Google People Search

1. Google Phone Number Search

You can use Google to find both business and residential phone numbers on the Web. Find out how to use Google to find phone numbers.

More Google phone help: You can do a free reverse phone number lookup with Google - it's fast and pretty simple.

2. Google a name in quotations

You can find a lot of information about someone simply by entering their name in quotation marks, like this:

"little bo peep"

If the person you're looking for has an unusual name, you don't necessarily need to put the name in quotation marks in order for this to work. In addition, if you know where the person lives or works or what clubs/organizations, etc. that they are associated with, you can try a variety of different combinations:

• "little bo peep" montana
• jingleheimer "idaho gardeners club"
• "john jackson" "california builders association"

3. Pinpoint a location with Google Maps

You can find all sorts of useful information with Google Maps, simply by typing in an address. In fact, you can use Google Maps to:

• View an entire neighborhood.
• Check out business listings.
• Find names, addresses, and phone numbers (with directions to any location you want).
• Get a satellite, aerial, or hybrid view of the location you're looking for.
• Get a street-level view of the location you're looking for (not available for all areas).
• Find directions with live traffic updates.

4. Track someone with a Google News Alert

If you want to stay appraised of someone's doings via the Web, a Google news alert is a good place to start. Note: this will only deliver relevant information if the person you're looking for is documented on the Web in some way.

5. Use Google Talk to instantly talk to your contacts

Google Talk is a free instant messaging application. You can use it to see in real-time which of your contacts are available for a chat, but you can also find other Google Talk users pretty easily using the following Web sites:

• GTalk Life
• GTalk Profile

More chat clients: Using the Web to talk instantly in real-time is possible with instant messenger clients. Here are a few of the best instant messenger programs on the Web.

6. Google People Search Grab Bag

In addition to these five Google people search tricks, here are a few more miscellaneous tips for you:

• Site Search with Google: Use Google to search within a particular site.
• Google Cheat Sheet: The basic Google search commands that will help streamline your searches.
• Google Calendar: Search public calendars (you can find some pretty interesting stuff here).
• Google Groups: Search discussion boards and twenty years of Usenet archives.
• Google Uncle Sam: Use Google to search government information.
• Find Deleted Images: You can use Google to find previously deleted images.
• Google Earth: Zoom in on locations all over the world.
• Google Blog Search: Find someone's blog.