Review of The Advanced Genealogy Search Engine - Day Three



computer-2Today, I learned that I really cannot do much to change the way The Advanced Genealogy Search Engine performs it’s search. I noticed that when I ask it to search for my first name, Jennifer, and my unmarried surname, Dahlberg, that some of the results don’t match. The search engine locates one of these two names, but doesn’t seem to be able to weed out the results that aren’t exactly what I am trying to get it to find.

I tried typing “Jennifer+Dahlberg” into the search engine, (both with, and without, the quotation marks), and got the exact same list of results. I tried putting the word “and” in between my first name, and my surname. The results were the same. I’m going to have to sort through the results the search engine brings up myself, visually, to determine what is relevant, and what is not. This is a minor disappointment.

The fifth result that the Advanced Genealogy Search Engine gave me appears to come from the USGenWeb Archives. It is unclear if this comes from a census or what year that census might be for. From the small amount of information that I can see here, I think this result is for an obituary for a man who was survived by his wife, and his children, one of whom was named Jennifer. There might be a second obituary for a Margaret Dahlberg. This result is not useful for my genealogy search.

The last three items on this, the first page of results, seems to be a repeat of some of the earlier items. I scanned through the next four pages of results, and see more of the same. This is making me think that I must have done something wrong, somehow. What happens if I enter my first name, my middle name and my maiden surname into the search engine? I learn that The Advanced Genealogy Search Engine will give me the exact same results for this search as it did when I entered only my first name and unmarried surname. I’ve no idea what to do now. Does this mean my use of this genealogy search engine is over?

Then, I see it. I learned that at the bottom of the page, there may be an answer. There is a link here which will, hopefully, bring me to helpful information. The link is called: A Guide to Performing Genealogy Searches. I will have to take a look at this tomorrow.

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