

Bookmark all the Geocities sites that are important to your genealogy research. Use the exact name of the site when you create the bookmark. Extract the relevant information and use the geocities URL as a citation.

Why bookmark? Once Geocities closes, there are four ways to possibly retrieve a Geocities site for further research.

• Search for the name of the site in quotes. Most webmasters will not change the name of their site when they move the site. Remember when you bookmark a Geocities site to use the exact name of the site as listed on the webpage.


• Cache - use the command cache:http:www.geocities.com/genealogysite in the Google search box. The cache wont be there for long after Geocities closes, but it is worth a try.


• Internet Archive - Search for the URL or exact name of the site. You will find archived webpages from various dates, but the Internet Archive doesn't always save all the interior pages of a site.


• Search for the Geocities site URL in Google in case the webmaster has listed the former Geocities URL on his new site.
  
  

Remember to spread the word about the Geocities closing to Geocities webmasters so that genealogy info on Geocities can be preserved.

My Genealogy Site is on Geocities. Now what do I do? Part III

Geocities is soon closing its doors forever. If you have a genealogy site on Geocities, you may want to read

• My Genealogy Site is on Geocities. Now What Do I Do? Part I
• My Genealogy Site is on Geocities. Now What Do I Do? Part II
• How to fnd genealogy on Geocities sites.

Those who want to save copies of their Geocities sites before it closes have a couple of choices:

• Copy each page manually using the Geocities File Manager
• Use a program that automatically copies the whole website to your hard drive.

Copying each page of a site individually might be OK for a small site, but for a larger site, it would be very tedious and extremely time consuming.

I decided to try the free http://www.httrack.com/ to copy a Geocities website. Httrack is meant to be used to copy sites to browse them off-line, but is also ideal for copying a site for which there is no FTP such as Geocities sites.

I downloaded the Windows version of httrack and tried it to copy a couple of my Geocities websites.

The first site I copied was small - about 25 pages. Hhtrack copied my site to my hard drive in only a few minutes. Note: Httrack copies the linked pages only, so that if you have some pages or graphics in the Geocities file manager that are not linked to other pages, they will have to be copied manually.

Then I tried a larger site that had over 700 pages. Httrack started copying this large Geocities site, but when it finished, I noticed I had many errors in the error log and saw that the whole site wasn't copied correctly.

Part way through the copying of the site, the httrack error log started to show the error message "Service Temporarily Unavailable" for each page. I realized that once Httrack reaches the Geocities' bandwidth restriction, it copies the error page that Geocities displays instead of the page on your website. Thinking that perhaps Httrack's "resume download" feature would resume the download from when I started getting error messages, I found I was wrong. Since it copied the whole site as it was displayed (albeit with many Geocities error pages noting that the bandwidth restriction had been reached), Httrack started to copy at the beginning instead of resuming and I quickly ran into the bandwidth restriction again.

Httrack does allow copying one directory at a time. I was able to copy directory by directory spaced out over time so as not to invoke the Geocities limit. Make sure each copy is at least an hour apart.

If all of your files are in one directory, you can move them into separate directories for the purpose of being automatically copied. Just click on the check box for each page you want to move into a directory, then select move to a directory.

Httrack does a good job of copying the linked pages of a website to your computer. However, you must manually copy anything from the file manager that is not linked.

And if you have a large website, Geocities bandwidth restriction will keep you from automatically copying the whole thing. Check the error log for problems and check the pages you copied onto your hard drive to make sure you have your website pages and NOT the Geocities error page. You don't want to find out too late that you haven't successfully copied your whole site and have a couple hundred pages of Geocities error pages instead of your site.

My Genealogy Site is on Geocities. Now what do I do? Part II

Geocities will be closing down later this year (2009). If you have a genealogy site on Geocities, you can take steps now so that when Geocities does close down, your site will already be moved and links around the Internet will already be pointing to your new site.

I've outlined the steps to move your Geocities site to a new web host in
My Genealogy Site is on Geocities. Now What Do I Do? Part I

Also see:

• My Genealogy Site is on Geocities. Now What Do I Do? Part III
• How to fnd genealogy on Geocities sites.
  

Once your site is moved, there is still more to do if you want your site to be found by other genealogists.

If you have a Geocities site, it has probably been on the Internet for awhile and has built up a fair amount of backlinks from other websites. Once Geocities shuts down, these links will become broken and will no longer point to your site.

You don't want to lose links to your genealogy site. The more sites that link to you, the better chance a distant cousin has of finding your site.

Other webmasters who link to Geocities sites will want keep their links current and will appreciate an email with the new URL to your site. If they have to hunt for your new URL, there is less chance that your link will be updated. And once Geocities is gone, other webmasters may just delete all their Geocities' links en masse.

But how do you find out who links to your site? Use the link: command in the search engine box:

• Type link:http://www.geocities.com/smithfamilytree/ into the Google searchbox. (This URL is made up. Please substitute your own URL)
  
• Type link:http://www.geocities.com/smithfamily tree/ into the Yahoo searchbox.
  

Note that there is no space after the colon and before the URL. Surprisingly, Yahoo will generally list a lot more backlinks to a site than Google.

Once you have moved your site and found out who links to your Geocities site, you can write to these webmasters. It is definitely worth the effort to request the links to your site be updated.

Go to each listed website and look for a link that says Contact me or Email the Webmaster or something similar. Your letter to the webmaster of the site that links to yours should include:

• the URL of the page where your link appears (this is the linking site URL, not your URL)
• Your site name
• your old Geocities URL
• your new URL

Giving the URL of the page your link is on keeps the webmaster from searching for your link.

Here is an example of what to write:

Dear Webmaster,

On your website on page http:www.biggenealogydirectory/links.html, could you
please update the site called Mahady One Name Study.

Old URL: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Bluffs/4447/

New URL: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mahady

Thanks so much

Some websites have automated the process to update a link. Look for a link that says Update your Link or a variation of that, then follow the instructions for the update link process.

Be sure to cut and paste your URLs to lessen the chance of typing errors when sending your Update Link emails.

As I write this, I realize it might be a smart idea for webmasters to list their former Geocities URL on their new site so that if someone searches for the old Geocities URL when it no longer exists, the new site will appear in the search results. I am going to add this as a footnote to my own sites so that if someone only has the old geocities URL, they can still find the new site by searching for the old URL.

Mahady One Name Study was formerly located at http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Bluffs/4447/

TO BE CONTINUED

My Genealogy Site is on Geocities. Now what do I do? Part I

You may have heard that Geocities will be closing down later this year (2009). There are many genealogy sites on Geocities, and sadly, many of these sites may be lost if the webmasters don't move the sites to a new location.

Important Announcement

After careful consideration, Yahoo! has decided to close GeoCities later this year. You can continue enjoying your GeoCities service until then — we just wanted you to let you know about the closure as soon as possible. We'll share more details this summer. For now, please visit the help center for more information.

How to fnd genealogy on Geocities sites.

If you have a genealogy site on Geocities (as I do), these are the steps you can take NOW so that when Geocities does close down, your site will already be moved and links around the Internet will already be pointing to your new site.

Why is it important to start now?

• You can put a link from your Geocities site to your new site so both people and search engine spiders can find your new webpages. This will give Google and other search engines the chance to find your new site and index it. It will also give people a chance to find your new site and bookmark it. If you wait until Geocities closes to move, you may miss out on this linking opportunity. You cannot count on Geocities to allow pointers to your new site once it closes, and it sometimes takes months for Google to fully index all the pages of a new site.


• Webmasters that link to your site may be inundated with link changes once Geocities closes, so you have a better chance of getting your links changed before the deluge of link change requests.
• You don't know how much notice Yahoo will give before Geocities closes for good. Copy your site now before it is gone forever.
  
  

How to Move Your Genealogy Site.

Copy your site page by page to the hard drive of your computer. To do this, go into the Geocities file manager and open one page at a time, copy and paste the page to Notebook or an HTML editor, then save each page into a folder on your hard drive using the same Geocities file name. Example: page1.html or familytree.html Also, copy all of the image files on Geocities to your computer.

This serves two purposes.

• You will now have a backup for your website.


• You can make changes to the website offline and then upload to new server

Edit: Dick Eastman likes http://www.httrack.com/ which will automatically copy your website to your hard drive. I haven't tried this free program, but I'm for anything that automates the tedious process of copying a site.

If you have a genealogy site, it makes sense to move your website to the Freepages at Rootsweb. The advantages of Rootsweb are:

• Rootsweb is free.


• The space is unlimited.


• Bandwidth is unlimited.


• You can add the site to the Rootsweb directory.


• Your site will be found by the Rootsweb search engine ensuring your site will be found by a large number of people.


• Rootsweb has FTP and a guestbook.


• Rootsweb has an online editor.


• Rootsweb has a knowledge base that has answers to your questions.


• Rootsweb has a FAQ to help webmasters get started.

Of course, there are other free places to put a genealogy website. Your ISP may have some free space available. Search Google for free web hosting to see what else is available if you don't want to move to Rootsweb.

How to Build a Genealogy Site at Rootsweb.

I moved my Geocities sites to Rootsweb, so that is the process that I am going to describe.

• Request space for your website at Rootsweb.
  
• Copy your Geocities site page by page (or use http://www.httrack.com/ to automatically copy) and save to a folder on your computer keeping the same HTML names. This will keep the links on your site from becoming broken.
  
• FTP or upload your site from this folder on your computer to Rootsweb. How to FTP your site to Rootsweb.
  
• Change each page at the Geocities site to point to your new Rootsweb site. Example: This site has moved to Rootsweb (provide link) Please update your bookmarks.
  
  Here is an example of how I did it. http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Prairie/4280/1886.html
  
  You want each page to point to its corresponding page on the new website. You do not want all pointers to link to the index page of your new site. It is important to link to your new website and remove the content from each old Geocities page because:
  


• You want to give Google and other search engines plenty of time to find your new site so that it will index ALL the pages. It can take Google a surprising long time to find and index all the pages of a new site.


• Google penalizes duplicate content (sometimes by not indexing the new site) so you only want to have your website content on one website at a time.

• Test all your links on your new site to make sure they work.
  
• Check all the images to make sure they work.


• Set up a new Rootsweb guestbook

TO BE CONTINUED

Legacy Software Coupon Code

Legacy FamilyTree Software v. 7 is a great genealogy program and has many faithful followers.

Legacy 7.0 Standard edition is Free and is a full functioning program.
Legacy 7.0 Deluxe is $29.95 and has everything that the Standard Edition has and much more. See comparison chart of Standard and Deluxe versions.
If you have been wanting to update to the Deluxe program, you can now receive 10% off your purchase.

Enter the coupon code "APRIL" at checkout to receive a 10% discount. The coupon expires April 30, 2009 and can be used for ANY item in the Legacy online store.

Download the FREE Standard edition of Legacy here.

Google Blog Search Improvement

Google Blog Search has begun to search full blog posts. Previously Google Blog Search had only indexed the blog RSS feed. Since blog feeds can have either the full or partial blog text, often times only a small portion of the post would be found using Google Blog Search.

Since many blog authors don’t publish full feeds for a variety of reasons, the Google Blog Search has been missing a lot of what is posted in blogs. If a blog author posted a partial feed, Google didn't index links or the full text of the post which means the links and full text was not found in Google Blog Search.

Now Google says:

We have changed the way we index blog posts to include the full content of the page. We've had occasional complaints about the use of the feed content, particularly the problem with partial feeds. The indexing change has improved the results for a lot of queries, both because we have the full content of the page and because we extract links that are missing from the feeds.

With Google Blog Search you don't have to search each blog individually, but can search all blogs (and only blogs) at one time.

http://blogsearch.google.com/

Today, many of the top genealogy sites announce their new databases on their blogs - with surnames. Other blogs are devoted to research on particular ancestors - so a search of genealogy blogs could help you find repositories of otherwise unknown family tree information.

Some ideas to search for are ancestor surnames, genealogy topics, vital records, ancestral locations, or living relatives.

Google says:

Blog Search is Google search technology focused on blogs. Google is a strong believer in the self-publishing phenomenon represented by blogging, and we hope Blog Search will help our users to explore the blogging universe more effectively... Blog Search enables you to find out what people are saying on any subject of your choice.

You can choose to search posts from the last hour, last 12 hours, last day, past week, etc. so that you don't duplicate your searching effort. If you have previously used Google Blog Search thinking you have searched complete posts, you may want to do some re-searching.

You can also subscribe to 'blog alerts" to automate your blog queries for surnames and ancestral towns. You will receive an e-mail when your query keywords are found in a blog.

To create a query so that only genealogy blogs are searched, be sure to add ~genealogy to the query along with your surname or other keyword.

Google Blog Search

http://blogsearch.google.com/
Easy Genealogy Google Searcher, Part II
The blog search is also part of the Easy Genealogy Google Searcher, Part II

New Google Personalize Search Feature

Take a look around the Google Search Results page, and you'll start to notice some new items Google has been adding to the page.

One of these new features is a notation if Google is customizing your search results - giving you different search results than anyone else.

A message will appear in the top-right corner of the search results page, with a link to a page with more details about how and why Google personalized your search.

As long as you are logged into your Google account, Google will generally give you unique results based on geographic location, another recent search you performed, or items from your Web History.

Google Personalized Search gives your own unique search results only when you are logged into your Google account. Previously, you never knew when you were getting customized results since it was all done behind the scenes. Now that has changed.

Make sure you are logged into your Google account while Google searching so that Google can to learn how you search. Pretty soon Google will begin to give you more relevant and useful search results.

More about understanding Google Personalized Search.