Top 25 most popular 2009 genealogy blogs

ProGenealogists recently announced their “25 Most Popular Genealogy Blogs for 2009” awards. We are very honored to be part of this group. A glance through the other blogs on the list is truly humbling. It’s even more humbling to read ProGenealogists announcement, noting that “a Google search for genealogy blogs currently results in nearly half a million options, with over seven times that number for ‘family history’ blogs.” I’m not certain how to do a Google search that returns the number of blogs, but to search blog posts, try http://blogsearch.google.com .

At the time I wrote this article a search for the word genealogy returned 857,000+ blog posts containing the word genealogy. A search for “family history” (including the quotes), returns 674,000+ posts.

Subscribe to new Google Search results

The search results page contains one of my secrets for uncovering news stories that you won’t see on the other genealogy news sites. You can subscribe to the results of your blog search by clicking one of the options in the left margin under the heading, “Subscribe.” This will give you an email or news feed of all the new results for your search. That’s only 6,600+ articles you’ll have to read each day to cover all blog posts with either the phrase “family history” or the word “genealogy.” Better yet, let your favorite genealogy news blogs shift through all those posts while you use the email option, called a Google Alert, to set up a Internet-wide sweep for new information on those ancestors you’re trying to find!

And thank goodness the President’s choice for new First Pet is done. Several months ago Google changed their search algorithm. My Google alert for FamilySearch started returning results containing “…First Family searches for dog…” To prevent this behavior, include quotes around words you don’t want Google to break into separate words. But I digress…

Measurement Challenges

Choosing the 25 most popular genealogy blogs had special challenges not encountered when measuring the 50 most popular genealogy websites.

“Many people read blog entries through RSS feeds and other means and seldom actually visit the blog’s website,” according to Kory Meyerink, noted genealogist and vice president at ProGenealogist. Instead of website traffic, ProGenealogist turned to Technorati rankings. Even this alternative proved problematic, as Technorati doesn’t include Dick Eastman’s popular online blog/newsletters. This led ProGenealogist to include other factors:

Hundreds of genealogy blogs were evaluated based on their overall content, Technorati rating, and industry experience. Due to the ever-changing nature of the blogosphere and the authority basis of Technorati rankings, it is anticipated that this list will change frequently.

When I first started blogging years ago (has it really been that long?) I found my Technorati authority rating changed so erratically, I couldn’t stand to follow it. Since I seem to be in widget-mode of late, here’s a widget that displays my authority rating in real time:

View Ancestry Insider authority

Like other widgets I’ve posted lately, it is likely you won’t be able to see it (adjacent to “View Ancestry Insider authority”) if you read this article in your email or news reader. View this article online (click here) to see the widget.

The Technorati Authority of a blog is a count of the number of other blogs that have posted links to it during the previous six months. Since other winners of the most popular blogs award have increased my authority by posting the list of winners, I’m honored to return the favor. They are:

1. About.com Genealogy (Kimberly Powell)
2. Eastman Online Newsletter* (Dick Eastman)
3. Genea-Musings (Randy Seaver)
4. Creative Gene (Jasia)
5. DearMYRTLE (Pat Richely)
6. AnceStories (Miriam Midkiff)
7. Genealogue (Chris Dunham)
8. footnoteMaven (Anonymous)
9. Genetic Genealogist (Blaine Bettinger)
10. Tracing The Tribe: Jewish Genealogy Blog (Schelly Talalay Dardashti)
11. GenaBlogie (Craig Manson)
12. Olive Tree Genealogy Blog (Lorine McGinnis Schulze)
13. Steve’s Genealogy Blog (Stephen J. Danko)
14. Ancestry.com (Juliana Smith)
15. TransylvanianDutch (John Newmark)
16. GenDisasters (Stu Beitler)
17. Genealogy Insider @ FamilyTree (Diane Haddad)
18. Think Genealogy (Mark Tucker)
19. California Genealogical Society and Library Blog (California Genealogical Society)
20. The Genealogy Guys (George G. Morgan and Drew Smith)
21. CanadaGenealogy, or, ‘Jane’s Your Aunt’ (Diane Rogers)
22. Ancestry Insider (Anonymous)
23. GenealogyBlog (Leland Meitzler)
24. Ancestor Search Blog (Kathi)
25. Genealoge (Hugh Watkins)                         /its a tie!/
    Legacy News (Legacy Tree Software)         /its a tie!/

Notice: The Ancestry Insider is independent of Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org. “The Ancestry Insider” does not mean “Ancestry.com Insider.” The opinions expressed herein are his own.

(This posting is from The Ancestry Insider. Click the link to view the full article from its original source.)