When a surname has only one listing, why are we not able to click on it to go to the profile?

Question

An example is on the following surname index page:

http://www.wikitree.com/indexes/person/S/117.html

Answer 1

Hi Debby,

Good question.

I'm not proud of the answer, but it is what it is: Those index pages by letter are more for Google than users.

We don't expect that many real human beings would be browsing them. A human being could jump to any surname they want by entering the last name in the surname search box at the top of pages.

The index pages are there to help make sure Google indexes our ancestors' names. If we lead Google's bot to surname pages that have only one name, it places relatively less importance on surname pages with many names.

Chris

Comments

Thanks, Chris.

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Uh-oh. I guess I'm weird. I like to browse all those surnames, especially when looking for variations of surnames like the ones I'm researching. :o)

As far as not being "proud of the answer",  in the long run, it helps all of us so it's a pretty wise practice.