How to Find People Online
There are several ways to find people online. First, you can enter the searched person’s name and last-known location into Google and check out the best matches.
Next, you can look someone up on Facebook. If you are looking to connect to a professional, you can search for them on LinkedIn.
You should visit a dedicated people search website for more comprehensive and systematized information.
Ways to Find a Person Online and How They Work
When Google started in 1998, its primary purpose was to systematize all of the information circulating online by indexing websites. With the integration of AI, the most powerful search engine has become an effective people finder.
How to effectively Google someone
First, you can feed the person’s first and last name to the search engine within double quotation marks.
Next, you can add terms that will narrow down the results: wife’s name, company, city or state, university, etc.
To make your search even more targeted, you can enter the person’s names and pseudonyms in question marks.
Facebook is great for finding people online if they maintain a public profile or page. In a move to crack down on fake profiles and trolling, Facebook requires every profile to have a verified profile pic.
You can use profile pictures to make sure you’ve found the right John Smith, for example. Arm yourself with patience and perseverance, as you may need to scroll through 500 or more names.
People search sites
The most effective way to track someone down on the Internet is by using a specialized site like https://freepeoplesearch.com/.
These sites have AI-based bots that scrape the web for relevant information about the searched individual.
They then systematize this information into different sections and are smart enough to prioritize up-to-date addresses and locations to old forum posts.
What information do people search sites provide?
A general people search report includes the following background information:
- Residential and employments addresses
- Phone numbers
- Criminal and court records
- Traffic violations
- Credit score
- Linked social accounts
- Marriage & divorce records
To find all of this information, you will need to spend long hours online and browse hundreds of web pages.
People search sites deliver comprehensive and accurate reports to your inbox for a reasonable subscription fee. Best of all, they follow up with updates as soon as new bits of information surface.
Scalable and targeted results
If you manage to find the person you’ve been looking for on Google, the info is often general, and the results only provide leads to continue your search.
If you find someone on Facebook, their background info may be protected by privacy settings. You will thus find yourself unable to retrieve any specific data.
People Search engines use powerful AI software that scales down and sorts out all relevant results to give you valuable insights into the search person’s life.
LinkedIn started in 2003 as a place for job seekers and headhunters. In recent years, its algorithms have evolved to facilitate more sophisticated people searches. You should enter the person’s name and organization to start.
Specialized websites can help you track down long-lost relatives
Some people search sites like FamilyTreeNow and Ancestry.com have specialized in showing spider graphs of family members and distant relatives.
If you want to find a distant cousin, you should enter their names + cousin + your names. You can narrow down the search by entering a state or a city.
Use White Pages for a reverse phone lookup
You can enter the searched person’s names and city in a phone directory site like White Pages to find their address.
If you have missed a call from an unknown number, you can enter it in the site’s search box and see its holder’s name and location.
Use multiple sources
Maximize your chances of finding a person online by tapping on multiple sources. Ideally, you should check out and combine several people finders with complementing features.
For example, some sites excel in finding criminal records and work history, but their reports do not include social media accounts. You should combine such resources with ones primarily focusing on social network profiles.
How much does it cost to find someone online?
If you use free search engines and social networks, the search can cost you several hours at the computer.
If you open accounts on three paid people finding sites, the fees can reach $100-200 for two months. Just don’t forget to cancel your subscriptions when the search is over.