Privacy policy
Last updated: August 14, 2026
This policy explains what happens to personal information when you visit toposeo.com. It is written in plain language, and it describes what the site actually does rather than every practice a site of this kind might have.
TopoSEO is operated by an individual based in Illinois, United States. For the purposes of the UK and EU General Data Protection Regulation, that operator is the data controller for the information described here.
You can reach us about anything in this policy at [email protected].
What this policy covers, and what it does not
This policy covers visitors to toposeo.com: what the contact form collects, what analytics record, and what cookies are set.
It does not cover the work we do for clients. If you engage us for a review or a the review, the handling of your site data, your analytics access, and the resulting report is governed by the engagement agreement between us, not by this policy.
What we collect
Information you send us through the contact form. When you submit the form, we receive what you typed into it. That normally means your name, your email address, your website address, and whatever you wrote in the message field. The form is built with Contact Form 7, which emails the submission to us and does not store a copy in the website’s database. Once it arrives, your inquiry lives in our email account and nowhere else on the site.
Information collected automatically by the web server. Like nearly every website, ours runs on a server that keeps access logs. These record your IP address, your browser and device type, the pages you requested, and the date and time. We use them to keep the site running and to investigate abuse or technical faults.
Information collected by analytics, if you consent. We use Google Analytics 4 to understand how people find and move through the site. It records things like pages viewed, approximate location derived from your IP address, referring site, and device type. Google Analytics does not retain your full IP address. Analytics only run after you accept them through the consent banner.
We do not collect payment details on this site, and we do not ask for sensitive personal information such as health, biometric, or government identifier data.
Cookies and your choices
A cookie is a small file a site stores in your browser.
Essential cookies keep the site working and remember your cookie choice. These are set without consent because the site cannot function properly without them.
Analytics cookies are set by Google Analytics, typically named _ga and _ga_ followed by a property identifier. They distinguish one visitor from another so we can count visits accurately. These are set only after you accept them.
You can change or withdraw your choice at any time using the cookie banner or its settings link. You can also clear cookies in your browser at any point, and Google offers a browser add-on that opts you out of Google Analytics across all sites, at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
Declining analytics cookies does not restrict any part of the site.
Why we use your information
Under the UK and EU GDPR we rely on the following lawful bases:
| What we do | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Read and reply to your inquiry, and discuss possible work | Taking steps at your request before entering a contract, and our legitimate interest in responding to people who contact us |
| Keep server logs for security and troubleshooting | Our legitimate interest in operating a secure and reliable website |
| Run analytics | Your consent, given through the cookie banner and withdrawable at any time |
We do not use your information for automated decision-making or profiling, and we do not use inquiry details to build advertising audiences.
Who else sees it
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not trade or rent it to anyone.
A small number of service providers necessarily handle data on our behalf:
- Our hosting provider, which runs the server the site sits on and holds the access logs.
- Our email provider, which holds the inquiry emails the contact form sends.
- Google, which processes analytics data as described above.
We may also disclose information where the law requires it, such as in response to a valid legal request, or where it is necessary to establish or defend a legal claim.
Where your information goes
We operate from the United States, so information you send us is stored and processed there. If you are in the United Kingdom, the European Economic Area, or another region with data transfer rules, this means your information is transferred outside your home jurisdiction.
Where our providers move personal data out of the UK or the EEA, they do so under recognized transfer mechanisms, such as the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and its UK extension, or standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission and the UK authorities.
How long we keep it
| What | How long |
|---|---|
| Inquiry emails from the contact form | For as long as needed to answer you and to keep a record of our correspondence, and no more than [24 MONTHS] after our last contact |
| Server access logs | [30 DAYS] |
| Google Analytics data | [14 MONTHS], the retention period set in our Google Analytics account |
You can ask us to delete your inquiry sooner. See the rights section below.
How we protect it
The site is served over HTTPS, so what you type into the contact form is encrypted in transit. Access to the email account holding inquiries is protected by a strong password and multi-factor authentication. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security, but we take reasonable steps appropriate to the small volume and low sensitivity of the information involved.
Your rights
Wherever you live, you can email [email protected] and ask us to tell you what we hold about you, correct it, or delete it. We will respond within 30 days. We may need to ask a question or two to confirm you are the person the information relates to, and we will not charge you or treat you differently for making a request.
If you are in the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, you have the right to access your information, to have inaccurate information corrected, to have it erased, to restrict or object to how we use it, to receive it in a portable format, and to withdraw consent at any time where we rely on consent. You also have the right to complain to your data protection authority. In the UK this is the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk. In the EEA it is the supervisory authority in your country.
If you are a California resident, you have the right to know what personal information we collect and how we use it, to request deletion or correction, to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information, and to limit the use of sensitive personal information. We do not sell or share personal information as those terms are defined by the California Consumer Privacy Act, and we do not collect sensitive personal information. We honor browser opt-out preference signals, including Global Privacy Control. We extend these rights to you whether or not we meet the revenue and volume thresholds that make the Act mandatory for a business.
For the twelve months before the date of this policy, the categories we collected were identifiers, such as name, email address, and IP address, and internet activity information, such as pages viewed. We collected them for the purposes described above, from you directly and from your use of the site. We disclosed them for business purposes only to the service providers listed above.
If you are in Canada, you may access and correct your personal information and withdraw consent, and you may complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
If you are in Australia, you may seek access to and correction of your personal information, and you may complain to us first and then to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner if you are not satisfied with our answer.
Children
This site is aimed at businesses and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has sent us information, email us and we will delete it.
Links to other sites
The site may link to other websites, including client sites and reference sources. We do not control them and we are not responsible for their privacy practices. Read their policies before giving them your information.
Changes to this policy
If we change how the site handles personal information, we will update this page and change the date at the top. Significant changes to how we use information you already gave us will be brought to your attention directly where we can reach you.
Contact
Questions, requests, and complaints go to [email protected]. We would rather hear from you first than have you go straight to a regulator, and we will do our best to put things right.