People sometimes ask us, “What’s the difference between The Family History Guide and FamilySearch (or Ancestry, or MyHeritage, etc.)?” The short answer: we are a learning and resource system. But there’s more to the picture … our success depends in part on on the success of other family history and genealogy companies. You could say that we’re into “co-opetition” rather than competition.

Co-opetition in Family History

The business world today is set up for the most part as a competitive environment, and that’s generally a good thing. However, there’s also a place for “co-opetition,” where everyone wins or comes out better than they started. The Family History Guide fits into the co-opetition model: we want to get more people worldwide actively involved in family history, which brings them to sites like Ancestry, FamilySearch, MyHeritage, Findmypast, and others, as well as connecting them with industry bloggers and authors.

That said, let’s take a look at some of the differences between The Family History Guide and other popular family history and genealogy websites.

Comparison to Industry Platforms

Here are some basic differences between The Family History Guide and industry platforms such as FamilySearch, Ancestry, MyHeritage, and Findmypast:

• We have no genealogy records, but we help you find them faster, on any of the platforms. QUIKLinks play an essential role in this accelerated searching process.
• We have an integrated knowledge system with just-in-time learning. This differs from a Help Center in that it suggests sequence and priorities for learning resources.
• We include learning resources across all four platforms, so you can learn how to use each one of them from our site.

• We have Projects, Goals, Choices and Steps, to facilitate learning and navigation.
• We point to FamilySearch Wiki articles, but we also point to articles and videos from many other sources.
• We use a smaller set of FamilySearch Wiki information, which we consider the most essential. This eliminates a lot of navigation overhead.
• We use a custom web layout that is not restricted by the Wiki format and layout. This contributes to a rich user experience.
• Our turnaround time for updates is generally 1 – 2 days, helping us stay up-to-date with the rapidly changing family history landscape.

Comparison to Link Sites

The Family History Guide can be considered to be a link site as well as a structured learning site. For a detailed comparison, see our earlier blog post Link Sites and The Family History Guide.