How to Clean Up Your Digital Footprint

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You might not realize it at first, but whenever you use the internet, you leave behind a digital footprint. If that makes you feel a little uneasy, perhaps because you want to maintain your privacy as much as possible or you are concerned about your security online, you aren't alone. Thankfully, there are ways that you can clean up your digital footprint, and they don't require much effort.

Whether you want to limit the amount of information that is out there about you or you want to remove yourself from the World Wide Web as much as you can, there are some strategies you can follow. Below are a few tips to help you get started.

Delete Cookies

When you visit websites, cookies are placed on your computer, and these can track what you do. Ever see targeted ads when you browse the internet? Those are likely placed there because of the cookies you have collected. So, if you want to regain some privacy, deleting your cookies on a regular basis is a good idea. Just follow the instructions that are provided by the browser that you use.

Make Your Social Media Profiles Private

Another way to clean up your digital footprint and prevent people from easily finding you online is by making your social media accounts private. Go through the settings on each account to ensure it won't show up in search results (for example, if someone types your name into a Google search).  

If you want to go a step further, however, you can deactivate all of your social media accounts so there's no longer a trace of them online. This can certainly help you clean up your digital footprint!

Remove Your Information from People Search Websites

One of the easiest ways that anyone can find information about you is by typing your name into a people search website. These databases are designed to make it easy to find the contact information of just about anyone, and some of them even go a step further by making it simple and affordable to perform a background check on someone.

If you don't like the idea of being on people search websites, all you have to do is opt out of having your information on display on those sites. For instance, you can simply go to the Nuwber opt out page to tell them that you want your information taken down.

There are a lot of these people search sites out there. Another popular option is Been Verified. Once again, all you have to do is find the Been Verified removal instructions. 

To be sure you access all of the sites that are hosting your information for people to find, you can perform a Google search using your name. You might realize that you're also on sites like Instant Checkmate, so you'd need to find the Instant Checkmate opt out page.

Delete Old Accounts You Don't Use Anymore

You have probably opened a lot of accounts online throughout the years. If you have decided that you want to delete or clean up your digital footprint, it is time to recall all of those accounts so you can go back and delete all of them.

If there are any accounts that need to stay open because you are still using them and they are important to you, that's totally fine. But if you want to reduce your footprint, you should consider deactivating any accounts that you are no longer using.

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