How to Find Someone for Free
Why pay a service to find an old friend or a missing relative, when you can do it yourself for free? The internet has made people finding pretty easy. Here's how.
- Difficulty:
- Easy
Instructions
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A simple Google search may be all you need to find a missing friend or relative.
Google the person's name. It may just be as simple as that to find their current address and phone listing. Some results will show a White Pages listing for the person.
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Use quotation marks for an exact search of a person's name.
If a simple Google search doesn't work, search for the name in quotes: "John Smithers". Also search for the name in reverse: "Smithers John"
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Use an asterisk (star) as a wildcard in searching for a person's name.
Still nothing? Try s search in quotes, with a search wildcard (an asterisk) to account for a middle name or initial: "John * Smithers"
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4
Search on alternative names, including first names, nicknames and maiden names before marriage.
Remember to try alternative names...Bill for William, Susan for Suzie, and so on. Search with and without nicknames; your friend 'Skip' just might have a more formal first name worth searching on. Also try searching for maiden names, if you're looking up a married woman (or the occasional man who changes his name at marriage).
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5
Pinpoint your search results with other terms to help locate a missing person.
If searches turn up too many results (as will happen for common names), use other search terms to pinpoint an answer. If you know the person's city, workplace, spouse's name, school, or other identifying information, include those terms in your search.
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The Resources section lists more people finding options.
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