Yahoo People Search: What It Was and New Alternatives

Cindy Ellis - March 29, 2023

Yahoo People Search was one of the best search engines for finding someone’s email, phone number, or name. It was a public records search tool that could find anything that was public record, which made it popular compared to Google and other search engines. While Yahoo People Search isn’t operating anymore today, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to find people online using their email, address, or name.

In fact, there are much better people search engines available that even surpass what Yahoo People Search was. Information.com is one such engine and we can help you find someone using their name, phone number, address, or email address. Plus, there are public records search tools and criminal records search tools.

Read on to learn more about Yahoo People Search and what you can use as a replacement.

What Was Yahoo People Search?

Yahoo People Search was a search engine. Yahoo People Search was available at people.yahoo.com. The website functioned like modern people search engines and let you find people with their name, email address, or address. What made Yahoo’s search engine unique is that it was one of the first options available.

It was innovative technology at the time because you could run more advanced searches than you could with Yahoo’s basic search engine. Instead of finding millions of results about a person or people with a similar name, you would get the specific details you wanted. Ultimately, it made Yahoo People Search one of the first specific search engines for going through public records.

Unfortunately for many users who loved the program, Yahoo People Search ran into issues and had to shut down. Yahoo People Search is no longer active, so you can’t use it. However, many search engines have come around as replacement options for Yahoo People Search. Plus, many of them work the same way, so you’re not missing out.

How Did Yahoo People Search Work?

Yahoo People Search worked in a few ways depending on the tool that you used. The address lookup tool required someone’s first name, middle initial, phone number, the state they live in, as well as their city/zip code.

The reverse phone lookup tool and reverse email lookup tool were simpler. Phone number lookup tools required someone’s phone number, while the email lookup tool required someone’s email address.

Yahoo People Search pulled data from most public records databases. The data that is pulled was legal and from other sources that were on the internet. While it was more limited than modern search engines, it still got the job done.

Was Yahoo People Search Information Legal?

Yes, all information on Yahoo People Search was legal. It was legal because the search engine only got information from public records databases. For this reason, all of the information was available elsewhere anyway. For example, Yahoo People Search pulled information from Whitepages, Yellow Pages, and other sources.

At the time, Yahoo People Search may have also pulled from other databases. However, the information wasn’t always accurate. This may have been an issue even if Yahoo People Search was still running today.

Why Did Yahoo People Search Shut Down?

The reason for Yahoo People Search’s failure was likely financial. Yahoo was competing in a space with Google and other search engines and was never able to maintain a bigger market share once Google took off. Today, Yahoo Search is still available but it’s not used often. Overall, Google and Bing took up more of the market share and smaller search engines like Yahoo had trouble surviving.

Yahoo People Search Alternatives

Yahoo People Search alternatives are people search engines that look through public records. They function the same way that Yahoo People Search functioned but with modern improvements. In fact, Information.com has the most current and up-to-date database around. With Information.com you can find just about anything you’re looking for.

What Is Information.com?

Information.com is a Yahoo People Search alternative. It’s a search engine that’s built from the ground up to help you find information about the people you’re looking for. You can find just about anything when you enter some information about them. In other words, provide Information.com with a little bit of information about someone and it will give you the full picture.

Information.com also has a lot of tools to help you. Instead of limiting you to three search methods, Information.com has options for search records and will even help with criminal background checks. Overall, it’s a comprehensive search engine to help you find someone you’re looking for.

How Information.com Works

Information.com is a simple tool that’s easy to use. There is an option for people search, email search, address search, and phone search. These tools help you find out information about people with the information you have about them. For example, you can find someone with only a phone number when you use a phone search.

To use Information.com, simply enter the information and click “Search.” Then, go through the results to find who you’re looking for. From there, open the full report to learn more.

What Information Does Information.com Have About People?

As long as it’s a public record Information.com will find it. Therefore, Information.com has access to criminal records, court records, and much more. With an Information.com search you’ll find the following information:

• Criminal records
• Full name
• Email address
• Social media accounts
• Phone numbers
• Dating profiles
• Marriage records
• Court records
• Birthday
• Sex offender status

Depending on what’s available online or in public records databases, some or all of this information is available.

Is Information.com Legal?

Information.com is legal and running a people search on someone is legal. According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), files and data that are public records can be accessed by the public. Therefore, you don’t have to worry about legal problems when using modern people search tools.

That said, there are some situations where using people search tools may not be legal. These include the following:

• Looking up information about a current employee
• Finding information about domestic workers or people who help around the house
• Looking into someone who has a restraining order against you
• Stalking someone
• Using the search engine for malicious intent

As long as you follow the guidelines provided by the FCRA, you’ll have nothing to worry about when using Information.com.

Find Someone You’re Looking for Today!

Yahoo People Search used to be the best place to find information about people online. It was equipped to pull data from many databases that held public records about people. That said, Yahoo People Search is no longer operational and you can’t use it. Moreover, the URL is not functional, so you can’t even see what it used to look like.

Still, there are plenty of alternatives and Information.com is the best option. When it comes to ease of use, quality of information, and speed, Information.com is second-to-none.