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Audit before you delete anything
The instinct is to start closing accounts. Resist it for one evening: first find out how far the handle reaches. Search your main handle, then the two or three variants you know you have used, and keep a list of every profile that comes back.
You cannot protect what you cannot enumerate, and deleting the wrong account first destroys the trail to the ones that actually matter.
Split your identities on purpose
The reusable-handle habit is what makes you easy to correlate. Decide which identity is public — the one you want clients, friends or readers to find — and keep it deliberately separate from the ones that are not.
Separation means different strings, different profile photos, and no cross-links. Reusing a photo undoes a different handle almost immediately, because images are easier to match than names.
Lock down the pivot points
Accounts are joined by the contact details behind them, not just their names. An email address that receives password resets from twenty services is the single most valuable thing about your footprint.
Use a distinct address for the accounts you care about keeping private, turn on two-factor authentication everywhere it is offered, and remove the "find me by email or phone" settings that most social platforms enable by default.
Handle the old accounts properly
For long-forgotten accounts you no longer want, the choice is delete or sanitise. Deleting is cleaner, but some services keep the profile visible for a while after a deletion request, and a few never truly delete.
For accounts you want to keep, strip the identifying details first — real name, employer, city, photos — then decide whether the account is still worth having. A dormant profile with your real name on it does you no favours.