How to clean up your digital footprint

By Dave Fradette · Published September 26, 2026 · Last reviewed September 29, 2026

Short answer: Start with your social media, since employers review it most directly: remove the few posts, comments, and likes that fall into screening categories. Then tighten privacy settings, close accounts you don't use, remove your contact details from search results with Google's free Results about you tool, and opt out of people-search sites.

Cleaning up your digital footprint doesn't mean disappearing. For a job search, it means removing the handful of things that could genuinely hurt you, tightening what's public, and making sure the first things people find are accurate. Start with checking your digital footprint so you know what's there, then work through these steps.

1. Prune your social media first

Social media is the part of your footprint employers review most directly, and it's the part you control most completely. Focus on the categories screening companies flag, like harassment, intolerance, threats or violence, illegal activity including drugs, and sexually explicit content, within the last seven years.^[1]^[2]

Facebook: use Manage Activity to archive or trash posts in batches.^[3] See how to delete old Facebook posts in bulk.
Instagram: your Activity settings let you select and unlike many posts at once, and delete multiple comments you've made.^[4]^[5]
Everywhere else: remove flagged items one at a time. If your list is short, that's quick.

The fastest way to build that list is your data exports, which include every like and comment. PruneSocial scores them against published screening categories and tells you what to remove. See how to clean up your social media before applying.

2. Tighten your privacy settings

Facebook's "Limit past posts" setting changes all your past public posts to friends-only in one step. It's hard to undo, and people tagged in a post can still see it.^[6]
Review who can see your friends list, tagged photos, and contact details on each platform.
Turn on tag review so new tags need your approval.

Remember that profile photos, names, and bios are usually public even on private accounts, so check those too.

3. Close accounts you no longer use

Old forums, blogs, and social networks you've abandoned are still part of your footprint if they're public. Search your inbox for sign-up emails and your old usernames to find them, then delete or lock them down.

4. Remove your contact details from search results

Google's free "Results about you" tool finds search results showing your contact info, like your phone number, email, or home address, and lets you request removal of qualifying results.^[7] It can also flag listings from people-search sites.^[8] Removing a result from Google doesn't delete the page itself, so for full removal, contact the site or use its opt-out process.^[7]

5. Opt out of people-search sites

These sites compile addresses, phone numbers, and relatives into public profiles. Most offer an opt-out, usually linked from the site's footer. It's tedious but free, and paid removal services exist if you'd rather hand it off.

6. Make sure the good stuff is easy to find

Cleanup isn't only about removal. An up-to-date LinkedIn profile that matches your résumé gives anyone searching your name something accurate to land on first.

7. Keep it clean

Your footprint keeps growing with every post, comment, and like. Check again before each job application, and remember that deleting something now doesn't remove copies that already exist, like screenshots, reposts, or web archives. That's why it's worth cleaning up before you apply, not after.

See what your own history looks like

PruneSocial scores supported text activity from your own account exports against publicly documented screening categories and gives you one specific cleanup action for anything flagged. Try a free 50-item preview first.

Start a free preview