Nibbler SEO audit for www.ancestry.com
Summary
Overall8.7
The overall score for this website.
Accessibility9.3
How accessible the website is to mobile and disabled users.
The following tests contribute to this score:
Experience8.3
How satisfying the website is likely to be for users.
The following tests contribute to this score:
Marketing5.5
How well marketed, and popular the website is.
The following tests contribute to this score:
Technology9.2
How well designed and built the website is.
The following tests contribute to this score:
Nibbler tested a sample of 5 pages from this website at 23:13 on 26 Mar 2024 (GMT).
Top priorities for website improvement
- Sign up for a Twitter account and make sure it is linked to from your site. (read more)
- Consider adding your analytics solution to the pages which aren't currently monitored. (read more)
- Consider using descriptive words or phrases (e.g. 'News', 'September 2012 financial results') in your anchor text to benefit search engine optimisation. (read more)
Twitter0.0
This website does not appear to be associated with a Twitter account.
- This website did not contain a link to Twitter.
- Sign up for a Twitter account and make sure it is linked to from your site.
URL format7.6
2 URLs are less than ideal
- 2 URLs are 'dirty'. 'Dirty' URLs include one or more parameters after a question mark (e.g. www.example.com/?pagename=news), instead of a clean URL (e.g. www.example.com/news). Dirty URLs should generally be avoided wherever possible - they are almost impossible for human beings to remember, may expose the technology of the website to hackers and can confuse search engines among other problems. Their use is sometimes necessary for specific applications, and acceptable in small amounts.
- Remove or reduce the number of query parameters in URLs. Consider URL rewriting as an effective and transparent means of creating appropriate URLs.
Amount of content7.7
Rendering Chart...
- This website has an average of 912 words per page. The amount of content on a website has been shown to correlate with its search engine ranking.
Amount of content discovered
Analytics8.0
80% of pages use analytics
Multiple Analytics Solutions
- 80.0% of this website is using some form of analytics software but 1 pages have no analytics. It is still possible to gather a great deal of information for the other 1 of pages from webserver logs, however complete visitor analysis requires client-side Javascript or an image not found here.
- Consider adding your analytics solution to the pages which aren't currently monitored.
- Note that this test can only detect recognised analytics solutions. If an analytics solution is new, obscure or used in a non-standard way (e.g. it has been customised) it may not be detected.
Analytics Software Found
| Software Name |
| Google Tag Manager |
| SiteCatalyst |
Meta tags8.4
This is how this website will look in Google search listings:
Ancestry® | Family Tree, Genealogy & Family History Records
www.ancestry.com/
Ancestry® helps you understand your genealogy. A family tree takes you back generations—the world's largest collection of online family history records makes it ...
- All pages include at least some metadata, but only 80.0% of pages have a description meta tag. The description meta data is important as it appears on Google's search result pages.
- Make sure that all the pages of this website include a meta description. If you don't include one, Google will choose a sample of text from the page to appear in the search engine result. By including a meta description, you can control how your search engine result will appear.
Pages with no meta description
- Make sure that all the pages of this website include a meta description. If you don't include one, Google will choose a sample of text from the page to appear in the search engine result. By including a meta description, you can control how your search engine result will appear.
Meta Tags (name attribute)
| Page URL | Name | Content |
| www.ancestry.com/ | screen-name | lohp-ui : homepage : logged-out |
| www.ancestry.com/ | description | Ancestry® helps you understand your genealogy. A family tree takes you back generations—the world's largest collection of online family history records makes it easy to trace your lineage. |
| www.ancestry.com/ | template | lohp-page |
| www.ancestry.com/ | viewport | width=device-width, initial-scale=1 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | description | Discover your family history with Ancestry to trace generations of your family & their stories. Try an Ancestry 14 days free trial and find your family history. |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | template | content-page |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | viewport | width=device-width, initial-scale=1 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | screen-name | lohp-ui : dna : home-offer-std |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | description | AncestryDNA® is the newest DNA test which helps you find genetic relatives and expand your genealogy research. Order your DNA test kit today. |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | template | content-page |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | viewport | width=device-width, initial-scale=1 |
| www.ancestry.com/account/signin?signUpReturnUrl=https://www.ancestry.com%2Fcs%2Foffers%2Fsubscribe%3Fsub%3D1 | robots | noindex, nofollow |
| www.ancestry.com/account/signin?signUpReturnUrl=https://www.ancestry.com%2Fcs%2Foffers%2Fsubscribe%3Fsub%3D1 | viewport | width=device-width,initial-scale=1,maximum-scale=1 |
| www.ancestry.com/account/signin?signUpReturnUrl=https://www.ancestry.com%2Fcs%2Foffers%2Fsubscribe%3Fsub%3D1 | description | PAGE_ID |
| www.ancestry.com/account/create?returnUrl=https://www.ancestry.com%2Fcs%2Foffers%2Ffreetrial | viewport | width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0 |
| www.ancestry.com/account/create?returnUrl=https://www.ancestry.com%2Fcs%2Foffers%2Ffreetrial | data-screen-name | account : account create : main |
| www.ancestry.com/account/create?returnUrl=https://www.ancestry.com%2Fcs%2Foffers%2Ffreetrial | description |
Meta Tags (http-equiv attribute)
| Page URL | Name | Content |
| www.ancestry.com/ | x-ua-compatible | ie=edge |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | x-ua-compatible | ie=edge |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | x-ua-compatible | ie=edge |
| www.ancestry.com/account/signin?signUpReturnUrl=https://www.ancestry.com%2Fcs%2Foffers%2Fsubscribe%3Fsub%3D1 | Content-Type | text/html; charset=UTF-8 |
| www.ancestry.com/account/signin?signUpReturnUrl=https://www.ancestry.com%2Fcs%2Foffers%2Fsubscribe%3Fsub%3D1 | X-UA-Compatible | IE=Edge,chrome=1 |
| www.ancestry.com/account/signin?signUpReturnUrl=https://www.ancestry.com%2Fcs%2Foffers%2Fsubscribe%3Fsub%3D1 | refresh | 375 |
| www.ancestry.com/account/create?returnUrl=https://www.ancestry.com%2Fcs%2Foffers%2Ffreetrial | X-UA-Compatible | IE=edge |
Headings8.9
- All pages were found to use defined headings. This is excellent as it allows visitors and search engines to summarise the content of webpages quickly. Correctly defined headings aid accessibility and are particularly important for search engine optimisation.
- Some headings (2.0%) were found to be empty, or incorrectly defined. Empty or invalid headings are of no value to search engines and make a website less accessible.
- Make sure all headings have content which is relevant to the page of content.
- Some pages did not define headings correctly. The H1 tag should be used for the most top-level heading, with H2 being used for sub-headings and H3 for further sub-headings and so-on. Not conforming to this convention may confuse visitors.
- Ensure that headings are defined in a semantically correct way, i.e. always start with a H1 tag. This is used to summarise the page content. Further tags (H2, H3, H4 etc) are meant to summarise and partition sections within the content.
Page headings detail
| URL | Heading | Level |
| www.ancestry.com/ | Your history is happening now. | H1 |
| www.ancestry.com/ | Get insights from your DNA whether it’s your ethnicity or personal traits. | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/ | Ancestry® helps you understand your genealogy. | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/ | AncestryDNA® gives you much more than just the places you’re from. | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/ | Don't miss Season 10 of Finding Your Roots. | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/ | Don't miss Season 10 ofFinding Your Roots. | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/ | Don't miss Season 10 of Finding Your Roots. | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/ | Explore the 1950 U.S. Census for free. | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/ | Connect with family to discover more. | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/ | How would you like to begin? | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/ | How would you like to begin? | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/ | Genealogy Resources | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/ | Historical Collections | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/ | Family Trees | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | Discover your legacy. | H1 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | Discover your legacy. | H1 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | Build your family tree | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | Build your family tree | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | Build your family tree | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | How to get started | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | How to get started | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | Our 40 billion records are the key to rich discoveries | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | What you get with an Ancestry® membership | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | What you get with an Ancestry® membership | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | Your Ancestry® membership explained | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | Your Ancestry® membership explained | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | Your Ancestry® membership explained | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | Enter what you know | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | Review your hints | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | Find your ancestors | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | Add to your family tree | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | Enter what you know | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | Review your hints | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | Find your ancestors | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | Add to your family tree | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | Record collections | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | Ancestry® Hints | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | Family tree builder | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | Community | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | Record collections | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | Ancestry Hints® | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | Family tree builder | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | Community | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | What membership packages are available? | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | What payment methods do you accept? | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | What do I need to get started? | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | How do I get started? | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | Who can I find records for? | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | What languages will the records/transcriptions be available in? | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | Will I receive updates from Ancestry? | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | Will I be charged during my free trial? | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | What is included in my free trial? | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | How do I cancel my free trial? | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | Is my family tree private? | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | Discover your unique story with AncestryDNA® | H1 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | Discover your unique story with AncestryDNA® | H1 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | Discover your unique story with AncestryDNA® | H1 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | AncestryDNA® AncestryDNA® AncestryDNA® | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | AncestryDNA® with World Explorer Membership AncestryDNA® with World Explorer Membership AncestryDNA® with World Explorer Membership | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | AncestryDNA® with All Access Membership AncestryDNA® with All Access Membership AncestryDNA® + All Access Membership | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | Compare Benefits | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | AncestryDNA® | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | Family History Membership | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | AncestryDNA® gives you much more than just the places you’re from. | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | The science behind your story. | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | Your privacy and security are at the core of everything we do. | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | Get started in a few simple steps. | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | Top questions about AncestryDNA® | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | Results Include | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | What you'll see in your AncestryDNA Traits | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | AncestryDNA® | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | AncestryDNA® | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | AncestryDNA® | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | AncestryDNA® | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | World Explorer Membership | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | World Heritage Membership | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | AncestryDNA® | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | AncestryDNA® | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | All Access Membership | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | All Access Membership | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | Origins and Ethnicity | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | DNA Matches | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | U.S. and Int’l. Records | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | News Articles and Photos | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | Military Records | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | Five people—One plan | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | Traits | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | DNA Inheritance | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | Offer details | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | What’s included | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | What’s included | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | What’s included | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | Millions of people have uncovered something new. You can, too. | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | You could be Irish. More specifically, Munster Irish. | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | Trace your ancestors’ journeys over time. | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | View both your ethnicities and matches by parental side*. | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | Connect with your people in new ways. | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | Get more of your inside story. | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | Build a tree—and magnify your DNA results. | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | How secure and private is AncestryDNA? | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | Why would I take the AncestryDNA test? | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | What will my results tell me? | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | How do I take the test? | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/dna/ | Want to find out more about our next generation of ethnicity estimates? | H3 |
| www.ancestry.com/account/signin?signUpReturnUrl=https://www.ancestry.com%2Fcs%2Foffers%2Fsubscribe%3Fsub%3D1 | Browser Validation Error 54 | H1 |
| www.ancestry.com/account/signin?signUpReturnUrl=https://www.ancestry.com%2Fcs%2Foffers%2Fsubscribe%3Fsub%3D1 | Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. | H1 |
| www.ancestry.com/account/create?returnUrl=https://www.ancestry.com%2Fcs%2Foffers%2Ffreetrial | Sign up | H2 |
| www.ancestry.com/account/create?returnUrl=https://www.ancestry.com%2Fcs%2Foffers%2Ffreetrial | Unknown error | H4 |
Internal links8.9
- One link is weakly described. Common weak links include 'click here' and 'read more'. These links fail to describe the content the link points to.
- Consider using descriptive words or phrases (e.g. 'News', 'September 2012 financial results') in your anchor text to benefit search engine optimisation.
- 4 links use text that is too long. Links should describe what they link to briefly. Linking a long block of text usually indicates an attempt to trick search engines into ranking those keywords highly (a strategy which does not work). Long linked blocks of text are also harder for people to scan.
- Consider shortening long anchor text.
Overly long link text
Link URL Link text Page URL CONTAINER IS HIDDEN BY DEFAULT * See offer details Yes @media (min-width:1400px) { .cmp-line #accordianLine { height:0; width:0; margin:; } } @media (max-width:1399px) and (min-width:1006px) { .cmp-line #accordianLine { height:0; width:0; margin:; } } @media (max-width:1005px) and (min-width:768px) { .cmp-line #accordianLine { height:0; width:0; margin:; } } @media (max-width:767px) { .cmp-line #accordianLine { height:1px; width:100%; margin:0 auto; } } www.ancestry.com/dna/ * See offer details Yes @media (min-width:1400px) { .cmp-line #accordianLine { height:0; width:0; margin:; } } @media (max-width:1399px) and (min-width:1006px) { .cmp-line #accordianLine { height:0; width:0; margin:; } } @media (max-width:1005px) and (min-width:768px) { .cmp-line #accordianLine { height:0; width:0; margin:; } } @media (max-width:767px) { .cmp-line #accordianLine { height:1px; width:100%; margin:0 auto; } } www.ancestry.com/dna/ CONTAINER IS HIDDEN BY DEFAULT * See offer details Yes @media (min-width:1400px) { .cmp-line #accordianLine { height:0; width:0; margin:; } } @media (max-width:1399px) and (min-width:1006px) { .cmp-line #accordianLine { height:0; width:0; margin:; } } @media (max-width:1005px) and (min-width:768px) { .cmp-line #accordianLine { height:0; width:0; margin:; } } @media (max-width:767px) { .cmp-line #accordianLine { height:1px; width:100%; margin:0 auto; } } www.ancestry.com/dna/ * See offer details Yes @media (min-width:1400px) { .cmp-line #accordianLine { height:0; width:0; margin:; } } @media (max-width:1399px) and (min-width:1006px) { .cmp-line #accordianLine { height:0; width:0; margin:; } } @media (max-width:1005px) and (min-width:768px) { .cmp-line #accordianLine { height:0; width:0; margin:; } } @media (max-width:767px) { .cmp-line #accordianLine { height:1px; width:100%; margin:0 auto; } } www.ancestry.com/dna/
- Consider shortening long anchor text.
- 2 links have no text describing their destination. Links on a page should describe their destination for the benefit of both screen readers and search engine spiders.
- Add meaningful anchor text that describes the link's destination. If the link contains an image, ensure you have provided alt text.
Empty link text
- Add meaningful anchor text that describes the link's destination. If the link contains an image, ensure you have provided alt text.
Server behaviour9.2
404 page
Compression
- This website handles missing pages correctly by sending a 404 HTTP status code.
- This website was served with GZIP encoding. This is very good because it reduces the loading time of a web page.
- One page of this website follows the best practice of using a permanent (HTTP 301) redirect between its URL with/without a trailing slash. This page is ideal.
- 2 of the pages of this website return page content with or without a trailing slash on their URLs. Search engines might see these as separate pages with duplicate content which they could penalise for.
- Use a 301 redirect or a canonical meta tag to force search engines to see the correct version.
- One page of this website returns page content with or without a trailing slash on its URL, but it uses a canonical tag to denote the correct versions. This is ideal, as search engines will know which version to index.
- This website follows the best practice of using a permanent (HTTP 301) redirect from http://ancestry.com to http://www.ancestry.com. This is ideal.
Mobile9.7
- All of this website appears to be optimised for viewing on a mobile phone (using CSS media queries) but only 80.0% of pages are optimised for tablet viewing. It is important to make sure your content is optimised for a wide range of devices as a growing percentage of web browsing is done on phones and tablets.
- Check how the website looks using a tablet and consider adding tablet-only styling using media queries. Some websites employ other techniques for mobile and tablet visitors which we cannot currently detect.
Device optimised pages
Page Mobile Tablet Viewport www.ancestry.com/ Detected Detected Detected www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family Detected Detected Detected www.ancestry.com/dna/ Detected Detected Detected www.ancestry.com/account/signin?signUpReturnUrl=https://www.ancestry.com%2Fcs%2Foffers%2Fsubscribe%3Fsub%3D1 Detected Not detected Detected www.ancestry.com/account/create?returnUrl=https://www.ancestry.com%2Fcs%2Foffers%2Ffreetrial Detected Detected Detected
- Check how the website looks using a tablet and consider adding tablet-only styling using media queries. Some websites employ other techniques for mobile and tablet visitors which we cannot currently detect.
Media specific CSS detected
Images9.9
6% of images have a clearly defined size
3 images are being resized by the browser
- Most images (94.0%) don't have defined sizes using width and height attributes in the HTML. These attributes are optional, but strongly recommended as they help the browser arrange the page more quickly.
- Add width and height attributes to all image tags. The width and height you specify should be the same as the source image. If you want to resize an image in the browser, use CSS.
Non Explicitly Sized Images
- Add width and height attributes to all image tags. The width and height you specify should be the same as the source image. If you want to resize an image in the browser, use CSS.
- 3 images are being stretched in the browser.
- The width and height you specify in an image tag should be the same as the source image. If you want to resize an image in the browser, use the CSS width and height properties.
Stretched Images
- The width and height you specify in an image tag should be the same as the source image. If you want to resize an image in the browser, use the CSS width and height properties.
Page titles10.0
100% of pages have defined titles
0% of page titles are weak
- All pages were found to use page titles appropriately. Page titles appear in search results and at the top of the browser's window when visiting the site. Appropriate page titles are particularly important for search engine optimisation.
Printability10.0
100% of pages are optimised for printing
- All of this website appears to be optimised for printing (using CSS).
Media specific CSS detected
Freshness10.0
Last updated March 22, 2024
- It looks like this website was last updated on Friday, 22 March 2024. This is good because visitors perceive up-to-date websites as more credible. Websites that are updated regularly are also spidered by search engines more often.
- To find this information we used the last modified dates reported by this website's server in addition to looking for dates written on each page.
All dates found
| Date | File | Source |
| 22/03/2024 | www.ancestry.com/ | Last modified header |
| 18/03/2024 | www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family | Last modified header |
| 18/03/2024 | www.ancestry.com/dna/ | Last modified header |
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Nibbler tested the following pages
- https://www.ancestry.com/
- https://www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-family
- https://www.ancestry.com/dna/
- https://www.ancestry.com/account/signin?signUpReturnUrl=https://www.ancestry.com%2Fcs%2Foffers%2Fsubscribe%3Fsub%3D1
- https://www.ancestry.com/account/create?returnUrl=https://www.ancestry.com%2Fcs%2Foffers%2Ffreetrial