Locating public records is one of the most popular search activities on the internet. Millions of people look for vital, historical, and other publicly registered documents every day online. Find a birth certificate, locate census records, track down land use documents, and much more with this list of the best websites for finding public information on the Web.

These resources only cover publicly available records that are made accessible online. Some kinds of public records, such as birth certificates, are not made freely available online and must be accessed through your local records office. We do not recommend that readers pay for information found online, unless it comes from an approved, secure state or federal resource.

Use Search Engines

The major search engines — Google and Bing — offer an excellent starting point for any search. Think of the search engine as being a ferret: It won't necessarily surface the information you want, but it'll help you figure out which hole to start digging.

A caveat about search engines: Many of these tools will surface websites that reveal some minor tidbit and then expect you to pay for a report or subscribe to a service to get additional information. In general, avoid these sites — most of them reveal poor or inaccurate information. In effect, they're large-scale data aggregators. They value quantity over quality.

VitalRec

VitalRec is one of the most comprehensive sites for locating vital records on the web. Digital marketing book pdf free. VitalRec explains how to obtain vital records — such as birth certificates, death records, marriage licenses and divorce decrees — from each state, territory, and county of the United States, as well as an impressive international section.

No registration is required to use this site. One particularly useful feature of VitalRec.com: all fees that might be included in your public records searches are clearly listed and frequently updated.

VitalRec does not link directly to vital records. However, VitalRec links directly to each state's information on how to obtain vital records. With that in mind, using VitalRec.com as a starting point in your records searches can obviously save you a tremendous amount of time and effort. To find information on how to obtain vital records, you can browse the States & Territories, or the International Records section. Each state and country's page has plenty of information on how to obtain vital records for that particular region; plus, VitalRec has a detailed set of guidelines for ordering these records with all the information you need to include in your request.

VitalRec.com puts all the information you need to find vital records in one convenient place. Instead of trying to find individual state, county, or town records offices in the phone book, this comprehensive directory gives you direct access to exactly what you're looking for, with practical instructions on what you'll need in person, on the phone, or via email when requesting the records you need. If you're doing any sort of genealogical research, VitalRec.com can make your hunt much more enjoyable simply by cutting down on the amount of administrative work you'll have to do in order to find and receive birth, death, marriage, or divorce records.

Finding Obituaries

You'll find obituaries, both current and historical, with a little bit of sleuthing. Most obituaries are placed online, eventually, through the newspaper that originally published them. It can take some considerable patience and preparation in order to find many obits, though.

In addition, DeathIndexes.com is a (mostly) free genealogy search site that's excellent for researching genealogies in particular. The website is a comprehensive directory of death indexes on the web listed by state and county, with easily navigable links to everything you might be looking for. Death records are included here, as well as death certificate indexes, death notices and registers, obituaries, probate indexes, and cemetery and burial records.

One of the more common public data searches pertains to finding grave information: cemetery records, interment information, even images of the gravesite. The website Find a Grave is helpful in this regard. Celebrity interments can also be found here, with accompanying information and photos.

Family Search is primarily a genealogy tracker, which makes it an invaluable people search tool as well. Input as much information as you know, and FamilySearch will bring back birth and death records, parental information, and more.

Zabasearch

Zabasearch is controversial because it brings back so much information. However, all of this information is publicly accessible; Zabasearch just puts it all in one convenient place. Zabasearch is considered a good jumping-off point — it gives you a lot of publicly accessible information that you can use to track down even more public data using other online search tools.

Zabasearch is run by Intelius, a prominent data broker. People can opt-out of tracking by Intelius, thus making them invisible to Zabasearch (and related) queries.

Detailed information hides behind a paywall. The quality of the information behind that paywall will vary between 'highly accurate' (especially for people with rare names) to 'so inaccurate as to be effectively fiction' (especially for people with very common names who live in large cities).

The reason that Zabasearch and its competitors offer such an inconsistent or 'ar.'

Results will come back with clickable links to pictures and profiles of the registered offenders, along with their residential addresses and maps.

Family Watchdog Search is a good way to search for this kind of information; you can also use The National/State Sex Offender Public Website for the most recent information available from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico for the identity and location of known sex offenders.