Tech Tuesday–Find Your Family Through Google Alerts

Have you “Googled” your ancestor’s name and filtered through the “hits” but really don’t want to have to go through this same process every week to see what new things Google will find about your ancestor? 

I have a solution for you.  You may set up a “Google Alert” for your ancestor’s name so that anytime your ancestor’s name is ADDED to the Internet in a place that Google searches (it won’t search subscription websites), you will receive a Google Alert in your email inbox! 

How incredible is THAT?

Here’s how you do it:

• Go to Google.com.
• Find the tabs in the top left
• Click on “More”
• Click on “Even More”
• Scroll down to the bottom left “Alerts” link
• Enter a search term.  I recommend you put your ancestor’s full name in quotation marks, such as “Thomas Francis Farrell.”  (You should also set up alerts for other forms of your ancestor’s name, such as “Thomas F. Farrell” and “Thomas Farrell.”  If your ancestor has a common name, you may add other search terms such as “Thomas Farrell” + Boston.)  You may click on the “Preview results” button to see how it works. 
• Click on the type of findings you want to be alerted about whether they be “Everything,” or “News,” or “Blogs,” etc.
• Click on how often you want the alerts in your inbox
• Click on the volume of results: “Only the best results” or “All results.”
• Give the program your email address.
• Click on “Create alert.”

It’s that easy!

You may set up Google Alerts for names, events, or topics! 

Have you found a family member through Google Alerts?