# Can someone tell if I have Googled them?



## racha3l

I Googled a forum username of someone that I know, and a short while afterwards they posted in that forum about someone Googling them. This person is just a poster in that forum, she doesn't host the forum or moderate it, so I am not sure how she could have known that I arrived in the forum from a Google search. Is there a way that someone can tell that they have been Googled that I don't know about?


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## hewee

I never heard of that before.


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## Blackmirror

racha3l said:


> I Googled a forum username of someone that I know, and a short while afterwards they posted in that forum about someone Googling them. This person is just a poster in that forum, she doesn't host the forum or moderate it, so I am not sure how she could have known that I arrived in the forum from a Google search. Is there a way that someone can tell that they have been Googled that I don't know about?


I hope you are not stalking them ....


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## racha3l

Well, it freaked me out. This is a person that I care about, but she is very depressed and won't talk to anyone. I thought I could get some insight into how bad off she is by finding out if she's been posting to any online forums. I was mortified to see her post about hiding her identity online from snoopers, and thought the coincidence is just too much. She must have a way of knowing that I Googled her username somehow.

No, I am not stalking. Just worried about her.


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## hewee

All I can think of is a tracking cookie or site states that could know you came to the site from google but still never heard of it knowing what you did at google.


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## Blackmirror

racha3l said:


> Well, it freaked me out. This is a person that I care about, but she is very depressed and won't talk to anyone. I thought I could get some insight into how bad off she is by finding out if she's been posting to any online forums. I was mortified to see her post about hiding her identity online from snoopers, and thought the coincidence is just too much. She must have a way of knowing that I Googled her username somehow.
> 
> No, I am not stalking. Just worried about her.


Sorry i didnt mean to cause any offence  i have been on the end of that myself and it is not very nice ..

Give her some time and space she sounds like she needs it ..

When she is ready she wil contact you hopefully


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## racha3l

Hopefully I can chalk this up to an eerie coincidence, and consider myself as having dodged a very embarrassing bullet. That will teach me not to sneak around where I am not supposed to be.


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## WonderingToo

I've googled this question, because I'm wondering the same thing.

I dated and lived with a guy for 6 months. He seemed great, then his ex-wife got into my email account. I can't prove it, but I received a notification to my phone saying, "Your password has just been changed." She had done the same thing to him previously, so I THINK it was her. 

She was way too involved in our happenings, and as it turned out he was playing both sides. He had given me his email password and I logged in to see if she'd done the same to his account. Instead, she had sent him an email that raked me over the coals (she even lived in another state!) One thing in that email she said was, "She googled your name and your email account name."

Which was TRUE! How did she know that? I HAD googled him and his account name when I started to think he was playing me. 

He ended up moving away to be with her and that was over a year ago. He's gone, and I'm engaged, happy - all the good stuff. But it has bugged me all this time: How did she know???


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## hannab

I google people all the time

I think it was just an eerie coincidence.

Why don't you Google yourself and see if it comes back to you?


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## WonderingToo

I did...I do a lot, just to see what's out there.

But, it was too weird. One friend suggested she tapped into my computer and was able to see my cookies/cache or something. I downloaded spyware stuff, and never had a problem after that.

I google most people I meet, really. It's a great resource.

I hope it was a coincidence.


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## VistaRookie

No one can tell if *you* Googled them. 
How would even Google know if it was you?
Unless there was some sort of specific circumstances, like you registered
with your real name, etc.

Can they tell if they have been Googled by someone?
Only if their name is something like Paris Hilton. Some common name
would never show up enough to be found anywhere. Google does track
trends but the numbers have to be way up there.

Only way I can think it might be possible is if you have a key logger on
your computer - that records all keystrokes and would show all activity.
The person you Googled would have to have put the key logger on your
computer, so they could have access to the information.


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## Eriksrocks

WonderingToo said:


> But it has bugged me all this time: How did she know???


She could have gotten into your computer and looked at your browsing history or cache. It would have shown that you Googled him assuming you didn't clear your history, cache, or cookies.

*@ racha3l:* It's most likely just a coincidence.

It could be a keylogger, it could be a tracking cookie. But the most likely thing is simply the referrer. If this person has access to the websites stats, they could see that someone clicked on a link from Google and came directly to the forum or her profile. It's called the referrer, and it's sent with every browser request and is recorded by almost every webserver.  That's about it. There is no way to tell *who* Googled somebody unless spyware is involved. You could feasibly tell if *somebody* Googled the person, though.


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## tomdkat

Thanks for the info, Kay24! :up:

Peace...


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## VistaRookie

Kay24 said:


> actually, you're all wrong- sorry to say. people can now tell if you have googled them- down to your address! it's a boston-based website that is very new- it's called ziggs.com, and it helps for people to control their web persona.* if you create a profile with them,* they ensure you that your ziggs profile will be at the top of everyone's google search for your name- that way you decide what they get to see- your resume, information you disclose- as opposed to the other BS there might be floating around on the web about you haha. so word to the wise- stop googling people- or people will know!


*Kay24...*tell me this: After reading your post, did I Google your screen name? Second, can you see that it was ME that Googled or not Googled your screen name?

(I'll give you the truth after reading your answers).

We are not wrong. If you willingly share personal information and provide that - under that isolated condition it is possible. Of course I am basing what I say upon the information the original poster provided. If details such as being registered at ziggs was left out, then my answer would change accordingly.


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## VistaRookie

Kay24...

Let's not call people names. YOU apparently *did not * read what I wrote. I went to the website. I responded here.

YOU haven't answered the questions. Did I or did I not Google you?


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## VistaRookie

I could care less about ziggs. There is a question posted and everyone is free to answer it, including you. But the information should be factual - to say everyone is wrong is not correct. Exactly! *You have to be registered at ziggs* for that to work! I said if you provide personal information, it can be done.

The rules here prevent me from explaining what I think of your attitude!
End of discussion.


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## JohnWill

OK, the war is over. Both of you should read the TSG Rules. This thread is not only off-topic, but it violates our policy on personal insults. One and only warning, don't start another one of this nature.


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## ~Candy~

Kay24, I've banned you from the forums. This is not acceptable behavior here. This thread is over a year old in any event, and for you to come in and post the crap you did, report the thread with haha, he started it, then go back and delete all of your posts....well, that's that. Haha, I finished it.


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