Dick Eastman said "I suggest you remember this web site: Mocavo.com. I bet you are going to hear a lot about it in the next few weeks and months. In fact, I'd suggest you try it right now. I've been using the site for a while during its testing and have been very impressed. This thing actually works! Today, Mocavo.com went public and is now available to everyone."
Dick's seal of approval indicates that the resource must be pretty good so I thought I'd give it a whirl by searching for a few of my families. I then did comparison searches on Google. Here is what I found:
Search 1. Pusell Australia - anyone with the name Pusell in Australia is related to me so I entered these terms hoping to find something new.
Mocavo returned thirty-six results from sites
That it returned such a small number of results was disappointing. Some of the information on the Kemp Family Site is in need of updating to reflect recent events. There are no other links to family websites with information on the Pusells.
On the other hand a Google search for Pusell Australia ~genealogy (to narrow down to relevant information) returned many more links including:
I did other searches on Tierney Dungog, Curry Camden and Tooze Australia with similar results. Searching for Headlam Tasmania brought no results from Mocavo but a wealth of good hits from Google.
Search 2 Nelson Piddlehinton - I next tried a search for a branch of the family from a small village in Dorset - Piddlehinton.
Movaco returned 3 results from
genforum.genealogy.com
familytreemaker.genealogy.com
www.archive.org
The information on the family treemaker site has not been updated since 2005 and is not as complete as can be found on other sites.
Relevant results from Google came from these sites:
www.geniaus.net
www.rootschat.com/
www.opcdorset.org/
www.familysearch.org
www.leshaigh.co.uk/
www.thedorsetpage.com
www.southwilts.com
www.mappowder.org.uk and the list goes on....
Movaco returned 3 results from
genforum.genealogy.com
familytreemaker.genealogy.com
www.archive.org
The information on the family treemaker site has not been updated since 2005 and is not as complete as can be found on other sites.
Relevant results from Google came from these sites:
www.geniaus.net
www.rootschat.com/
www.opcdorset.org/
www.familysearch.org
www.leshaigh.co.uk/
www.thedorsetpage.com
www.southwilts.com
www.mappowder.org.uk and the list goes on....
Need I say more?
I also tried some other searches for the UK:, Gowans Hawick and Ball Spotland to discover that Google returned more relevant results than Mocavo.
Search 3. Thinking that Mocavo might have a North American bias I decided to search for "John Gowans" "New York" Mocavo returned two results that were not for my John from
Google also returned results not related to my John Gowans but amongst them were some relevant links from sites including:
My little test of Mocavo is not at all scientific or comprehensive but when a company makes a statement like "Mocavo.com, provides genealogists access to the best free genealogy content on the web" I just have to see for myself. Mocavo might grow into a great resource but, for the moment, it is just one of a number of free resources available to genealogists.
Mocavo needs to amend the claims it makes on its home page, meanwhile I'll stay Google.
I made a google custom search some time ago heavily weighted to Australian genealogy resources. I haven't mentioned it in my blog yet and I think Judy Webster may be the only person who ever stumbled on to that page! I was planning on mentioning it at some point when I'd tinkered with it some more - but I'd be curious to know how your results compare if you use that.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I must have edited out a sentence. The custom search page is accessible from the side bar of my blog.
ReplyDeleteI just blogged about Mocavo, too, and the #1 find on my list was that it is only good at US results now. #3 complaint was that it didn't link to blogs.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this info about Mocavo. I find that a lot of online content and tools (search engines, podcasts, etc.) about genealogy are very US-based. Often they have useful generic tips and advice but I love finding local Australian content with advice that makes more sense to our genealogical research here.
ReplyDeleteI've tried it for Canadian searches and found it was rather limited as well. I think it will improve with time.
ReplyDeleteI'm associate editor for the genealogy slashtag of the search engine Blekko. As more content is added over time the search engine findings become more relevant.
I also had a quick play with it, although not as comprehensive as yours. I guess the question is: Did Mocavo come up with results that Google didn't? If it did, then it's useful, although obviously it can never be the only one that you need.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the comments. I imagine that Mocavo will increase its coverage as time goes by but it will be only one of a number of resources that I will use.
ReplyDeleteI am still annoyed by the statement on the home page that it has "the best free genealogy content on the web" Maybe this is what it aspires to but to have that statement as it is is misleading.
Yoour alter ego, GeniMates, has nominated you for the One Lovely Blog Award. Read about it here: http://genimates.blogspot.com/2011/03/one-lovely-blog-award-x3.html
ReplyDeleteHaving used a number of search engines since the very inception of the Web, I am highly skeptical of claims. Bing is a good example of a search engine looking for a market.
ReplyDeleteIts like you read my mind! You appear to know so much about this, like you wrote the book in it or something.
ReplyDeleteI think that you could do with a few pics to drive the
message home a bit, but instead of that, this is wonderful blog.
An excellent read. I'll definitely be back.
Feel free to surf my web page : stagehand