When you use Google to find people, you can do so with limited information like just their name, phone number, address, email, etc. You can even use Google to find people with just a single photo! A reverse phone number lookup is possible, too. Using Google as a reverse number search tool is helpful if you already know the phone number, but you’re not sure who owns it. You might do a reverse number lookup on Google if you don’t recognize a caller.

For example, looking up the name John Smith reveals over 2 billion results, but surrounding the name in quotes like “John Smith”, shows a mere 32 million. Obviously, several million results aren’t ideal, but it’s definitely better than billions of results. The reason this works is that when looking for John Smith without quotes, Google finds all results that include both names. Using quotes make the search a single item, meaning that Google will only show results that have the name John next to Smith. In addition, if you know where the person lives or works, or what clubs/organizations, etc., that they’re associated with, you can try a variety of different combinations: For example, maybe you want to monitor the entire web for any new instances of someone’s email address, address, or a combination of multiple search terms, like this: This “people finder” method is super helpful but, unfortunately, only works if the person or business has a presence online. In other words, you can’t use Google Alerts to know when your daughter posts something on her Twitter or Facebook page. To find someone on Google Images, just type their name as a jumping-off point. The Tools option lets you filter the results by size, color, type, and time uploaded, so if you know any of those details, you’ll have better luck finding the person. Another way to use Google Images to do a free people search is to start with an image you already have of the person. Maybe it’s their social media profile image or something they texted you. Visit Google Images and select the camera icon to get started with a reverse image search. A reverse image search on Google works from mobile devices, too. When you search for someone by their address, you can find lots of useful information:

Use Street View to see someone’s house View an entire neighborhood Check out business listings Find names, addresses, and phone numbers tied to a business Get directions to any location View satellite, aerial, or hybrid views of a location

Once you find information here, you can print it, email it, or share a link to the map itself. You can also see reviews of businesses within Google Maps simply by clicking on their map listing, as well as any websites, addresses, or associated phone numbers.