It is easy to get love and infatuation confused so it is a difficult question.
The easy answer is you will know when you find it.
I suppose it would be a person who enhances your life and you are not dependent on as you need to be able to love yourself first.
It is easy to think you can't live without someone just because the sex is good and they are willing to loan you a bit of money but real love is hard to find, at least for me. I have maybe been in love two or three times. There were a few times when I thought in love but it was more infatuation and afterwards I knew it.
Love can hurt sometimes, but in general it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. If you are scared of dating and relationships I personally think you are missing out on one of the best things in life. Even the brief connection you feel during sex could be described as love in some ways.
Often times you find love when you are not really looking for it. It is definitely easy to look for love in all the wrong places. I know both those last statements are both cliche and sayings but they are very true. You might find love with someone you take a class with, meet through a friend, or work with.
I suppose you just got to think about the emotional connection as well as the physical attraction. Both of those have to be there. The best relationships are also when your lover is also your friend and you do things together not because you are obligated but because you enjoy it. So similar interests also helps. I lived with a woman for years and we played video games together, shot guns, watched movies (ones we both enjoyed) and I actually liked her family so her family invited me over quite often for some gun shooting, drinking and gambling.
Often times it can be downright painful to meet the family of who you are dating but in her case it was not. That being said not eveyone has a cool family, I sure don't other than my mother. But my point is we enjoyed each others company. I have had friendships with women grow into relationships a few times and those relationships were good.
I have had bad relationships too. I thought maybe this woman completed me, but really I saw her as the answer to my problems and what was lacking in my life.
So when you find a partner you can talk to comfortably, enjoy doing whatever with, have passionate sex with, and stick by one another that is a good start. Also the feeling should be mutual. There is no point in being in love with someone who does not feel the same way.