MyHeritage releases SuperSearch - a state of the art search engine for family history

Cutting-edge search engine powers breakthrough discoveries, adds color to family history and establishes the popular family network as a leading player in the historical content market

PROVO, Utah & LONDON & TEL AVIV, Israel – June 25, 2012: MyHeritage, the most popular family network on the web, today announced the official launch of SuperSearch, a powerful new family history search engine for helping families around the world discover historical records and long-lost relatives. Packed with the industry’s most international source of historical content and family trees, SuperSearch (www.myheritage.com/research) is capable of searching billions of records within seconds. With a simple and contemporary user experience, clever search features, a massive library of content including one billion global family tree profiles, the world’s largest collection of historical newspapers, and flexible pay-as-you-go or subscription payment options, SuperSearch raises the bar and provides new value and choice for family history fans.

With more than 63 million registered users, MyHeritage has become the trusted home on the web for families wishing to explore their family history, share memories and stay connected. The official launch of SuperSearch, which has been in Beta since April 2012, reaffirms MyHeritage’s position as a leading provider of historical records, following the company’s recent acquisition of WorldVitalRecords and FamilyLink, appointment of former Footnote.com Founder and CEO Russ Wilding to lead content growth, and initiative to provide a free searchable index for the 1940 U.S. Census. 

Number one online destination for global research

Available in 38 languages, SuperSearch is the industry’s most multilingual family history search engine, breaking down geographical and language barriers in genealogy research. SuperSearch automatically translates and searches possible initials, synonyms and spelling variations. For example a search for William will also catch Bill, Vilhelm, Guillaume, Guglielmo and many other variations, even when written in other alphabets such as Russian or Hebrew. This increases the chances of finding valuable information within the huge hoards of content on MyHeritage without requiring users to try such variations themselves.

Content highlights

With a powerful mix of historical records and user-generated information in family trees on MyHeritage, SuperSearch helps family history enthusiasts break through brick walls in their research and add color to their family history. The more than 4 billion records on MyHeritage provide worldwide coverage, with strong collections in the USA, UK, Ireland, Australia and Canada. Some record collections are exclusive to MyHeritage, and all this is augmented by content licensed from important third-party databases. Users can find birth, marriage, death, burial, census, military, immigration, yearbooks and other types of records, and view scans of original documents. SuperSearch includes the world’s largest historical newspaper collection (currently about 120 million pages dating back to the 18th century), the 1930 and 1940 US census records, all UK censuses between 1841 and 1901 and the content from MyHeritage-owned family history websites, WorldVitalRecords and FamilyLink.

“SuperSearch represents a watershed innovation in the family history industry,” said Founder and CEO of MyHeritage, Gilad Japhet. “It transforms family history into an experience that is more global, accessible and engaging than ever before. Within a few minutes, you can unravel family mysteries - discover your great-aunt on a passenger list to Ellis Island, find your long-lost branch of the family in a family tree in Brazil or locate the photo of your great-grandfather’s gravestone in England.  Complementing our expertise in community family tree building, SuperSearch helps fulfill our goal of connecting families to each other and to their past, and does so in full color, with photos, videos and documents. We're adding millions of new records and family tree profiles every day, which, together with the imminent launch of Record Matching, makes SuperSearch an indispensable tool for family history fans around the world.”

 SuperSearch features:

• Easily search for historical records of any person by first name and/or last name, with optional dates or places.
• Search also by keywords, events, relationships and other advanced criteria.
• Find people without even knowing their last names, for example, find three brothers in the same family using only their first names and relationship as siblings, or find all people born on a certain date or in a certain town.
• Run a global search to cover all data collections at once, or drill down to search only in one collection or one category.
• SuperSearch is smart enough to figure out the likely gender of the person you're trying to find.
• Choose between a mode that shows all results, and a summary mode that shows the count of matches from each collection.
• Results arrive fast, typically within a second, ranked by relevance.
• Refine results by collection or by any other common criteria.

For a one-minute summary of SuperSearch, watch the video.

Search on-the-go via MyHeritage mobile app

Users can utilize SuperSearch on-the-go with the latest version of the MyHeritage Mobile App for  iPhone & iPad and Android. With anywhere, anytime access to billions of records, SuperSearch on the MyHeritage App is ideal for introducing family history to friends and family and for fun moments at family reunions.

Access to records

SuperSearch is open to all and requires no registration. Search result lists are displayed for free. Full access to individual records is provided for free for complimentary content, such as the 1940 U.S. Census and the US Social Security Death Index. To access other, paid-only content, MyHeritage gives users maximum choice via affordable pay-as-you-go credits and data subscription plans at prices that are 75% less expensive than competing services.

Coming soon – Record Matching for automatic discoveries

In the coming weeks, MyHeritage will announce the launch of Record Matching on SuperSearch – a powerful and innovative feature that automatically compares family tree profiles and historical records to each other to find matches, with a high degree of accuracy.

About MyHeritage

MyHeritage is the most popular family network on the web. On MyHeritage, millions of families around the world enjoy having a private and free place to explore their history and share special family memories. Pioneers in making family history a collaborative experience for all the family, MyHeritage empowers its users with innovative social tools and a massive library of historical content. The site is available in 38 languages. The company is backed by Accel Partners and Index Ventures, the investors of Facebook and Skype. For more information visit www.myheritage.com.

Press Contact

Daniel Horowitz                                   Schelly Talalay Dardashti                   Mark Olsen

Chief Genealogist                               US Genealogy Advisor                       Affiliate Manager

MyHeritage.com                                 MyHeritage.com                                 MyHeritage.com

Daniel@MyHeritage.com                   (505) 994.1554                                    (801) 687.0599