What does the "Link to Profile" column mean in the Dashboard?

The Link to profile column in your Dashboard shows whether Optery has access to a public-facing profile URL for a result found during a scan.

This column helps you understand:

• Whether a profile was found
• Whether Optery can link directly to that profile
• Whether a linked profile has been removed

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 the Different States Mean

The Link to profile column can appear in three different ways.

View

When a scan finds a profile and Optery has a supported URL template for that data broker, the column displays View.

Clicking View opens the public profile page where your information was found.

Removed

If a profile previously showed View and is later successfully removed, the View label changes to Removed.

This means:

• A profile was found
• A profile link existed
• The profile has since been removed

Empty (No Value Shown)

In some cases, the Link to profile column is empty.

This happens when:

• The data broker does not support a direct public profile link
• Optery does not have a View URL template for that site

Because no profile link was ever shown:

• View never appears
• Removed also does not appear

Even if the removal status shows Removed/Not Found, the Link to profile column remains empty because there was never a profile link to display.

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: 05/02/2026