Email finder

Also called: Email lookup tool, Email search tool.

Email finders work in three main ways. Some crawl websites and pull published addresses. Some look addresses up in a database collected earlier. Some guess from name patterns and verify the guesses. Many combine all three.

The method matters more than the brand. A published address on the business's own site comes with evidence: the page it was on. A database entry may be years old. A guess may be wrong, and on catch-all domains it can't be checked at all. Good finders show the source and the verification grade for every address.

For local businesses, the website is usually the best source. Google Maps listings rarely include an email, but most businesses link a website, and contact pages, footers and about pages often carry an address. Some sites only show content after JavaScript runs, and some have only a contact form, so expect a share of businesses with no findable email.

When comparing finders, ask what share of results are verified versus catch-all, how fresh the checks are, and whether you're charged for addresses that turn out invalid.

Example

A finder visits a roofer's website, finds info@ in the footer and mike@ on the about page, records both pages as sources, and verifies them: info@ verified, mike@ catch-all.

In Leadraft

Leadraft reads each business's own website (pages, sitemap, and a real browser for JavaScript-heavy sites), keeps up to 5 emails per business with role and source, and verifies every one.