> Find a Surname> Search Tips & Strategies

Rooting Around at RootsWeb
Millions of genealogists around the world use RootsWeb to further their research, connect with cousins, and share their family history findings. Learn how to make the most of the popular genealogy site RootsWeb with this overview of its most popular features.

Searching for Smiths
These search tips, while helpful when searching for all surnames, not just common ones, are especially important when the name itself is too common to return a manageable number of results.

Genealogy Search in a Foreign Language
Learn how to find surnames, family histories and other genealogy records and resources in foreign language search engines - a great, untapped resource for family history research.

12 Google Search Tips for Genealogists
Explore the full potential of popular search engine Google with these twelve search tips for genealogists.

Surfing Genealogy Style - Genealogy Search Techniques
Essential Web searching strategies and methods for finding surnames and family Web pages on the Internet.

Ellis Island - Top Ten Search Tips
From search techniques to help you find that elusive ancestor, to tips for finding and printing out the manifests, you're sure to learn something new to improve your searches of the Ellis Island immigration database.

Ancestry Search Tips
Learn how to find buried ancestors in the databases of Ancestry.com with these Ancestry power search tips and tricks. Includes advanced search tips, wildcard search, census index search tips, and more.

Curse of the Common Name - Online Search Tips
New genealogy technology brings many challenges for those of us with the curse of the common name. But this is a battle that can often be won with these creative suggestions from genealogist Juliana Smith.

Top 10 Web Search Tricks
Web Search Guide Wendy Boswell shares some of her favorite search tricks that she uses every day.

Genealogy Searching on the Internet
A good general search tutorial plus genealogy specific search hints from Bill Korroch.

MetaSearching
This article from Ancestry's Digital Genealogy column discusses metasearch tools and how they stack up for genealogical research.

Michael's Search Tips
Professional genealogist Michael John Neil shares some "tricks of the trade" for getting more from your online genealogy searches.

Online Searching Tips and Tricks
A presentation by genealogist Michael John Neill at the 2001 FGS genealogy conference. Available for sale on audio tape.

Power Searching for Anyone
Search Engine Watch, one of the best search engine sites on the Net, has a great tutorial on advanced search commands to help you better control your searches.

Search Assistance Features - Search Engine Watch
The major search engines have many features meant to assist beginning searchers, and even professional researchers may find these aids helpful. This page summarizes and illustrates some of the major search assistance features that are available.

Using Standard Search Engines to Find Genealogy Material
Explore step-by-step genealogy search techniques with examples in this tutorial on using search engines such as Google to find genealogy Web sites and databases. From Michael Goad.