How To Use Google For A Reverse Phone Lookup

Maybe you get frequent phone calls from numbers that you don’t recognize. Without a Caller ID app, it’s impossible to know whose calling exactly, as it’s just a string of numbers — and even with a Caller ID app, if the number isn’t in the provider’s database, it won’t tell you who it is. So that leaves you wondering, who is actually calling? There’s actually a fairly easy way that you can find that information out, and that’s through a reverse phone lookup on Google.

Not sure how to conduct one to get to the bottom of your mystery caller? Follow along below, and we’ll show you how you can find out once and for all who’s blowing your phone up! Let’s dive right into the tutorial.

What Is a Reverse Phone Lookup?

What is a reverse phone lookup exactly? Well, you’ve likely already tried to do one yourself — it can be as simple as typing in the number or copying and pasting the number into a search engine, such as Google. When you press “Search,” you hope to get results back that will lead to you to the identity of your mystery caller.

Unfortunately, those results don’t always come back easily. Sometimes you get the identity of your mystery caller almost immediately, and other times, the number and identity is lost in a sea of thousands of other numbers. However, with a little extra effort and digging, Google is a great place to get the information you need.

Use Google For a Reverse Phone Lookup

Google actually used to make it really easy to find the identity of a caller. They ran a service called the Phonebook Operator, where you could type in a number and you would immediately get the information back that you wanted. However, as privacy concerns grew on the Internet, many folks began demanding Google take their information off of the Phonebook Operator, which eventually led to Google shutting down the service entirely in 2010.

That said, even though Google shut down that wonderful service, it’s still quite possible to do a reverse phone lookup. Here’s how you can find phone number identities anyway:

Full Numbers 

Starting a reverse phone lookup is as simple as typing in the full number that called you into the search engine, including the area code. This would be a 10-digit number, typed in this pattern: 111-222-3333. Press “Search” and you’ll immediately get access to directories upon directors of numbers.

If the phone number that called you is a business number, it should show up almost immediately as one of the first results, if not on the side of the page with all of the information attached to that business (i.e. address, store hours, etc). This could be an “Ah-ha!” moment for you if you ordered something from a store, they were having trouble with the order, and needed to reach out to you.

Now, personal phone numbers are a whole lot more difficult. You can enter in the number into Google, but if that person hasn’t posted the phone number anywhere online, you’re not likely going to find the identity of that person. But, if the number was posted on or attached to their Facebook account, you might see the Facebook profile come up in the last of results.

Social Media

Another quick way to find the identity of a person calling is by putting the phone number in the Search bar in your social media site of choice, such as Facebook or Twitter. If that user has their phone number attached to their account, and their profile public, you should be able to find your mystery caller almost immediately.

Reverse Phone Lookups Aren’t Always Successful

As you might’ve guessed already, doing a reverse phone lookup isn’t something that’s always going to be successful when you enter the number into Google. It’s really a hit or miss — with businesses, the number almost always shows up. But, when it comes to personal numbers, you never know if you’re actually going to be able to find the identity of a person.

It’s also worth noting that it’s not worth paying those websites that offer to give you information on a person for a subscription fee or a one-time fee. Those so-called “services” aren’t guaranteed, and sometimes you won’t even get a phone number out of them because “they couldn’t find it.” Generally, these “identity finder” sites have access to the same information that you do, so if you can’t find it, they can’t either.

Found Your Number?

If you found your number online and want that information removed so that people cannot reverse phone lookup your number, you can actually put in what is called a take down request. You can visit Google’s Legal Removal Requests page to find all of the information you need to conduct one of those, and get your information off of a website.

Verdict

Hopefully, by following these steps, we helped you find the mystery person ringing your phone. As you can see, it’s not always easy to find out who’s calling you. And, if you can’t find out the identity, give the number a ring back to find out who’s calling you!