How do you search your own name?
To search your own name properly, open a private browser window and sign out of every account, so your own history doesn't shape the results. Type your full name in quotes. Then add your town, your school or your employer, one at a time.
Run the same searches in Bing as well as Google. Go past the first page of results, because a stranger who is curious about you will too.
How do you check your photos and usernames?
Your photos and usernames tie you to accounts your name alone won't find. Upload your profile photo to a search-by-image tool in Google or Bing and see where else it turns up.
Then search every username you've ever used, old gaming and forum handles included, each one in quotes.
What should you look for in a digital footprint search?
A digital footprint search is mostly about finding what you forgot. Look for old accounts, photos other people tagged you in, and posts that no longer sound like you. Note every page that shows your home address, phone number, ID number or date of birth, and deal with those first. Profiles using your name or your photo that belong to someone else count too.
How often should you check your digital footprint?
Check your digital footprint every few months, and again before anyone is likely to look you up, such as when you apply for a job or meet a new client.
What's the difference between free and paid digital footprint tools?
Free digital footprint tools show you what's public today: a search engine, an image search, and a one-off check like the Loomis footprint scan. Paid tools either keep checking on a schedule or work on getting listings taken down.
Loomis Personal is the first kind. It keeps looking, and tells you what changed.
What does the free Loomis footprint scan do?
The free footprint scan takes a username and lists the sites it turns up on. There's no sign-up.
