The Internet is, in most cases, the
best place to find just about whatever information you’re
looking for. When it comes to doing an address search, the World
Wide Web brings functions as a world wide phone book, bringing
directories and information from all over into individual
databases.
Generally speaking, you can find an address and a phone number
online for nearly any adult, as long as you can spell his or her
name. There are so many Web sites that offer address searches and
phone directory services, and they almost all provide additional
information such as address, maps and driving directions. Beyond
that, many will include links – often placed as paid
advertising – to pay sites that offer even more information
like more in-depth personal information, background checks and
lists of public records.
With the wealth of information it offers, it’s no surprise
that the Web is the first place many people turn for research. The
Web’s resources can almost be too good to be true, though, so
you must be careful and critical of information you find online.
That’s not intended to scare you; it’s supposed to keep
you aware. There’s still a massive amount of useful
information for your address search.
A great site to start your address search is Yahoo’s People
Search (http://people.yahoo.com). With People Search, you can
start searching with as little information as a last name, and your
search can be narrowed with a first name and geographic location.
Results include addresses and phone numbers, which are obviously
helpful in any people search.
There are other similar resources, such as Switchboard (http://www.switchboard.com), an online phone
directory, that work similarly. Sites like these may be the only
ones you need to successfully complete your address search. If not,
you have some more options.
Anther place to search is Google. Widely regarded as the best
search engine on the Web, Google (http://www.google.com)
currently searches over 4.2 billion Web pages. More importantly,
Google searches these pages well. It’s one thing to provide
search results, but it’s a whole different task to provide
meaningful results. Google uses a unique system called PageRank
that judges a Web page’s value based on the number and
quality of other pages linking to it.
Put Google to use for you. While it may not offer specific
information like addresses or phone numbers (although, it may turn
up such information), it’s a great place for more general
information. You may find the company your subject works for, you
may find alumni information from a school your subject attended or
you may find an organization to which he or she may belong. You
never know what you’ll find, but some of it may be exactly
what you need.
If you know a little bit more about the subject of your people
search, you can go directly to those resources. Check out things
such as school alumni lists, religious organizations and interest
groups or professional organizations to which he or she may belong.
These resources, although requiring a bit more work, may provide
some unexpected useful information. And, slowly but surely, these
resources are increasingly becoming more and more available
online.
These free resources – and the related, more in-depth pay
sites – should easily give you all the information
you’d ever need, and probably even more than you set out to
find in your address search.
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Free People Search and People Finder
Search White Pages
(Nationwide and Statewide Directories)