Using Google Like a Professional Genealogist

Most genealogists use Google almost every day. But professional researchers don’t just type a name and hope for the best. They use a set of strategies that turn Google into a powerful genealogy tool.

Here are some simple techniques that can dramatically improve your search results.

Use quotation marks for exact names

Search for the exact phrase. Place quotation marks around a name when searching, such as “William Johnson” Wisconsin. This tells Google to search for the exact phrase rather than the individual words separately.

• "William Johnson" Wisconsin

Exclude unwanted results

You can exclude words with the minus sign (-). If your search results include too many unrelated results, you can remove them by adding a minus sign before a word. For example, searching for “William Johnson” Wisconsin minus football or minus LinkedIn helps filter out modern references.

• "William Johnson" Wisconsin -football -LinkedIn

Search within a specific website

Use the site: operator. You can limit Google searches to a particular website by adding the word “site” followed by the web address. This limits your results to pages within that site. For example, searching for “William Johnson” on the Wisconsin Historical Society website might help you locate archival collections, digitized images or historical materials.

• "William Johnson" site:wisconsinhistory.org

Find digitized documents

Search for digitized items. Many historical publications are available through Google as PDFs. And adding “filetype:pdf” to your search can help you locate digitized local histories, cemetery records, newsletters, and other historical documents. Google Books and digitized history materials often appear in these results.

• "William Johnson" Wisconsin "genealogy" or "William Johnson" Wisconsin filetype: pdf

Add dates or places

Include a date or location in your search. This can help narrow results to the correct person. For example, searching for William Johnson Wisconsin 1880 may produce results related to the right time period. Sometimes searching for the community rather than the individual leads to better discoveries.

• "William Johnson" Wisconsin 1910 or Dane County Wisconsin 1910 history

Professional genealogists know that finding records often begins with finding where records exist. Google is one of the best tools for discovering archives, digitized sources, and hidden collections—if you know how to search effectively. With a few simple techniques, you can turn Google into one of the most powerful tools in your genealogy toolbox.

Need help getting started with a genealogy or history research project? Give a shout! https://www.tobiashistoryresearch.com/contact.