The world’s most popular search engine online with over 70% market share. Google is a common point of call in the early stages of looking for someone. A quick search can dig up all sorts of web pages where a person has been mentioned, both new and old.

With the sheer volume of results commonly returned, it can sometimes be overwhelming to the beginner. Especially if you are searching for a person with a common name. There are a few things that you can do to make your life a little easier.

Google has a wide range of techniques that you can apply to help narrow your search. These include placing your keywords inside quotes, for example “Joe Bloggs”. Or you can try using an @ symbol to search social media, for example @twitter. If this all seems a little much, head on over to the Advanced Search page where many of the options are presented to you and there’s no need for symbols.

Another popular technique is the search by image option. You can upload a photo and have Google look for similar images around the net. This also comes with an advanced option so you can refine the results to certain places and with certain words.

In addition to looking for a person’s name, you can also look for phone numbers, addresses and more. If you look at Google as the text on the majority of the world’s websites, and what that text may contain, it can open up a new outlook on gathering information.