A PeopleFinders Opt Out Strategy That Works
The PeopleFinders opt out process is not as simple as it looks.
We understand that if you’re someone who doesn’t want to be found on background check sites like PeopleFinders.com, learning how to opt out is very important.
But most people simply follow the opt out process on PeopleFinders.com and call it a day.
However, it’s crucial to understand how the site operates and acquires your information if you want to achieve your overall goal (keeping your personal information private).
Doing this will help you understand how to protect your information now, as well as keep things private in the future.
Whether you bristle at the thought of a stranger knowing your email address, or simply want to hide select information, taking control of the information displayed on sites like PeopleFinders.com is a great place to start.
What exactly are you opting out of?
Before you go through the PeopleFinders opt out process, let’s first talk about what the site actually is and how it operates.
According to the site, PeopleFinders is a top “Data-as-a-Service (“DaaS”) provider for consumers and businesses seeking detailed insights on people, places and things in the United States.”
Apparently, PeopleFinders is one of the largest owners of public records in the US with information on nearly every adult in the country. The company essentially acts as a database by aggregating information through, “unique access to other unique data sources”.
While the site doesn’t go into much detail about the channels that PeopleFinders accesses in order to gather data about those in its vast database, one can surmise that it’s a combination of public records, publicly accessible information from different social media platforms, and more.
This process is shared by a lot of personal information aggregation websites, which we have dealt with frequently as well. Most of them share a lot of the same tricks when it comes to finding information.
So what’s the point of Peoplefinders.com and sites like it? Those in favor of sites like Peoplefinders.com say they can be a great tool to provide some initial research into a person.
Whether you are looking to hire an employee and want to make sure that their resume is accurate, or verify that your parent’s care-taker is who they claim to be, background checks can be helpful.
However, many more think that these sort of sites go too far in what they make available. Not only is the amount of information concerning, but the ease that it can be accessed.
It’s also important to keep in mind that these sites (particularly the more DIY versions like Peoplefinders) aren’t always accurate. This is one more reason to go through the PeopleFinders.com opt out steps.
A common question
Issues with PeopleFinders.com are not uncommon. While most people wonder how this site gets their information in the first place (answered above), many others want to know if this is even legal.
Unfortunately for you, yes it’s legal. Unless the information is obtained using illegal methods, site like PeopleFinders can operate free and clear of legal backlash.
If you’re someone who values their privacy significantly, this obviously isn’t what you want to hear. The best thing you can do is learn the game. Understand the entire PeopleFinders opt out process, and how you can protect your information better in the future.
There are limits to what these sites can do legally. All of them have to honor your opt out request. Take advantage of this and use some other simple tricks (covered below) to make sure you don’t have to worry about this sort of thing anymore.
The PeopleFinders opt out process – step by step
Peoplefinders.com gives users the ability to block their records from showing up in the databases that they control by choosing to “opt out”. However, this feature does not include blocking information from third party databases.
After clicking the link above, enter your information and find the current listing for your name. Once you find the correct entry associated with your name, click that entry then choose “opt out my info”. From here you will type in your email address to verify your identity, and complete peoplefinders opt out process.
There is one big caveat to be aware of with this process. While submitting this opt out request won’t remove your information from third party sources, it will likely block what people will see associated with your name when this site comes up as a search result.
However, to really prevent people from seeing this kind of personal information from sites like PeopleFinders.com, you need to come up with a long-term strategy.
The most effective strategy by far is one that focuses on building up your online presence to ultimately suppress those results that you don’t want people to find.
The most effective strategy
Let’s talk about why simply going through the PeopleFinders.com opt out process is not enough, and why some additional effort is needed.
Today, everyone gets Googled. As a matter of fact, over a billion names get Googled every single day! So, when search results that share private or unflattering information start appearing when your name is searched, it’s time to take action – because someone is definitely going to see it.
Unfortunately, your options for recourse are limited.
In the case of dealing with an entry on PeopleFinders.com, you do have the option of petitioning the website to block your information through their “opt out” feature. However, this doesn’t mean that other sites similar in mission won’t share this same private information in the future.
Remember earlier when we said a lot of these sites use the same strategies? Well, if PeopleFinders.com got your information, there’s a good chance another site will too.
That’s why after completing the PeopleFinders opt out request, it’s important to get started on the most effective long-term solution to this problem (online reputation management).
The great thing is that this process doesn’t have to be time-consuming.
How to do it
Once you’ve gone through the PeopleFinders opt out process, we recommend you follow a specific process to keep your information from being seen in the future.
The first thing we do is encourage people to build out their personal brand following SEO best practices. We take great pains to thoroughly explain each step in detail, so that you understand how to do it and why each step is important.
From a high level, the basic principles revolve around these three steps: scan, build, and monitor.
Scan
While we already know that one search result is your entry on PeopleFinders.com, do you know what else is out there? As we discussed before, there are many other sites like PeopleFinders that you need to be aware of, and scanning for them is how you do this.
To properly scan, you can manually type in your name to Google (or another search engine) to see what the top results are for your name. Make sure to search incognito as your results will be slightly biased based on your search history and open accounts.
Make note of rankings for pages that are important to you. If you want, you can streamline the scanning process by automatically pulling your results and tracking them with our free DIY tool.
This will help you stay aware of site similar to PeopleFinders if they start to rank highly, or show up anywhere in your search results.
Build
To build an online presence that shares accomplishments and information about you that you want others to see, start by creating (or optimizing existing) professional profiles on what we have found to be the strongest social media platforms.
This will help you outrank and suppress any listings from sites like PeopleFinders.com so your information isn’t seen while you go through the opt-out process. Again, our free DIY tool shows you the best steps to take when creating social media accounts that you want people to find when they look for you online.
In addition to these profiles, it’s also a great idea to create a website for yourself. The whole reason why you need to request an opt out from PeopleFinders is because you aren’t in control of the information.
With your own sites and properties, you get that control back.
Take all of the steps necessary to give your sites and profiles the best opportunity to rise in the search result rankings. Building and optimizing profiles and sites that you control is important, but it’s a process that takes time.
If you want to get the full effect from this strategy, be prepared to continue updating these properties and even building new ones regularly. This part of the process is huge for dealing with sites like PeopleFinders that you don’t want others to see when they look you up online.
Monitor
Once you’ve built your initial foundation, you must commit to monitoring your presence regularly. Staying on top of this will help you protect yourself from unwanted information listings and give you the ability to opt-out of sites like PeopleFinders.com immediately once they show up.
Also, once you have created your your profiles and website you want to keep an eye on them to make sure they are ranking well. Unfortunately, manually monitoring everything can become quite time consuming.
This is why we highly recommend using our tool to protect your privacy online to help you monitor what search results are coming up for your name.
If a site like PeopleFinders.com shows up you will be notified quickly so you can opt out and protect your information.
The newest feature in our DIY tool (the social scanner) also lets you monitor your Facebook and Twitter accounts for any posts that you’ve made that can be polarizing or offensive.
Whether you choose to use BrandYourself’s services or not, find whatever method works best for you to keep track of how your properties are ranking, what others are posting on your sites, and how frequently you are posting high quality content.
The value in being proactive
While the main goal of this post is to show you the best path when going through the PeopleFinders opt out process, we hope we made it clear how important it is to be proactive.
We recommend that you learn more about how to control your online reputation and the implications it can have on all facets of your life.
If you want some help making sure everything stays private, make sure you check out our privacy protection feature. It will give you everything you need to stay on top of PeopleFinders.com and sites like it. Freeing up time and using the features available means you won’t have to rely on the PeopleFinders.com opt out process entirely.
Remember
Discovering that (seemingly) personal information is publicly available about you online is not the end of the world – even if it feels like it is. Start by using the PeopleFinders opt out method, and then get on top of things so you don’t have to play catch-up in the future!
P.S. Check out our next post on how to remove yourself from Radaris.