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How to find more DNA relatives and DNA matches on 5 great websites!

I love genealogy and got my DNA tested recently by MyHeritage.com. I actually found many DNA relatives all over the world. Some very surprising genealogical discoveries included.

For example I found out that my grandpa had a sibling why he told everyone that he hadn’t. I also found the reason why, which I rather would not publish here…

Then I found two close relatives (1st cousins) – one in France and one in Australia. Nobody in my family has ever heard of their names, but because they are DNA relatives there is no mistake possible.

Now we try to find out where exactly the relationship is coming from.

It’s also strange that the official family tree of my whole family only shows North-European people and my DNA determined ethnicity is to 50% South-European. The only thing I would like to reveal is that my mom is not responsible

What helps a lot to make those discoveries is to have your DNA not to just one website but on several DNA test websites.

Actually you can order your test from one provider and upload it to another!

How to find more DNA relatives and DNA matches!

The best procedure at the moment is to

  1. Order the test from Ancestry.com or 23andMe.com
  2. Download the raw DNA data
  3. Upload the data to
  4. Wait a few days…

Now you will get many more new DNA matches!

If you want to upload your data to several DNA matching family tree websites, you should start with Ancestry.com or 23andMe.com. The point is… if you order your DNA kit from other providers you are unfortunately not able to upload your data to Ancestry.com or 23andMe.com, because they don’t allow it, which limits the amount of possible DNA relatives by a lot.

Ancestry.com has a database of 15 million people and 23andMe.com of 10 million people. MyHeritage.com does have around 2.5 million at the moment and is very popular in Europe, which is great when you are looking for DNA relatives in places where your ancestors likely came from.

BUT… the raw data that you get from Ancestry.com or 23andMe.com can actually also be uploaded to MyHeritage.com – FamilytreeDNA.comGENI.com and GEDmatch.com (but not the other way around)!

So if you want to upload your DNA data to 4 of the 5 biggest DNA websites you need to start with Ancestry.com or 23andMe.com.

Why you should not just stick to one DNA website and find your DNA relatives there!?

In fact every DNA test provider has millions of different users. Some are more European focused like MyHeritage or more US focused like Ancestry.com. In fact you will for sure find out that your DNA relatives live all over the world.

From my personal experience I can tell you that there is a much higher chance to find close relatives if you upload your DNA data to more than one DNA matching website.

DNA relatives and matches
DNA relatives and matches on MyHeritage

If you have no time to do download and upload the DNA raw data, you can actually hire someone to do so. On fiverr.com it will cost you almost nothing, starting from $5 – no joke.

https://www.fiverr.com/dnadetective/upload-your-dna-data-to-ancestry-or-other-dna-sites


What is a DNA test?

genealogical DNA test is a DNA-based test which looks at specific locations of a person’s genome, in order to find or verify ancestral genealogical relationships or (with lower reliability) to estimate the ethnic mixture of an individual. Since different testing companies use different ethnic reference groups and different matching algorithms, ethnicity estimates for an individual will vary between tests, sometimes dramatically.

Three principal types of genealogical DNA tests are available, with each looking at a different part of the genome and useful for different types of genealogical research: autosomalmitochondrial (mtDNA), and Y-DNA.

Autosomal tests may result in a large amount of DNA matches (other test persons that the individual may be related to), along mixed male and female lines, each match with an estimated distance in the family tree. However, due to the random nature of which and how much DNA is inherited by each tested person from their common ancestors, precise conclusions can only be made for close relations. Traditional genealogical research, and the sharing of family trees, is typically required for interpretation of the results. Autosomal tests are also used in estimating ethnic mix.

More…


Also interesting: Is it possible that I do not share any DNA with my blood-related cousin?

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