What Techniques Can You Use In A Background Check?
If you Google the phrase private investigator, you'll see many results. This is a broad search term and it's akin to searching John Smith in a database. The result you want to find is probably in the list somewhere but how do you narrow down the results? If you are searching for a person with a unique name, obviously the process becomes more straightforward but it is rare that all results in a database and on the web relate to one person. An experienced investigator will know by using his or her intuition roughly how many results there will be for most names.
When investigating a subject with a common name on public record databases or on the web, it's often easiest to begin with a process of elimination. Get rid of what you don't need so you can concentrate on what you might need.
Write down the top ten or so results displayed through the Google search engine for the term "private investigator." Identify the business name and, if possible, the names of persons involved with the business. When researching a service most users simply look at the Google results, the Google reviews and the websites of the business. Let's think like an investigator and go a step further by now searching in Google the name of the business and, if possible the name of the director.
Take the example of Lipstick Investigations. By scrolling down the first page, you can identify the CEO, David King. Now, run the name Lipstick Investigations in Google. Looking through the first 5 pages of results is usually sufficient for a particular search phrase. You will note here multiple different sites, including media sites, that relate to Lipstick. Because we are in the elimination phase, we are primarily looking for any adverse information (which is usually the primary objective of a background check).
Things are looking good for Lipstick – no sign of anything untoward (note we have no association at all with Lipstick Investigations, we simply use it as an example here). If a business is regularly ripping off its clients, there will eventually be news coverage of this or online reviews by unhappy customers. If we now run the name David King (the CEO of Lipstick) on Google, we encounter a problem – the name is very common and it appears none of the results relates to our subject. This is an issue with any subject person whose name is not unique.
Technique 1 - Location Filter: Search only for results in Australia – this will cut out results for David King from overseas websites. In the Google Chrome browser, use the Setting / Advanced search tab underneath the search bar to select Country: Australia instead of Any country. Unfortunately, David King is so common, it still doesn't give us what we want.
Technique 2 - Combine Terms: Try searching David King investigator or David King Lipstick. Combining words with names is a useful trick when searching Google. If you know a subject's spouse, job title, employer, suburb of residence or hobby, try running the subject's name along with those identifying words, especially if the subject's name is common.
Technique 3 - Exact Phrase: The phrase David King Lipstick mostly brings up results relating to Poppy King, lipstick entrepreneur – let's circumvent these results by searching "David King" Lipstick. By using the quotation marks, Google will only display results using the exact phrase within the marks.
Technique 4 - Site Search: Search within a website for a word by using: site:www.example.com keyword
So, all clear for David King and Lipstick. Now, let's try searching Spousebusters, another investigation firm. Unfortunately, amongst the results is this one: SMH article on Spousebusters. The article speaks for itself. Not surprisingly, the name Brett Sutcliffe, who the newspaper article lists as the operator of Spousebusters, is not displayed on the Spousebusters' website.
Now that we know the name of Brett Sutcliffe, we can search his name on Google. If you didn't find the articles about his conviction in the first search, you should be able to find them now. When looking for any evidence of untoward behaviour in a background check, it is also worthwhile searching words such as convicted or conviction or sentenced along with the subject's name.
So, you can employ this strategy when researching a suitable business and you can use each of the techniques mentioned above in the course of a web background check. It is usually preferable to conduct the public record database searches first and then perform the web searches when you know more about the subject and his or her associates.
