In today’s digital age, a wealth of information about almost anyone is available online – if you know where and how to look. Public records, news articles, social media profiles, and other online resources can reveal a lot about a person’s background, history, and reputation. 

While it may seem intrusive, there are legitimate reasons you may want to check out someone’s background on your own. For example, you may want to look up a new romantic partner, a potential business associate, a babysitter, or someone interacting with your child online. 

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll go over:

– Why and when you may want to run your own background check on someone

– What types of information you can find through online searches 

– Step-by-step instructions for conducting a basic online background check

– Tips for taking your online searching a bit further with more advanced tactics

– How to use any information you uncover appropriately and ethically

– Limitations of relying solely on online resources 

Let’s get started learning how to harness the power of the internet to uncover crucial details about almost anyone.

Why You Might Want to Check Someone’s Background 

There are a variety of legitimate situations where running your own check on a person’s background can give you important information and peace of mind:

– Dating and Relationships: When meeting someone new romantically, especially online, you may want to verify details they have told you and uncover any red flags in their past. Look for details like full name, age, location, marital status, criminal history, and more.

– Business and Employment: If you are considering going into business with someone or hiring them, you’ll want to thoroughly vet their credentials, reputation, finances, education, employment history, and character. 

– Caregivers: If you are hiring a nanny, babysitter, senior caregiver, or anyone else who will care for your loved ones, running a background check could surface issues like criminal history or complaints that make the person unsuitable or dangerous.

– Monitoring Children: If your child has befriended someone online or seems secretive about a new acquaintance, you may want to investigate that person to ensure they are not dangerous.

– General Curiosity: Sometimes your gut tells you something seems off about a person, so looking into their background can provide missing context.

While anybody has a reasonable expectation of privacy, much of the information uncovered in a simple online background check is publicly available. Taking it upon yourself to learn more shows sound judgment.

What You Can Find Out By Checking Someone’s Background Online

A surprising amount of information about a person can often be found through online searches alone. While not as comprehensive as a professional background check, DIY online checks can uncover details like: 

Social Media Profiles

Social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Snapchat can provide a wealth of information not available elsewhere. You can learn about someone’s interests, relationships, location history, beliefs, education, career, and more. Photos and posts can give context about their character and reputation as well.

News Articles 

Searching the person’s name on Google brings up any news articles mentioning them. This could reveal past accomplishments, criminal activity, or situations that shed light on their reputation.

Court Records 

Services like BeenVerified.com and Truthfinder.com provide access to public court records listing any past or present civil litigation, bankruptcy, restraining orders, and criminal charges/convictions associated with the person. 

Property Records

You can use public registrar sites to find property deeds, mortgages, and tax assessments associated with the person, revealing addresses, home ownership history, value of property owned and more. 

Business Records

Resources like corporation registrars and business indexes can list any businesses the person is associated with as an officer, shareholder etc. Business entities must disclose key details.

Licensing Records 

For doctors, lawyers and other licensed professionals, databases like DocInfo and the ABA Directory provide current standing, disciplinary history, education credentials, locations of practice and other details.

As you can see, even a casual online background check can give you a glimpse into someone’s history and reputation in multiple facets of life. Next we’ll get into exactly how to go about mining these online resources for information.

Conducting a Basic Online Background Check

The following steps will guide you through running a simple but effective online background check:

Search Engines

Your starting point is searching for the person’s full name in quotation marks on Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines. Look through the results for social media profiles, news mentions, public records, genealogy sites, or other breadcrumbs to inform your other searches. 

Social Media Sites 

Search for the person directly on major social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and any others relevant to your subject. Review their profile info, photos, posts, friends/connections, biographical details, location check-ins, and more. Bear in mind some accounts may be private or use a pseudonym.

Public Records Sites

Use aggregator sites like BeenVerified, TruthFinder, Instant Checkmate, Intelius, and PeopleFinders to search public records for details like criminal offenses, court judgments, property records, marriage/divorce filings, addresses, phone numbers, and more. Some offer free trials or packages ranging from $10-$50 per month.

Paid Background Check Services

For a more comprehensive report, you can pay for full background checks from services like GoodHire ($35-$75) and Checkr ($50-$75+), which search numerous public and proprietary databases for info. Results arrive in easy-to-read format.

By investing some time searching thoroughly across these kinds of sites, you can gather a solid foundation of background knowledge on just about anyone. But for power users ready to take it a step further, read on for some more advanced online searching tactics.

Going the Extra Mile – Advanced Online Searches 

The basic checks cover a wide swath of information, but here are some additional strategies for taking your online background check to the next level:

Search Engine Hacks

Mastering search operators like site:, intitle:, inurl:, filetype: and more let you use search engines more precisely. For example, `site:linkedin.com John Smith` returns LinkedIn pages with that name. See this [Search Engine Guide](https://moz.com/learn/seo/search-operators) for more hacks. 

Reverse Image Searches 

Using reverse image tools like TinEye, Google Images or Pimeyes on profile pictures can connect them to the person’s accounts on other sites and services. This can uncover additional identities/profiles.

Phone Number Lookups

Tools like Spokeo and AnyWho reverse lookup phone numbers to find names, addresses, relatives, and other info tied to the number. Look up any numbers associated with your search subject. 

Email Lookups

Similarly, sites like LookupThatEmail reveal details about the owner of a given email address, including name, social profiles, aliases, and physical addresses tied to the email.

Domain Name Searches 

Research any websites registered to the person through WHOIS domain lookups on ICANN. This reveals dates, contact info, and names associated with a given domain.

Additional Advanced Strategies:

– Genealogy site searches for relatives & ancestry info 

– Academic/professional credential verifiers like the NPI Registry or ABA Directory

– FOIA requests for any government records on your subject 

– Data broker/people search services for deep background checks

– Obituary searches to confirm identities & family connections

As online research skills improve, you can dig even deeper. But it’s also important to use anything you uncover in an ethical manner.

What to Do With What You Find

After putting time into an intensive online background check, you likely have a solid profile of your subject. But before acting on any of the information, make sure to:

Verify Information

Double and triple check that any details you uncovered apply to the person in question and are factual. Misinformation spreads quickly online, so corroborate anything questionable through multiple sources.

Respect Privacy

Do not contact any of the person’s friends, family members, employers, etc that you identified without permission. Similarly, do not attempt to gain access to any private online accounts.

Use Information Responsibly

Only use the background check details for their stated purpose, not for harassment. And take care sharing information with others to protect the subject’s privacy.

Ultimately, approach your findings objectively. Look at the full picture before making judgments. If anything criminal or dangerous surfaces, contact appropriate authorities. Otherwise use the intel cautiously and ethically.

The Limitations of Online Background Checks

While the internet contains a wealth of valuable information, online background checks do have some limitations:

– Information can be outdated, incomplete or inaccurate

– Private records and some government records may be inaccessible 

– Education, employment, and other claims made by an individual are not always verifiable online

– Criminal record results may only include felony convictions, not misdemeanors

– Only comprehensive paid reports from credentialed CRA’s can include all available records

So an online check alone should not be considered a substitute for a professional background check. But used wisely, online searches can still uncover plenty to inform your judgment.

Conclusion

Checking out someone’s background online is easier than ever, if you know where to look. With search engines, social media, public records aggregators, and a dash of creativity, you can gain valuable insight into almost anyone. 

Just be sure to use any intel uncovered responsibly. Online checks empower everyday people to make more informed decisions about those around them. So search ethically and stay safe out there.