We would recommend that genealogists searching for their ancestors always use Google’s Advanced Search page instead of the main Google search page for the following reasons:
• Most genealogy search queries are more complicated than a typical Google search query. The purpose of the Advanced Search page is to easily enter more complicated search queries.
• Genealogy records are by definition old archived records and most old archived records are located in the back dusty corners of the internet. These types of records take a bit more digging to discover than current records.
• Although the Advanced Search page looks more confusing than the standard Google search page, it is actually much easier to use for the types of searches that genealogists need to do.
• It is possible to use the main Google search page for genealogy searches. However, if you want to use the main Google search page for genealogy queries, then you need to learn such things as Boolean logic (AND, OR, NOT) and special query keywords. If you use the Advanced Search page, you do not have to waste your time learning any of this because Google will do all the heavy lifting for you. All you have to know is which input fields to use for the type of information that you would like to enter. We will show you how to do this.
We will go through each of the various input fields on the Google Advanced Search page. Each input field is explained and simple examples are given to show how you can use the fields to find records on your ancestors. By the end of this article, you will learn how to perform advanced Google genealogy searches the easy way.
Although the focus of this article is on how genealogists can use the Google Advanced Search page to locate their ancestors, the same logic can also be used to find records of living relatives and other missing persons.
