What's New

The Key to Understanding Family Relationships

 

List of First Name Abbreviations

 

New Genealogy Records


Ten Effective Strategies on How to Build a Family Tree


Google Limitations on Genealogy Searches



top 100 genealogy websites 2016


Sell Art Online


 

Top 100 Genealogy Websites of 2015


This article presents the top 100 genealogy websites from around the world. Since we began this survey four years ago, this list has now become the gold standard for the genealogy industry. It profiles and ranks the best ancestral websites based on their internet traffic (as measured by Alexa, the internet traffic people).

For the latest list of the top genealogy websites, please see the article Top 100 Genealogy Websites of 2016.

For 2015, we identify the most popular genealogy websites. A familiarity with the websites on this list will help you discover some new ways to find your ancestors. We also look at the overall genealogy industry and point out some interesting trends and discuss how it will impact your future research.

genealogy levels of interest

There are many levels of genealogy interest. This article focuses on the inner circle – those people who are actively researching their ancestors.

 

Genealogy by the Numbers

This year, we focussed on the following:

• Information and links to the Top 100 most popular genealogy websites from around the world.

• Pointers toward the most popular free genealogy websites (for those who prefer to go the free route).

• A list of rising genealogy stars that are worth checking out. These are websites that have seen the largest increase in popularity over the past year.

• A discussion on the big three firms in genealogy. Most people do not realize how many different websites they own.

• Estimates as to how much genealogy has grown over the past year.

• A focus on the new additions to the list this year. Find out who they are, what they do and how they can help your research.


top 10 genealogy website 2015
top 25 genealogy website 2015
top 50 genealogy website 2015
top 100 genealogy website 2015
For the first time, we have produced emblems that can be displayed by websites based on their position in the Top 100 List. The emblems can also be used by bloggers discussing the Top 100 List. See the Appendix at the end of the article for more details.

 

The Work Behind the Numbers

We have talked extensively in the past about the methodology employed in compiling the Top 100 List. For anyone who is interested, we refer you to the articles from the previous years (2014 2013 2012).

Two things that we would like to highlight this year:

• The popularity of a website is measured by Alexa along three dimensions: how many people visit a website, how much time is spent at the website and how much content is consumed. It is not based solely on how many people go to a particular website. The time spent on a website and the amount of content that is consumed are also important factors when ranking websites.

• The exact definition of a genealogy website is a surprisingly difficult question. We look at a variety of metrics. The key factor for us is that a website must be primarily oriented towards genealogy and genealogy research. Consequently, you won’t find many national archive websites on the list because these types of websites tend to attract a significant number of visitors unrelated to genealogy.

This survey provides an effective league table ranking for genealogy websites. The cut-off for making the 2015 list was a maximum Alexa ranking of some 272,000. That means that a genealogy website would have to be one of the top 272,000 websites in the world to make the list (the lower the Alexa number the more popular the website, where the #1 website in the world is Google). In 2014, the cut-off for the list was 305,000 indicating that genealogy continues to grow.

 

The Top 100 List

Below is the GenealogyInTime Magazine list of the top 100 genealogy websites of 2015.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Next Page