What does the "Link to Profile" column mean in the Dashboard?
Clicking through and visiting the "View" links in this column is the first thing a new user should do after creating an account with Optery. These links direct you to our best initial attempt at finding pages about you at data brokers. Along with your first Exposure Report, this is a quick way to see how many data brokers are exposing your information online.
What is often confusing is that we display the “View” links for every data broker, regardless of whether we find your profile at the data broker or not. A subsequent iteration of our product will filter out the data broker “View” links if the profile is not found.
The "View" links are not intended to be perfect matches for your profile. Results will vary for each user, depending on your circumstances
Below is a common range of outcomes for different types of users and their "View" links:
Most new users will find dozens of perfect match results of their exposed profiles at data brokers when they click through the "View" links.
Rarely, or almost never, will a user have result at each and every data broker view link.
For people with unique names, you will likely see results pages with your name on it, and no one else.
For people with common names, you will often see results pages with lots of other people with whom you share the same name or a similar name.
Right after you've created an account for the first time, if you click through all of the "View" links, you can expect up to about 50% of them to include your profile, and the other 50% not to include your profile or to be empty. It is not uncommon for most of the links you click on to not to have your profile listed (either empty, or to see the profile of someone else). This means our initial search did not find you at that data broker, but it does not necessarily mean you're not there, or that we won't be able to find you there through subsequent searches.
After you've been a customer for a few months, for customers with unique names, the majority of your View links should turn up empty or "Not Found" pages - this is usually because we've already removed your profile from that data broker.
After you've been a customer for a few months, for customers with common names, the majority of your View links should display the names of other people with whom you share the same name or a similar name, but not you - this is usually because we've already removed your profile from that data broker. That's usually why you can no longer be found there, but others can.
What is often confusing is that we display the “View” links for every data broker, regardless of whether we find your profile at the data broker or not. A subsequent iteration of our product will filter out the data broker “View” links if the profile is not found.
The "View" links are not intended to be perfect matches for your profile. Results will vary for each user, depending on your circumstances
Below is a common range of outcomes for different types of users and their "View" links:
Most new users will find dozens of perfect match results of their exposed profiles at data brokers when they click through the "View" links.
Rarely, or almost never, will a user have result at each and every data broker view link.
For people with unique names, you will likely see results pages with your name on it, and no one else.
For people with common names, you will often see results pages with lots of other people with whom you share the same name or a similar name.
Right after you've created an account for the first time, if you click through all of the "View" links, you can expect up to about 50% of them to include your profile, and the other 50% not to include your profile or to be empty. It is not uncommon for most of the links you click on to not to have your profile listed (either empty, or to see the profile of someone else). This means our initial search did not find you at that data broker, but it does not necessarily mean you're not there, or that we won't be able to find you there through subsequent searches.
After you've been a customer for a few months, for customers with unique names, the majority of your View links should turn up empty or "Not Found" pages - this is usually because we've already removed your profile from that data broker.
After you've been a customer for a few months, for customers with common names, the majority of your View links should display the names of other people with whom you share the same name or a similar name, but not you - this is usually because we've already removed your profile from that data broker. That's usually why you can no longer be found there, but others can.
Updated on: 24/01/2022
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