If you have the name of a business or a person that you need to locate or get in touch with, a phone search might be an option you should consider. A phone search has become much easier and faster to perform now that most people have the ability to connect to the internet, but it was not always that way.

Conducting a phone search using the name of a person or a business

Conducting a phone search before online databases were available was limited to using one of the two telephone directories to search for the name of the business or individual you were attempting to locate. The directories gave you the telephone number and the address of the person or business. One limitation, however, was that people could pay an additional monthly charge on their phone bill to keep from being listed in the directory.

Using the White Pages, which was the directory residential phone numbers, and the Yellow Pages, primarily for businesses and professional practices, was time consuming and was limited to the geographic area covered by the particular directory. The directories could provide you with a telephone number, but they were of no use to you if you did not have the name of the person you were attempting to locate.

Access to the internet offers you a great improvement over the old directories. The White Pages and the Yellow Pages still exist, but they are now available electronically on several different websites. The geographic limitation of the printed directories is gone, so conducting an online phone search will produce results no matter where the individual or business is located.

Reverse phone search when you

Another way to conduct a phone search in the days before there was an internet was using a telephone number to do a reverse search. Reverse search directories were not available to the general public, but law enforcement agencies and private investigators usually had access to them. A reverse phone search directory used a telephone number to obtain the name of the person or entity associated with it.

The print version of reverse directories might still be available, but most people now access them through phone search websites available on the internet. Many of the sites are free and give you information about the person or entity associated with the telephone number you type into them.

Doing a phone search on social media

People who use social media might include a telephone number in their profile. If you do not have the person's name, you might try searching on Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media websites by using a phone number. If a person included a telephone or cellphone number when signing up for the particular website, the phone search might yield results.

Don't forget about Google

Typing a name or a telephone number into the Google search box is another way to do a phone search. Whether using Google, another browser or any of the other phone search methods that were previously mentioned, make sure you include the area code associated with the telephone number when typing in the information.