How to look yourself up online, the way a stranger would

You can get a decent picture of your own exposure with a search engine, a few free tools and an afternoon. The trick is to search the way a stranger would: start from what they’d know about you, and follow each thing you find to the next.

Before you start

• Use a private browser window, signed out of everything. Search results and social sites show you different things when you’re logged in.
• Keep notes. A simple list works: what you found, the link, and what it shows. You’ll want it later when you start fixing things.
• Don’t pay for anything. People-search sites will offer to unlock a “full report” about you. You don’t need it. What a stranger sees for free is what matters most, and paying gives the site more of your details.

Step 1: Search your name

Search your full name in quotes, like "Jordan Example". Then add things that narrow it down. Example only: the name and details here are made up.

• "Jordan Example" Springfield
• "Jordan Example" your employer
• "Jordan Example" your old school or a past city
• Your name with and without a middle name or initial, and any past names

Look past the first page. People-search sites, old news stories and forum posts often show up a little further down.

Step 2: Search your contact details

Search each email address and phone number you use, in quotes. Try phone numbers in a few formats, since sites write them differently:

• "555-010-1234"
• "(555) 010-1234"
• "5550101234"

An email or phone number that turns up on a site you don’t recognize is worth a closer look.

Step 3: Search your usernames

List every handle you’ve used, including old ones. Search each in quotes, and try it on the big sites directly (most have profile addresses like site.com/username). Look at what each profile shows: a real name, a city, a photo, links to other accounts.

Step 4: Check the people-search sites

Go to a few of the large people-search sites and search your name and state. Common ones include Whitepages, Spokeo, TruePeopleSearch, FastPeopleSearch and FamilyTreeNow. Look at what the free listing shows: address, age, phone numbers, relatives. Many sites list the same person more than once, so check every result that could be you.

Step 5: Check data breaches

Put your email addresses into Have I Been Pwned. It’s free and shows which known breaches included each address, and what kinds of data each one exposed. See Your email was in a data breach. What now? for what to do next.

Step 6: Check your photos

Run your main profile photos through a reverse image search, like Google Lens or Bing Visual Search. It shows other places the same picture is used, which can link accounts you thought were separate.

Step 7: Ask Google what it shows

Google’s Results about you tool lets you add your phone number, home address and email, and it tells you when search results show them. You can ask Google to stop showing those results from the same page.

What to do with what you find

Sort your notes into three piles:

1. Things that show your home address or phone number. These come first. Most people-search sites have an opt-out page. See How to opt out of a people-search site.
2. Things that link your accounts or your username to your real name. Close the old accounts, or edit what they show. See How old accounts and usernames give you away.
3. Everything else. Breach results mean changing passwords. Old news stories and public records are usually harder to change, but worth knowing about.

The limits of doing it yourself

A manual search finds a lot, but it’s slow, and it’s easy to miss things. Search engines don’t show every people-search listing, breach lookups only cover your email, and it’s hard to see how the pieces connect when you’re looking at them one at a time. Listings also come back after you opt out, so it isn’t a one-time job.

That’s what Oko’s report covers. A full report checks people-search sites, breaches, old accounts, usernames and search results, shows how a stranger could get from one to the next, and ranks the fixes. A recheck later shows what’s new, what came back and what’s gone.