Methods behind ancestry estimation, DNA matching, and other AncestryDNA features are at the forefront of human genetics research – with many unresolved questions and issues. We walk through the scientific process upon which your AncestryDNA results are built, primarily focusing on DNA matching as a case study. Using the scientific method, we look at the development of a new version of DNA matching: from our hypothesis and suspicion of false positive matches, to results from extensive research and data exploration, and finally to the development and evaluation of new algorithms. We discuss the advantage of our large database, which has led to, and will continue to lead to, other influential findings powering new AncestryDNA features.