How To Count Your Ancestry DNA Matches

If you’re wondering how many Ancestry DNA matches you have, you need to know where Ancestry shows the total count. And they don’t make it obvious!

This article shows you how to count your Ancestry matches, and what to do if the display goes missing.

How Many Ancestry DNA Matches Do I Have?

Your total count of Ancestry DNA matches is shown when you expand the Shared Match filter on the DNA Match List page. The count is displayed in parentheses beside the “All matches” option box.

A step-by-step guide

  • Click on “DNA” on the top menu
  • Click on “View All DNA Matches” to open the Match List page
  • Expand the “Shared DNA” filter at the top of the list
Count of Ancestry Matches
  • The total count is displayed in parentheses beside the “All matches” option box

Not seeing any counts?

The display can be a little glitchy, and sometimes the numbers do not load. If you don’t see any figures in parentheses, then it’s a glitch.

What I do is refresh the entire page to reload the match list again. The F5 function key reloads the page.

Then wait a few seconds for those first 200 matches to display. You are letting the web page complete its processing. You don’t need to scroll down, just make sure you’re not seeing a spinning wheel (this indicates that the Ancestry servers are struggling a little).

I find that after waiting a couple of seconds, I will see the counts when I expand the Shared Match filter again.

The Breakdown Of Close And Distant Matches

The Shared Match filter also shows you the number of “Close” and “Distant” matches. These are Ancestry’s own categories.

By “close”, they mean your matches at 20 cm and above. They also call these “Fourth Cousins” on the match list display.

By distant matches, they mean below 20 cm. The display is a little inconsistent, as they say its “6 – 20 shared centimorgans.

Your display may say “8 – 20” if you were affected by Ancestry removing the lower end of DNA matches from our lists. There’s nothing that can be done to reverse that now, but if you’re interested in what happened – here’s an old article about the Ancestry purge.

How Often Do I Get New Matches?

Are you wondering how often Ancestry updates your DNA match list with new additions?

You could keep refreshing the total count over time and measure the rate of increase. But that would be like watching paint dry. So, I’ve done it for you.

And not on just my own kit, which may not be representative of most Ancestry customers. I picked ten very different DNA kits that I manage and watched their totals over time.

You can see the results in this article on how often does Ancestry update DNA matches.

Why Do I Have Less Matches Than The Last Time I Checked?

Ancestry customers can choose to remove themselves from being visible at any time. You may see your count occasionally tick downward by a match. There’s nothing you can do about that.

However, it’s also possible to hide a match inadvertently. This article covers the reasons that matches disappear on Ancestry, and what you can do to fix your on mistakes.

More Articles And Tutorials

Check out our detailed guide on working with your Ancestry DNA matches. And sign up for our newsletter roundup of new articles and videos.

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Margaret created a family tree on a genealogy website in 2012. She purchased her first DNA kit in 2017. She created this website to share insights and how-to guides on DNA, genealogy, and family research.

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