How to Control Your Digital Footprint (and Help Your Kids Manage Theirs)

Everything we do online leaves a trace. Some of it we create on purpose, like posts, photos and reviews. Some of it is created about us, like a friend's tagged photo or a news story. And a lot of it is collected quietly, by apps, websites and data brokers.

You can't erase all of it, but you can take a surprising amount of control. Here's how to audit your own footprint, clean it up, and help your kids build one they'll be glad to have later.

Active and passive footprints

It helps to think of your footprint in two parts:

• Active footprint: what you choose to share, such as social posts, comments, profile details, photos and videos.
• Passive footprint: what's collected without you actively posting, such as location history, browsing and shopping data, app activity, and information compiled by data brokers.

Both matter. Your active footprint shapes what people see when they search for you. Your passive footprint shapes what companies know about you, and can affect your privacy and security.

Step 1: See what's out there

1. Search your name in Google and another search engine, both alone and with your city, school or employer. Check the images tab too.
2. Search your phone number and email address. Results here often point to data broker listings.
3. Search your kids' names, especially if they're teens with public accounts.
4. Set up an alert. A Google Alert on your name tells you when new results appear. Our guide on how to create a Google Alert explains the steps.

Step 2: Remove what you can from search results

Google's Results about you tool lets you check whether your home address, phone number or email address appear in search results and request their removal. You can also opt in to alerts when new results with your contact details show up. Open it from your Google profile picture in the Google app, or find it through Google's Results about you help page.

Two important limits:

• Removal hides the result in Google Search. The original page stays online unless the site removes it.
• Some features are for adults. For results showing a minor's information or images, Google has a separate removal request process for people under 18, which a parent can submit.

For data broker sites that list your address and relatives, most have an opt-out process on their own website. It's tedious but effective.

Step 3: Clean up your accounts

• Delete old accounts you no longer use. Forgotten profiles on old social networks, forums and shopping sites are both an embarrassment risk and a security risk. If you can't remember them, search your email for "welcome" or "confirm your account."
• Review old posts. Facebook's Activity Log and Instagram's Your Activity section let you review, archive or delete old posts and comments in bulk.
• Untag yourself from photos you don't want associated with your name, and turn on tag review so new tags need your approval.
• Limit what search engines can find. On Facebook, you can stop search engines outside Facebook from linking to your profile. See keep your Facebook profile off search engines.

Step 4: Shrink your passive footprint

• Review app permissions on your phone: location, contacts, microphone, photos. Remove anything an app doesn't need.
• Turn off or auto-delete location history in your Google account and review Significant Locations on iPhone.
• Limit ad tracking. On iPhone, apps must ask to track you; say no. On Android, you can delete your advertising ID in privacy settings.
• Use your Google and Meta privacy checkups to review what's collected and set activity to auto-delete.

Step 5: Post with the future in mind

Before posting, a quick check:

• Would I be comfortable with a teacher, boss or grandparent seeing this?
• Does it reveal where I live, where my kids go to school, or when we're away?
• Am I sharing something that's really someone else's story to tell?

Helping your kids manage their footprint

Children today often have a digital footprint before they can talk, thanks to family photos. That gives parents a double role: managing what we share about them, and teaching them to manage what they share themselves.

What you share about them

• Keep identifying details out of posts: full name, school, daily routines, location tags.
• Use private accounts or shared albums with family instead of public posts.
• As kids get older, ask before posting a photo of them. It shows respect and teaches consent.

What they share themselves

• Talk about permanence. Screenshots last even when posts disappear.
• Search them together. Googling your teen's name together is a memorable, low-pressure lesson.
• Build a positive footprint. Older teens can use their online presence to show off achievements, creative work or volunteering, which can help with jobs and college applications.
• Teach the "pause." If they're angry, embarrassed or excited, waiting ten minutes before posting avoids most regrets.

Our article on protecting your privacy covers more settings for the whole family.

A digital footprint checklist

1. Search your name, phone number and email this week.
2. Submit removal requests through Google's Results about you.
3. Opt out of the data broker sites that list you.
4. Delete accounts you no longer use.
5. Review and clean up old social posts and tags.
6. Turn on tag review and set profiles to private where appropriate.
7. Tighten app permissions and location history.
8. Agree as a family on what's okay to post about each other.
9. Repeat the search every six months.