All websites collect user data, such as names, email addresses, IP addresses, session activity, payment details, geographic location, click rates, and more. While this information provides valuable insight for creating a healthy digital marketing campaign, website users are often uncomfortable or worried about where their data is going or how it is being used. This anxiety may cause them to avoid a website entirely.

The solution? An easily accessed and understood privacy policy posted directly to your site. By crafting a concise website privacy policy, you can satisfy legal requirements, bump up your Google ranking, and ensure your site’s visitors have a safe and informed web-browsing experience.

What is a Website Privacy Policy?

A privacy policy is a legal document posted to your website. It informs visitors about what data is being collected, why you’re collecting it, and what you intend to do with those personal details. Typically, website privacy policies include:

• The site owner’s details
• Disclosure of any third-party data access
• Description of your notification system related to updates or changes to your privacy policy
• Effective date of your privacy statement
• How long you intend to store data

The more transparency you provide for your readers, the more likely they are to trust your company, spend time on your website, and convert from a visitor to a customer.

Privacy Statements & Google Rankings

Do visitors actually read your entire privacy statement? Probably not. However, one specific reader is guaranteed to thoroughly crawl your privacy statement: Google.

Google assigns values to websites based on how well the site proves Expertise, displays Authority, or establishes Trustworthiness. These metrics, known as E-A-T, determine how Google’s search algorithm scores your site. This ranking decides how often you appear in searches, how high up you land in the search results, and much, much more.

Where privacy policies add transparency to your business for website users, they also add trustworthiness to your Google ranking. Privacy statements make it easy for Google to learn about your business practices and observe how you protect user data, improving your overall E-A-T score and allowing more visitors to enter your site.

Legal Requirements & Guidelines Regarding Website Privacy Policies

Determining which privacy policy requirements pertain to your website can be tricky. These requirements are not based on the location of your business but rather the location of your website’s visitors. For example, a European guideline will impact privacy policies in the US and vice versa.

Keep in mind that these legal requirements do not only protect your website’s visitors; they also protect you from possible lawsuits. Online spaces are constantly evolving, and creating an accurate, concise privacy statement and posting it on your website creates legal protection for your business.

United States Requirements

While the United States does not have a legislated set of guidelines surrounding privacy policies, several state-level regulations exist. One of the strictest is the California Online Privacy Protection Act, or CalOPPA, which sets specific guidelines protecting personal identifying information collected from California residents. Even if you are not a California-based company, CalOPPA regulations still affect your site as visitors may be in California. These regulations include, but are not limited to:

• Providing a clearly visible and accessible privacy policy
• Identifying what personal data is being collected
• Including an optional “Do Not Track” clause

European Union Requirements

The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect in May 2018. GDPR affects not only European-based businesses but websites worldwide. Besides standard privacy policy inclusions, GDPR includes a few additional provisions to outline within your privacy policy:

• Disclosure of whether data is required to access site information or create an account
• How data is applied for automated screening processes, such as loans, credit scores, and more
• Contact information for data removal requests
• And other privacy policy items

Creating & Posting Your Website’s Privacy Policy

While writing a privacy policy can feel like a massive undertaking, it is a straightforward process. Several free privacy policy generators and templates are available online. Simply plug in the relevant information, allow the generator to do the rest of the work, and check the finished product to ensure it is easily understood, meets requirements, and has accurate information regarding your site’s data collection and usage policies. Finally, post your privacy policy on your B2B website in a place easily accessed by users.

If you aren’t sure where to put your privacy policy on your site, digital marketing specialists—like the team at Ecreative—can help you find your way through the online world. We can assist you in posting your privacy policy in an easy-to-access location through a custom SEO program designed to increase traffic to your site and grow your business.

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