Hi WikiTreers,
I need your help making sure WikiTree remains effective "cousin bait."
This is one of the big reasons to use WikiTree. When our cousins are searching for their ancestors' names we want them to find our profiles. We want them to see the genealogy we have worked so hard on. They might even have information or heirlooms we don't have.
WikiTree has always been great cousin bait because our public profiles are on the open Internet and well-indexed by Google. Over a million people a month end up on our pages because of Google searches.
Every year, the number of visitors to our pages has grown as our tree has grown larger and stronger. This is as it should be.
But this year we hit a wall. Our Google traffic is down in 2019. Instead of the normal 10-20% growth in a year, we're getting 15% fewer visitors than in 2018.
There are a variety of reasons for this, some of which we're addressing in technical ways. But the biggest is that Google is no longer indexing all our profiles.
Simply put, Google doesn't "think" WikiTree should have 20 million pages indexed.
Google is devaluing our pages because people aren't talking about them enough. We're not mentioned enough on social media, blogs, and other websites. This is one of the main ways that Google values a site. The more that people talk about a website and link to it, the more its pages will appear in search results.
Will you help by spreading the word about WikiTree? Simply sharing a link to an ancestor profile with your friends and family on Facebook helps all WikiTree profiles in Google. It's a small thing, but it all adds up.
Some things that would be awesome:
- Are there Facebook groups, forums, or other websites for your particular genealogical interest? There are a lot of groups for local history, genealogy, surnames, etc. Ask the group leader if it would be appropriate for you to post about WikiTree, or if they could add a link. If you have created free-space pages or categories that fit that niche, other members would probably be interested to see them.
- Do you belong to a genealogical or historical society? If they have a website, ask if they would add a link. If they have a blog or newsletter maybe you could even write a short guest post about how you use WikiTree.
- If there is a local society or library where genealogists meet "IRL" maybe you could offer to give a little presentation or workshop on using WikiTree. A number of WikiTreers have done this so we could get you a PowerPoint presentation or outline to make it easy. In addition to the direct outreach, presentations like this are usually mentioned in newsletters or even local newspapers, so Google notices them.
- If you participate in almost any other community website besides WikiTree you may have the opportunity to write a bio about yourself. If you say that you're a WikiTree.com member in that bio, it helps us.
- If you use a website like Quora or Reddit and it's appropriate to link to WikiTree in an answer or post, those mentions are very valuable.
- If you are a Wikipedian, links from Wikipedia articles are some of the best. Google knows that links get removed from Wikipedia if they're not worthy.
- If you work on the profile of an historical or notable person, search for other web pages about the person and ask if they'll add a link.
What are your ideas? The possibilities are endless. Pretty much any chatter on the Internet about WikiTree is good. Scary as it may be, Google sees it all.
Thanks, WikiTreers!
Chris