Social media and the internet make it easier to find long-lost friends and relatives than ever before. Information that once took extensive amounts of time and effort to track down is now available at our fingertips. If you have access to a search engine, you have access to government databases and public records. Background check websites even give you access to all these records in one place. If you’re looking for someone you’ve lost touch with, there are several places to search for people online, even with a limited amount of information.
How to search for people online
It can be hard to find someone on Google if you only have limited information, like a name or a birth date. If they don’t have a social media profile, a blog, or a post in an online forum, public information gets lost in a mountain of data.
There are sites dedicated to using limited information to search the public, government databases to find people online. The more details you have about the person, the easier it is to find them, of course, but many background check sites and people finder sites allow you to start with just a first and last name.
Top websites to find people online
Pipl People Search
Pipl is a search engine that conducts deep web searches on “non-typical sites” to help you find people outside of social networks.
Of course, the information uncovered with Pipl is limited to what’s published online, but you can track down street addresses, phone numbers, and family members using only a person’s name.
You will have to sign up for an account on this site, but it’s free, and the results are usually pretty good.
Google Groups
This tool contains an archive of internet conversations that date back to 1981. If the person you are looking for attended university during this time, this is a good place to find traces of their Usenet activities. Technology businesses, universities, and research centers typically used these channels, and over 800 million conversations are available to search on Google Groups.
CheckPeople
Check People is a background check website that will give you any publicly available information on a person. You can search using only the person’s first and last name to access government records, including former addresses, phone numbers, job history, and possible relations.
The first search on the website is free, while subsequent searches require a subscription fee. However, if you want to save a huge amount of time searching in different places, Check People does the hard work for you. All you have to do is look through the results!
TruePeopleSearch
As a 100% free people search service, truepeoplesearch.com delivers some impressive results if the person you’re searching for is in the United States. You can search using only a name and a state of residence and receive a full list of location information.
Canadian residents can also have good luck with this site. The information provided is more limited, but you’ll still get a list of addresses and phone numbers.
Classmates
If you’re trying to track down a former classmate or know what high school someone went to, this site can help you out. Classmates.com contains a database of high school reunion information and will list all attendees who registered as attending a specific school.
FamilyTreeNow
Genealogical records are another good way to search for people, but the process is slightly different. The information available on people still living is limited, as many records aren’t publicly released until after a person’s death.
It can be useful to establish a family link, display address information, and find possible relatives to the individual you’re looking for.
Zaba Search
This is another background check website. Like CheckPeople, it will give you a little more information than just a person’s online activities. Anyone who has ever been charged appeared in court or has a criminal record will have a wealth of information available.
Unlike CheckPeople, Zaba Search requires a birth date to search public records, the information you may not always have.
Final thoughts
These search tools will give you all the results you need to find people online with limited information. All of these sites give you access to public records and save you the time of searching through mountains of Google search results.