Those who have done their DNA with Ancestry likely already understand the basics of their results: ethnicity estimates and DNA matches; however, if you wish to expand upon what Ancestry DNA offers more advanced users may want to consider more advanced use cases of its platform.
In this post, I’ll provide the top strategies to extract maximum insight from your Ancestry DNA results.
As you will quickly observe, most of these expert tips concern your DNA match list – it truly is the core of all DNA results and expert tip #1!
Examine Your Ethnicity Estimate
When reviewing your ethnicity estimate, don’t just focus on its overall percentage figure; click through each region and check how Ancestry has classified each DNA region’s range.
Ancestry DNA estimates that I possess 43% Germanic Europe DNA; when clicking Germanic Europe under ethnicity results, I am shown what percentages may exist within that range – in this image below you can see that Ancestry states I possess between 40-43% DNA from this region.
Ancestry DNA has given me confidence that my DNA consists of Germanic origin, which is fantastic! Feeling certain about something is always nice!
How are they able to determine this range? When they analyze your DNA results, they create multiple copies of your genetic code in order to compare it against reference panels containing samples of their sample populations.
Each time they perform tests, their results can differ slightly or even significantly; using this data to form your range and provide the exact percentage they feel confident reporting back.
Sometimes the range will be wider; sometimes even including zero percent. My results say I have 10% Norway DNA; when I click on this region however, the range goes from 0-16%.
As this range is expansive and contains zero, it is possible that I may not actually possess DNA which matches up with Norway region.
Also, take note of any regions which don’t seem logical or understandable to you.
Determine Your Ancestry Regions
Discover which ethnicity results have come from each parent by reviewing your SideView results – these appear at the top of your main DNA Story page.
SideView estimates can help guide your family tree research, particularly if you are curious to uncover more of a particular aspect of your heritage. They provide insight into which branch this region likely originated on.
Discover exactly how much DNA you share with each match At first glance, your DNA match list might seem like just another list of potential relatives – but this is not true!
People listed in your DNA match list who appear on its first few pages (at least several hundred people) are almost certainly related to you in some way.
Finding out how you are related is not always straightforward and will depend on how well-informed each party is about their family history.
One piece of information that may help you pinpoint how and where your DNA matches are related is knowing how many centimorgans you share between yourselves.
Centimorgans is the unit used by geneticists to measure genetic distance. When people who share DNA segments are related, centimorgans can help measure genetic proximity between them. Access your relatives’ results and link them with your account for easy viewing and comparison.
Ancestry DNA makes this feature even more useful. Do you have a family member who has taken their DNA test as well, making it time consuming or frustrating to send text messages or emails asking them for more information so you can better interpret your results? Ancestry DNA offers this feature so they can collaborate together.
If your relationship is strong with this family member, they may make it easier for you to access their DNA results by inviting you from their test setting page (found under their main Ancestry DNA Insights page).
As soon as your partner takes their DNA test and follows your e-mail instructions to access their results, you’ll be able to toggle back and forth from their home screen directly back into your own DNA home page between their results and yours.
There’s no known limit to the number of test results you can store with your account – I personally have more than a dozen attached to mine, which allows me to switch easily back and forth without needing to log out or ask anyone else for more details on them. This feature makes family tree research much simpler!
Attach a family tree to your DNA results
Don’t have one yet? Check out my post on building one on Ancestry!
Once you’ve established a family tree or are updating an existing one, linking your Ancestry DNA results is another consideration.
Why test with Ancestry? Testing your DNA on Ancestry offers many advantages, not least its immense family tree database of millions of family trees containing genetic material. People who take DNA tests on Ancestry can leverage all this information and leverage it easily in order to discover how they connect to those who have done the same – thus giving themselves a much easier chance of discovering any DNA matches who have taken a similar test as themselves.
Learn how to connect your family tree and DNA results.
Did You Know… Did You Know That… Did You Know You Can View A Map Of Your DNA Matches
From Your DNA Match Page, Click “Map View” and view all of Your DNA matches who have provided their location details in their profiles.
Are There DNA Matches You Would Prefer Not Seeing Regularly (Block DNA Match) Do there appear people on your DNA matches list that you would rather avoid seeing every time you log in? Perhaps their trees have private areas and you have tried reaching out multiple times but never received a reply back? Attempts at blocking such individuals may help.
If they are distantly related, consider temporarily hiding them so as to focus on matches who respond and teach something from you instead. Sometimes it might also be beneficial to delete those that seem irrelevant to your life altogether.
No, unfortunately we can’t use this option to opt out of sharing genetic material with family that we dislike.
To hide a DNA match, first access their DNA match profile page. Here, they provide some details on who they are and how you are related, including whether or not there is a known common ancestor between you.
Clicking the Hide match icon gives you instantaneous control to undo that action. If at any point, you need to restore previously hidden matches, simply filter your main DNA match list so only Hidden matches appear and individually unhide each match from that list.
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