You probably have family and friends whom you have not been in contact with for years. You may have lost contact with them and may not have records to track them down. We all have our stories, and we all end up on the internet hoping to track these lost people. Free searches online are easy to do in a sense and it is easy to find people online if they are in the habit of using social networking sites or other online activities. Online searches have another way of locating people. Even those who have never been in front of a computer can still be found through online searches. However, telemarketers, junk mails and news media can help you track lost people on the internet.
You can start off by using a search engine and typing the exact name of the person and his or her supposed location. For example, if you are locating Lawrence Jones who lives in Philadelphia, they search engine phrase should read Lawrence Jones + Philadelphia. Ensure that the quotes are there as well as the + sign to give you more exact results. Try different approaches and combinations to loosen the search until you can zero in on probably suspects, after which you can collect the information and use it for more searches. Try using a number of search engines.
Another way to find people is to post on forums, blogs and other public places. A post like I am looking for Lawrence Jones from Philadelphia can be used. Some who knows Lawrence Smith will run into it or Lawrence will fin it himself. Avoid though, giving too much information like his social security number or his home address.
You can also use public record searches to find people. You may do this by using the paid for records sites where you access public records bought from utility companies. Fortunately, most of these searches give you accurate information. Even when that information is not currently accurate, it is stale information that could be used to track the person. Look for a website that is certified or verified somehow and that follows some standards. They should also be willing to protect your search privacy. If you can find a site that offers a No Results, No Pay policy, that is even better. If you want to find people online, you need to persevere, it may take months and sometimes years to locate a person, but at the end of it, it will have been worth the effort.