Comments on Genea-Musings: 5-year statistics for Ancestry.com traffic

I agree with your analysis. Most people would loo...

2008-03-26T09:23:56.604-07:00

I agree with your analysis. Most people would look at these charts and proclaim that genealogy websites are dead; thank you for taking a serious look at these statistics and their meanings.

Compete.com provides absolute counts rather than relative measures, but their free data only goes back for a year. They show Ancestry as being down 8% YOY, but Rootsweb is up 6%: http://siteanalytics.compete.com/ancestry.com+rootsweb.com+?metric=uv

Daily "attention" stats show that Ancestry's attention is up 43% YOY (though the others are down).
http://siteanalytics.compete.com/ancestry.com+rootsweb.com+genealogy.com+myfamily.com?metric=attD&start=03/25/2007&end=03/24/2008

I tend to trust Compete more than Alexa, which relies on information collected from a toolbar in users' browsers. Compete collects data from ISPs, panels, a toolbar and more.

Being a statistic geek, I naturally loved all this...

2008-03-25T21:36:41.241-07:00

Being a statistic geek, I naturally loved all this nifty information you have dug up for us.

I have often spoken and written about my own love/hate affair with Ancestry. While I deplore Ancestry’s heavy-handed tactics, (their pitch to give back to the genealogical community by voluntarily indexing their records is chutzpah at its finest) I still can’t bring myself to turn my back on the website.

Ancestry is like that Adonis looking fellow your mother always warned you about – you know you shouldn’t succumb to his charms. You remember what your mama said, but somehow when you are with him you tend to throw caution to the wind until eventually he leaves you without a backward glance (probably because your subscription has run out) and then you remember all those words of warning.

Fortunately, or unfortunately for me, all but one branch of my family made it to the US by the end of the 18th century – which means Ancestry has all those lovely little records, family histories, newspaper articles that relate to the American experience. If there was a major event happening in the US, somebody with my bloodline seems to have been there. I ask you, what’s a weak-kneed girl to do?

Ohio Terry

I'm inclined to agree with John's comment. A few ...

2008-03-25T15:25:58.794-07:00

I'm inclined to agree with John's comment.

A few years ago I checked a number of surname message boards daily (both RW & Genealogy.com) and found enough relevant messages to make that effort worthwhile. Now it is unusual for me to find more than a message a month on the dozen or so I bother to check that often. So, my page views of message boards are down over 90%.

When MyFamily sites were free, I had two, belonged to half a dozen more, checked a couple daily and the rest once a week. Now I belong to one, go there when something is posted, maybe 4 or 5 times a year. So my usage of MyFamily is also down over 90%.

As USGenWeb sites (probably including my county) move off Ancestry's servers, my usage of Ancestry's sites will decline even more.

As for Jasia's comment about selling stock--I had some from when I worked for Ancestry a decade ago. It was redeemed (at a nice profit), along with most other stock holdings as part of the Spectrum deal. So most of the people who held Ancestry stock over the past decade of growth effectively sold it at the end of last year and the new owners will be left holding the bag.

Randy, Does this not also put a new spin on the "s...

2008-03-25T13:54:16.460-07:00

Randy, Does this not also put a new spin on the "snatch and grab" techniques they tried on all of the bloggers last year? That was a gutsy move --- taking copyrighted data without asking and then selling it to new paying customers! If the chart indeed reflects a downward trend of major import in paying customers, last year's fiasco stinks even more.
Thanks for sharing all of this.
TERRY

Well aren't you the clever one to dig all this up ...

2008-03-25T12:27:39.295-07:00

Well aren't you the clever one to dig all this up and share it with us! Thanks Randy!

I suspect that with each free alternative database source that comes online Ancestry loses subscribers. Ancestry is primarily helpful to those doing a lot of U.S. research like yourself. The whole Ellis Island crowd of researchers can only really use Ancestry in a limited capacity (2 or 3 generations back), and mostly in search of clues to help us get "over the pond". Once the FHC puts their index of records from countries around the world online... sell your stock in Ancestry-quick! ;-)

Another possible factor is that a sizable portion ...

2008-03-25T11:11:51.275-07:00

Another possible factor is that a sizable portion of the traffic were on the boards. I know I have seen several surname boards where the last message was a year or two previous.