There’s no better place to investigate a new acquaintance than the Google search engine. We meet new people everyday, but often, our initial opinions of these people are based solely on what they tell us. And while the large majority of people in the world are honest, good people, there are sometimes bad apples. Whether he’s a potential employee or prom date, it’s always best to be as informed as possible when venturing into the unknown with someone you barely know.

With its ever-increasing technological reach, Google is the perfect tool for investigating people online. But, sifting through the search results for the important pieces of information can be difficult and time-consuming. It doesn’t have to be that way, though! Just follow the simple, easy tips outlined below and you’ll always find what you’re looking for.

Tip 1: Use quotation marks
When searching for someone’s name on Google, wrap the person’s name with quotation marks. This will cause Google to only search for the person’s full name, thus ignoring all of the web pages that contain only the first name or only the last name.

For example, if you’re looking for information on Bob Smith, type “Bob Smith” into the Google search text field.

Tip 2: Use city when searching
Sometimes, the people you’ll be searching for have very common names. “Bob Smith” is a good example of this. In these cases, it’s best to also add some other term to the search query, such as the city that this person lives in.

For example, if Bob Smith lives in Chicago, then search Google for: “Bob Smith” Chicago

Tip 3: Limit to specific sites
Another alternative to adding the city to the search query is to limit your search to a specific site. For example, many young people use websites like Xanga, which is a blogging community website. If Bob Smith is a teenager, then you might have some surprising results by limiting your search for Bob Smith to the Xanga.com website. Google provides a special command for this type of search, called a site search, and if you’d like to perform a site search, then search google for: site:xanga.com “Bob Smith”

There you have it. With these three simple tips, your researching of people on Google will be much more successful.