This guide helps you find the people-search and data broker sites that list your home address, phone number and relatives, and get those listings taken down. You also hide what's left from Google. Plan on about two hours for the first round, plus a few minutes every few months to check again.
Why bother
People-search sites build a profile of you from public records, social media and bought data, then sell it to anyone who pays. Scammers and stalkers use these profiles to find where you live and make phishing messages sound believable. Removing yourself won't erase you from the internet, but it makes you much harder to look up.
Before you start
- Time: about 2 hours for the first round, then 15 minutes every 3 months.
- You need: a computer or phone with a browser, an email address you only use for opt-outs (a new free one is fine), and a phone that can take an automated call.
- A list of what to search for: your full name and any past names, current and past addresses, phone numbers and email addresses.
- Checked on: 3 October 2026, against California's DROP platform and Google's Results about you (web and the Google app for Android and iPhone). Steps for Spokeo, Whitepages and BeenVerified follow 2026 walkthroughs of their forms; those sites change often, so a button may differ.
Steps
1 Make a tracking list
- Open a note or spreadsheet and add four columns:
Site,Listing URL,Date requested,Status. - Write down every name, address, phone number and email you want removed.
You should now have one place to record each request. Many sites make you confirm by email, and some bring listings back.
2 Search for yourself
- Search Google for your full name in quotes plus your city, for example
"Jane Q Doe" Denver. - Repeat with your phone number and your home address.
- Open the people-search results you find (sites like Spokeo, Whitepages, BeenVerified, Radaris, TruePeopleSearch and FastPeopleSearch) and search each one for your name and state.
- For every listing that is you, copy the URL from the address bar into your list.
You should end up with a list of listing URLs. Expect several per site: one for each old address, spelling or maiden name.