Googling by phone number

[gp0560]

A number of times I've read of people googling a phone number to find out more about the person. Can you do this for free? Every time I try, I end up on a page that wants me to pay $15 or so to get the name and address. Is that just the way it works, or am I doing something wrong?

 

Thanks for any info you can give me.

[+ deej]

It's called Reverse Phone Lookup and yes, you'd usually have to pay for the service. Note that even paid RPL isn't 100%. Unlisted numbers are just that, and most databases do not include mobile numbers (or didn't last time I looked into it for a client).

 

If a person has used his phone number on a web page, Google will have scanned and indexed that page. (It usually takes them about 20 minutes to find a brand new document on the web.) That's what people are talking about finding.

 

Frankly, I find the entire practice just a little too close to stalking but whatever floats your boat.

[gp0560]

Thanks, Deej.

[Kevin Slater]

If you do decide to google the number, you may find that 917-123-4567 or "917 123 4567" works better than (917) 123 4567 or just 917 123 4567.

 

Kevin Slater

[gp0560]

Thanks, Kevin. I'll try it out on my own phone number and see what happens.

[AdamATL77]

A number of times I've read of people googling a phone number to find out more about the person. Can you do this for free? Every time I try, I end up on a page that wants me to pay $15 or so to get the name and address. Is that just the way it works, or am I doing something wrong?

 

Thanks for any info you can give me.

 

Spokeo.com lists what information is on the internet. It's part free, part paid. They have name, email, and phone searches. When a new client has too much information out there, I tell them about the site and that if they click on the Privacy link, they can opt-out and their info will be removed.