Everyone has their own way of building their family trees, and folk are sensitive about their people, understood! Ancestry.com, as well as all of the other family tree building genealogy sites, offer some sort of basic training on the use of their specific web sites. Ancestry has a "learning academy" available that can make the process easier for you. They include videos and detailed instructions to get you started. I have included a link below if you wish to review this.
https://www.ancestryacademy.com/getting-started-on-ancestry-starting-your-family-tree

With that said, I just want to share a few things I have found in building my Ancestry.com tree to over 80,000 and confirming more than 2000 DNA matches. These tips will help you make the connections you are seeking much faster!

START YOUR TREE

BEGIN WITH WHAT YOU KNOW

Most people, unless adopted at a very young age, know at least the name of one parent. Ancestry.com will allow you to enter these names to build a family tree even if you don’t have a paid membership with them. You will, however, need access to a paid membership or a free search site, like Family Search.org to locate any records needed to verify this information if you’re not sure of spellings, birth information or probable family connections. 

HOW TO ENTER NAMES IN TREE

1.-ENTER ONLY ONE SPELLING OF A SURNAME

Computers are only so smart! They will not easily find matches with multiple names of different spellings, or that include prefixes, nicknames, or titles! I recommend googling the surname so that you have an idea of possible spelling variations before entering your ancestors name. Spelling wasn’t standardized in the US until the late 19th century and many census takers spelled phonetically, so the name you know today could have started off very differently. The internet surname database gives a good description of surname variations you can expect to encounter in your searches. 
https://www.surnamedb.com/

2.-Pick a spelling and stick with it! Goins, Gowens, or Goings, choose today! At the root end they are more than likely from the same source! In the example below there are so many versions of the name, the computer doesn't know what's 'Goings' on! If you absolutely don't know how a name is spelled, you can also enter names with a wild card, which allows searching for anything following the letters in front of the it.

3.- Ancestry® uses the asterisk (*) and the question mark (?) as wild cards. An asterisk (*) represents 0 to 5 characters. If you wanted to search for different spellings of the name Matthew (like Mathew and Matthiu), you could do a wild card search that would find each different ending: Mat*. A question mark (?) represents 1 character. If you didn’t know whether a name were spelled Nielson or Nielsen, you could do a search for the name using a wild card where the unknown letter goes: Niels?n.

In the Goins example using a wild card such as Go* could be helpful, but although it will pick up the three mentioned versions of Goins, it will also pick up other unrelated names beginning with Go which can further complicate your search. 

https://support.ancestry.com/s/article/Searching-with-Wild-Cards?language=en_US&r=86&ui-knowledge-components-aura-actions.KnowledgeArticleVersionCreateDraftFromOnlineAction.createDraftFromOnlineArticle=1

4.-Another way to confuse the computers by entering titles at the beginning of a name. The computer will not know that it is a title and attempt to search it as a given name. Note that there are no computer generated hints for Lady Katherine in the example below, however, when the title Lady is removed and her married name added, the computer generates multiple hints.

5.-Same goes for military ranks like Colonel, Sargent, or General. Its good to know that a relative served in the armed forces, and is a great reminder to search military records for further information, but the only time this should be at the start of someones name is when it is actually their given name. This was actually a common naming custom back in the early war days so check carefully before adding or eliminating them. In the following example, General was the actual given name for General Green Flowers.

6.-Nicknames can also throw off a search because they were often listed in census records. Little Jimmy is probably in most records after 1900 as James, Joe is Joseph and big mama was only called that by close family. Just saying, computers search everything you tell it to! You can include nicknames in quotation marks after the given name and the computer will search it as well, but put it inside of parenthesis and it won't.

The Ancestry.com learning hub details how to deal with nicknames during your search. The link is included below.
https://www.ancestry.com/c/family-history-learning-hub/nicknames

They also list some common nicknames during different centuries. This is useful if your ancestor had an unusual or uncommon nickname that was used in a census record, which is different than their birth name. Often enslaved persons are listed, if at all, by nicknames in legal documents like deeds , wills or rental contracts.  

7.- Another tool that can help with nicknames and alternate spellings is the soundex search. 
https://support.ancestry.com/s/article/Searching-with-Soundex?language=en_US

Soundex is an algorithm used to search for alternate spellings of a name, using the way the name is pronounced. To learn how to search using special symbols in place of unknown letters in a word, see Searching with Wild Cards. Searching by Soundex variations can help you find records despite differences in spelling (such as “Smythe” for “Smith”) or errors (such as “Smth” for “Smith”) in the record or the record index.

Soundex searches ignore all vowels and the consonants h, w, and y, because these letters are most commonly switched, added, and deleted. With those letters removed, all that remains of both “Smythe” and “Smith” is “Smt”; both names would produce the same results in a Soundex search.

8.- INCLUDE FULL MIDDLE NAME IF KNOWN, but don’t take initials at face value. They are often wrong.

9.-ENTER ONLY 1 POSSIBLE BIRTH/DEATH DATE

Computers can’t figure out multiple entries of dates. If you dont know an exact birthdate it’s better to make and educated guess than leave it blank or put multiple possible dates. You can prefix your date entries with before, after or about for more options.

THERE ARE SOME GENERAL RULES OF THUMB THAT CAN HELP WHEN MAKING GUESSES ABOUT BIRTH DATES

• ON AVERAGE MEN REPRODUCED AT ABOUT AGE 20 AND WOMEN AT 18, BEFORE THE 21ST CENTURY.  USE THAT AS A GUIDE BY GOVING A FATHER A BIRTH YEAR. 20 YEARS BEFORE THEIR FIRST CHILD'S BIRTH YEAR. 
• IF YOU KNOW THE PARENTS BIRTH YEAR, BUT NOT THE CHILDS, ASSUME IT WAS AT LEAST 20 YEARS AFTER THEIR FATHERS BIRTH YEAR. 
• WOMEN ALSO TENDED TO MARRY MEN AT LEAST 4-5 YEARS OLDER THAN THEM, SO USE THE MANS BIRTH YEAR AS A GUIDE FOR GUESSING HERS, AS LONG AS IT MAKES HER AT LEAST 16 AT THE TIME OR THE BIRTH. 
• ALWAYS PUT SOMETHING IN THE BIRTHDATE FIELD, A GUESS BEATS A BLANK IN THAT CASE.
• HOWEVER, IF YOU HAVE NO IDEA ABOUT A DEATH DATE, IT'S BEST TO LEAVE THAT BLANK THAN TO  MAKE SOMETHING UP!
•  THE COMPUTER CAN WORK WITH APPROXIMATIONS IF YOU ENTER BEFORE, AFTER OR ABOUT FOR UNKNOWN DATES. 
• FOR EXAMPLE IF YOU FIND A MAN IN THE 1900 CENSUS WITH HIS FAMILY, BUT HIS WIFE IS LISTED AS A WIDOW IN 1910, YOU CAN ASSUME THAT HE DIED SOMETIME AFTER 1900, BUT BEFORE 1910.  DON'T ENTER BOTH POSSIBILITIES, JUST CHOSE ONE AND TRY IT FOR A WEEK OR SO, THEN TRY THE OTHER IF YOU GET NO HINTS THE FIRST WAY.
• IF YOU DO ENTER TOO MANY DATES, THE COMPUTER WILL PROMPT YOU TO CORRECT IT. YOU CAN OVERRIDE THE PROMPT AND ENTER IT ANYWAY, BUT EVERYTIME YOU EDIT THAT PROFILE, THE ERROR MESSAGE WILL RETURN.
• YOU CAN PLAY WITH DATE RANGES WHEN DOING A GENERALLY SEARCH MANUALLY.
• BE CAREFUL ENTERING EXACT DATES IF YOU'RE NOT SURE. IN SOME CENSUS RECORDS DATES WERE INFERRED BASED ON THE AGE THE PERSON SAID THEY WERE. OFTEN EVEN THAT WAS WRONG.  TRY ALLOWING FOR AT LEAST A YEAR DIFFERENCE WIN BIRTHDATES.  
• FOR EXAMPLE IF A CHILD WAS 10 YEARS OLD IN 1900 THE CENSUS TAKER COULD INFER A BIRTH YEAR OF 1809, BUT DEPENDING ON THE MONTH OF BIRTH THE CHILD COULD HAVE BEEN BORN IN 1889.  

6. PUT INFO YOU NEED TO SEE, BUT DON'T WANT SEARCHED IN PARENTHESIS

It is extremely helpful to include the maiden name of a wife in parenthesis next to a man’s first name. It will allow you to easily verify that you have the correct person if it’s a common name and you’ll also know that you have worked with that person before. The following examples with the name John Jones shows the difference when you have multiple people with the same name in your tree.

7.-YOU HAVE PROBABLY ALL NOTICED TREES WITH ALL KINDS OF CODES AND SYMBOLS THE TREE OWNER HAS ENTERED.

• THERE ARE NO STANDARDIZED METHODS FOR THESE CODES, AND EVERYONE HAS THEIR OWN METHODS AND REASONING FOR USING THEM.
• I HAVE ADOPTED SOME CODES USED BY THE FIND A KIN PROJECT REGARDING ENSLAVED PEOPLE, BUT I ALSO USE CODES THAT ARE USEFUL TO ME.
• I HAVE FOUND THAT ENTERING THESE CODES IN THE SUFFIX AREA AFTER THE FULL NAME OF THE PERSON CAN BE TREMENDOUSLY HELPFUL WHEN SEARCHING WITHIN A TREE FOR SPECIFIC GROUPS. 
• THIS WOULD INCLUDE PEOPLE WHO WERE SLAVEHOLDERS, ENSLAVED PERSONS, FREE COLORED, AND IMMIGRANTS

 FOR EXAMPLE, ENTERING IMM AND THE FIRST LETTERS OF THE COUNTRY HELPS ME READILY IDENTIFY THE FIRST IMMIGRANT IN A FAMILY LINE AND WHERE THEY IMMIGRATED FROM. 

This is an example of some of the codes you can find in the suffix box on trees that I work on : Codes used in the suffix area include *=direct DNA link confirmed, +=DNA connected, in tree not confirmed. CBM= Cousin by marriage ABM or UBM aunt or uncle by marriage MM= Mothermatch SH=slave holder EP=enslaved person, FC=born free colored, if freed, date noted. ImmENG, immFRAN, immITL etc =immigrant from the listed place. (If you add these codes to the end of a surname in your tree when searching it will bring up any matches with that surname that include that code. )

USING AN * IN THE SUFFIX AREA IS MY FAVORITE CODE OF ALL.  

• THIS IS PARTICULARLY USEFUL WHEN YOU ARE SEARCHING IN YOUR TREE TO IDENTIFY HOW YOU ARE CONNECTED TO CERTAIN FAMILIES. I GET A LOT OF INQUIRIES ABOUT WAY PEOPLE ARE IN MY TREE AND WHEN I SEE THAT * I KNOW IMMEDIATELY THAT THERE IS A DIRECT DNA CONNECTION.
• OCCASIONALLY I HAVE TRACED A DNA MATCH AND WAS ABLE TO GET HEM IN MY TREE BECAUSE MY TREE IS SO BIG, I HAVE THEIR FAMILY IN IN, BUT CANT REALLY CONFIRM HOW WE ARE CONNECTED. 
• IN THAT CASE I WILL PUT A + SIGN IN THE SUFFIX AREA UNTIL I CAN FIGURE OUT THE CONNECTION.  USUALLY THIS IS BECAUSE A COUSIN HAS MARRIED INTO THE FAMILY SOMEWHERE DOWN THE LINE SPREADING BITS OF OUR DNA

8.-INCLUDE MAIDEN NAMES IF KNOWN

Don’t neglect the females! You can find a lot of connections following the females. If you have matches to surnames you can’t place, it’s probably a cousin , aunt, etc, who married into that name, down your line somewhere. Follow the females! 

As mentioned with the Clark, Larkins families, I suspected that the Benjamin Clarks slaves may have came from his wife’s Larkins family. To confirm this, I did a search of the Larkins surname in my DNA matches, and found that I do have a match with a descendant of her brother John Larkins Jr. Since this is only possible if her father sired the mother of my enslaved ancestor, Samuel Clark, who was most likely Benjamin’s son, I can now confirm that Sarah Larkins father is also my 5th Great grandfather. 

Don’t be afraid to take a guess. Be sure to list it as an unverified hypothesis while you’re working on it and change the status as you confirm or eliminate them thru your DNA matches. 

9.-. BUILD YOUR TREE AS FAR OUT AS POSSIBLE

Ancestry uses computer algorithm’s to help you build your family tree by comparing the ancestors you list, with the ancestors listed in the trees of your known genetic matches. Because of this, the further back you can list your ancestors the greater the chances are that the computer will identify connections for you. Since the Thrulines feature only goes out as far as your 5th great grandparents, this should be the minimum goal you have for each of your family lines. The following chart from Family Search.com shows how many ancestors you will have in your family tree at each generation. There are 128 ancestors on both sides of your family at the fifth great grandparent level. 

As mentioned before, the average span between generations is around 20 years. As parent wait later to have children than is expanding, but that is a good basis to work from. This would mean that someone born in 2020, their 5th GreatGrand Grandparents would have been born around 1880, whereas with my generation born around 1960, my 5th great grandparents were born about 1800. Clearly because that would put my ancestors 60 years before African Americans were emancipated and 70 years before they were included by name on any federal census, it will be much more difficult to trace my roots to the 5 th great grandparents, than for the 2020 newborn. In fact it’s very likely that I will not be able to obtain the actual names of my enslaved ancestors born before 1820, because they likely died before that first census came out.  

That, however, should not prevent including them in my tree, because I can use my DNA matches to determine the family they came from, even if their actual name is unknown. It is also possible that the slaveholders may have listed the names of their enslaved people in deeds of gift or wills before 1865 where they passed property, including human Chattel to their children or other heirs. Obituaries, military pension records and even Native American census roll applications are also very helpful as often they will list the names and birth locations of parents and siblings of persons born into slavery, but freed before they died. 

10.-USE NOTE FIELDS FOR ADDL DETAILS

If you have additional details you want to add, use the note fields for that. It will help keep the tree uncluttered from information that doesn’t really apply to the search such as, military rank political office held, etc.. A lot of details will come up when you do a search on a specific person's profile. You will need to determine what’s worth noting along the way. The first hint that you’ll see is if that name is appearing in the family trees of any other Ancestry members. This will be a valuable source as you build your tree, but you need to be careful of which trees you choose to copy information from. 

11.-When copying Info from others trees, correct it then, not later! All the titles, suffixes, pet names, and even marriage date guesses carry over to your tree. It’s a pain cleaning it up later, so take an extra minute to do it then. You’ll thank me later. 

12.- Many of the documents that may include information that will help verify a person's given name are available for free on Family Search.com or with a paid subscription to sites such as Ancestry.com or My Heritage. They have access to the large collections of genealogical information. You can also contact the genealogical departments at the local library where your ancestor lived. Often the librarians can help find information that may be available in archives, but not online. 

CONCLUSION 

In conclusion, I want to emphasize that although it is not difficult to build a family tree, it takes time and attention to details to confirm that the information you enter is correct. In building my tree on Ancestry.com over the past 20 years, I have made many mistakes and encountered a wide variety of methods that people use to build their trees. I have also come to learn that your intuition is an excellent guide, because the more you work with your ancestor's names, the more they will reach out to lead you in the right direction. The most important thing to keep in mind is that at the end of the day, it’s your family tree. You can put whatever information is important to you in it and use whatever coding system works for you, but realize that everyone on Ancestry.com has the same freedom of expression. Take what’s useful to your intentions and leave the rest. A bigger tree is not necessarily a better tree.