The Basics · Step 3 of 13

Look yourself up

Search for yourself the way a stranger would, so you know what is out there before you start removing it. The list you make here guides the rest of the path.

Before you start

Make a private list to write down what you find. Keep it on your own device or on paper. Don't put it in a shared document or a shared folder, because the list itself pulls your details together in one place.

For each result, write down:

• the website name and the page address
• what it shows about you (address, phone, relatives, photos, and so on)
• the date you found it

What to search

Use a regular search engine. Try each of these, one at a time:

1. Your full name and your city. Then try your name with past cities you lived in, and any other names you have used, like a maiden name or nickname.
2. Each phone number you have, including old ones. Try it with and without dashes.
3. Each email address you use, including old ones.
4. Your usernames, the names you use on social media, games, and forums.
5. Your home address. Put it in quotation marks.
6. Your photos. Some search engines let you search with a picture instead of words. Google calls this searching with an image, and it can find similar images. ² Try your profile pictures.

Look past the first page of results. Also check the "Images" tab for your name.

Check people-search sites

There are a lot of people-search sites. ¹ The FTC suggests searching for your name on them, and starting with details like your phone number or address. ¹ You will probably see some of these sites in your search results already. Add each one that shows your details to your list.

You don't have to pay to see your own report. A site may show a free preview, then ask you to pay for the full report. ⁴ Previews can be wrong. In a 2020 case, the FTC said one site's previews often suggested people had criminal records when they did not. ⁴ You can also ask these sites to stop selling your information for free, by yourself. ¹ Step 6 shows you how.

Set up an alert

Google has a tool called "Results about you." You give it your name and contact details, like your home address, phone number, or email address, and it checks for Google search results that show them. ³ You can choose to get a notification when it finds new results. ³ You need a Google account to use it, and some features are only available to adults in certain places. ³

Google's help page for "Results about you"

The same tool can also be used to ask Google to remove results. Step 6 covers removal.

What to do with your list

• Mark anything that shows your home address or phone number. Those come first.
• Note which results come from your own accounts. Step 5 helps you clean those up.
• Note which come from people-search sites. Step 6 helps you remove those.
• Keep the list. You will search again later to see what came back.

Last checked: November 8, 2026