If you’re looking to learn more about someone but all you have is their Gmail address, running a reverse email lookup is exactly what you need.

In this post, we will show you how to trace a Gmail address to its owner step by step, and dig up their information such as addresses, phone numbers, photos, social media pages, and even photos.

Method 1: Use Dedicated Email Lookup Tools

The most efficient way to look up an email address owner is with a professional email lookup tool. Unlike common search engines where you might hit thousands of irrelevant results, the mail lookup tool compiles only people-related information in its database. This allows you to find information on someone in just one search.

Epieos

We’d recommend you start with the free email lookup tool Epieos. It is a powerful Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) tool for email and phone reverse lookup.

You can view the basic information for free, including the Gmail owner’s name, reviews on Google Maps, and the number of social media accounts linked to the specific email address. If you wish to get that extra information – which is blurred out in the report, you’ll need to subscribe to the service.

Step 1: Go to the Epieos website.

Step 2: Fill in the email address in the search bar and check the “I accept to Terms & conditions” checkbox.

Step 3: Click Search.

Below is a report I generated using this tool. For free accounts, it reveals the name and profile picture associated with the email account. Additionally, it shows websites where the email has been registered, though it does not provide direct links to the profiles in question.

Social Catfish

Social Catfish is another online investigation service that is designed to help you find information associated with individuals. Here’s how to use an email lookup tool to verify an email sender’s identity:

Step 1. Most of these tools are web-based, just go to the Social Catfish Reverse Email Address Search page.

Step 2. Type the Gmail address and click Search

Step 3. Social Catfish will show you a list of possible owners; just click the closest match and view their report details. Below is a sample email lookup report:

As you know, reverse email lookup refers to the process of using someone’s email address to find details about them, or searching the person’s information, e.g. their name, address, phone number, etc. to find their email address. So, apart from using the tool to track down a mysterious email sender, you can also use Social Catfish to find email addresses linked to someone.

Method 2: Search LinkedIn

If you have a LinkedIn account, you’ve probably noticed that you can check someone’s email address on their profile page. But can you search for someone’s LinkedIn profile using their Gmail address? The answer is, yes, you can do this but not directly on LinkedIn. Here’s the workaround:

1. Go to Outlook and log into your account.

2. Click the People option on the left panel, then click New contact.

3. Fill in the First Name as you want, then click Add more and select Email address.

4. Fill in the email address and click Create.

5. Click the contact you created, then click LinkedIn to see if there’s any LinkedIn profile associated with the email address. (You’ll need to log in to your LinkedIn account and connect it to your Microsoft Outlook account if you haven’t done this yet.)

Depending on users’ privacy settings, their profile information may be viewable only to people they’ve connected with or it may be viewable to anyone. If this didn’t show any profile for you, that means no LinkedIn account is connected to that particular Gmail address. In this case, move on and see if you can get any luck on other sites.

Method 3: Use Search Engines

A basic search engine process might also bring up useful information. So if you haven’t tried this yet, just type the Gmail address into a search engine like Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc., to search for if there’s any information on the web associated with it. If the Gmail address is listed on any website, you have a chance to pick up the webpage.

We know that search engines usually bring back a massive list of results. Try narrowing your search by adding any information you know about the owner into your search query, such as the email sender’s signature.

Final Thoughts

If you still come empty-handed after trying the methods, it might be time to just give up. Anyone can create Gmail accounts with fake information, so if you’re dealing with someone who intends to hide their identity, there’s really no way you can find out who is behind the account.