Gould grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland and attended Kenyon College for two years before transferring to Eugene Lang College in New York City. Gould resides in Brooklyn, New York.

Gould began her blogging career as one-half of The Universal Review before starting her own blog, Emily Magazine, and writing for Gawker on a freelance basis as the anonymous author of the Unsolicited column. She eventually replaced Jessica Coen at Gawker upon Coen's departure for Vanity Fair in September 2006. Her colleagues included co-editor Alex Balk, managing editor Choire Sicha, and associate editor Doree Shafrir. Before joining the Gawker staff, Gould was an associate editor at Disney's Hyperion imprint.

Gould, with Zareen Jaffery, is the co-author of the young adult novel Hex Education, which was released by Penguin's Razorbill imprint in May 2007.

On November 30, 2007 Gould resigned from Gawker. She recounted her experiences mingling her professional and romantic lives on the site in a New York Times Magazine article ("Exposed") published on May 25, 2008. The article formed the basis for a proposal for a memoir to be published by Free Press in 2010.

Gould is a regular contributor to various publications, including New York-based quarterly Russia! and Moscow-based Snob. In Russia!, she published a review of contemporary Russian-born American writers that included her then-boyfriend Keith Gessen.

On April 6, 2007, Emily Gould appeared on an episode of Larry King Live hosted by talk show host Jimmy Kimmel during a panel discussion entitled "Paparazzi: Do they go too far?" During the interview, Kimmel accused Gould of irresponsible journalism resulting from Gould's popular blog. After the interview aired Gould was criticized for her excessive eye rolling and smirks towards Kimmel.

Among the privacy issues resulting from what Gould called the "citizen journalism" that comprises the Gawker.com Stalker Map, Kimmel mentioned the possibility of assisting real stalkers, adding that Gould and her website could ultimately be responsible for someone's death. Kimmel continued to claim a lack of veracity in Gawker's published stories, and the potential for libel it presents. As an example, Kimmel mentioned a Gawker piece about himself, describing him as having been spotted "drunk," at a time, he said, he was actually with his children and family. "I didn't find it funny at all," Kimmel said. Attorney Mark Geragos, also on the show, said it was only a matter of time before she is sued. In response, Gould said, "We've been doing it for four years and it hasn't happened yet."

On May 4, 2007, Gould wrote an article for the New York Times about the interview. An article she wrote about her experiences with Gawker.com was the New York Times Magazine cover story on May 25, 2008. In the article, she described how the negative response to her television appearance caused her to suffer panic attacks which led her to seek therapy.