Privacy Policy

Overview

This policy explains what data Searchzen collects, why, who processes it on our behalf and what control you have over it. We collect only what is needed to run the service.

Account data

When you create an account we store your name, email address and a securely hashed password, your language preference and your plan. Payments are handled by our payment provider; we receive the payment status and a reference, never your full card number.

What you set up in Searchzen

We store the projects you create (website addresses and settings), tracked keywords with their country, language, device and location, tags, competitors, alert rules and alert channels (for example an email address, a Slack or Teams webhook address, or a Telegram bot token), report settings and branding, report schedules with their recipients' email addresses, and API keys (stored as a one-way hash; we can't read them back).

Rank tracking

To check a keyword we send the keyword, with the country, language, device and location you chose, to the search data provider that this platform uses. We store the positions, the ranking URLs, the SERP features found and a snapshot of the top results. Ranking history is kept while the project exists; full search result snapshots are deleted after 30 days.

Site audits and our crawler

When you run a site audit, our crawler visits the public pages of the website you entered. By default it identifies itself with the user agent SearchzenBot/1.0 followed by a link to this website, obeys the site's robots.txt rules (including Crawl-delay) and limits its speed. It doesn't log in, submit forms, run JavaScript or crawl private network addresses.

For each page it stores technical facts: the URL, status code, redirects, title, meta description, headings, canonical and hreflang tags, structured data types, links, word count, image alt text, page size and response time. It doesn't collect personal data from the pages it visits. Audit results are kept while the project exists; older audits may be summarised to save space.

Google Search Console

If you connect Google Search Console, we ask Google for read-only access (the webmasters.readonly scope) and store the refresh token encrypted. We import search performance data (queries, pages, countries, devices, clicks, impressions, click-through rate and position) for the properties you choose, and keep it for up to 16 months, as Google does. When you disconnect, we revoke the access at Google and delete the token; data already imported stays with the project until you delete it.

Limited Use. Searchzen's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs to any other app adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. We use Google user data only to show it to you in Searchzen and in the reports you choose to share. We don't sell it, don't use it for advertising, don't use it to train AI models and don't let people read it, except with your permission, for security reasons, to comply with the law, or when it has been aggregated and anonymised for internal operations.

Shared reports and the SEO health badge

If you create a report link, anyone with the link (and the password, if you set one) can see that project's report. You can add a password, replace the link or turn sharing off at any time. The SEO health badge shows only the latest health score of a project whose report is shared; it sets no cookies and collects no data about the visitors of the site where it is embedded.

Cookies

We only use cookies that are needed for the service to work:

• tz_session keeps you signed in (up to 30 days).
• tz_lang remembers the language you chose (1 year).
• sz_r_<token> is set after you enter the password of a shared report. It is signed, only unlocks that one report and expires after 30 days.
• sz_gsc_state is a short-lived security value (protection against cross-site request forgery) while you connect Google Search Console. It is deleted when the connection is finished.

Your theme and cookie notice choices are saved in your browser's local storage. We don't use advertising or third-party tracking cookies, and the SEO health badge sets no cookies.

Sub-processors

We don't sell data and don't share it with advertisers. We share only what is needed with the services that help us run Searchzen:

• Hosting and database providers that store the data.
• Email delivery for account emails, alerts and scheduled reports.
• Payment providers for paid plans.
• Search data providers. Rank checks are processed by the SERP data provider chosen by the operator of this platform (one of Serper, SerpApi, DataForSEO or ValueSERP). They receive the keyword and search settings, never your account details.
• Google, when you connect Search Console.
• Alert channels you configure (such as Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams, Telegram or your own webhook) receive the alert messages you asked for.

How long we keep data

Account data, projects, keywords, ranking history and audit results are kept while your account exists. SERP snapshots are deleted after 30 days, alert logs after 90 days and Search Console data after 16 months. When you delete a project or your account, its data is deleted too.

Security

Passwords are hashed, connections are encrypted, Search Console tokens are stored encrypted, API keys are stored as hashes and access to our servers is restricted. No system is perfectly secure, but we work hard to protect your data.

Your rights

You can see, export and change your details at any time from your account page, export your data to CSV, disconnect Google at any time and ask us to delete your account. Depending on where you live you may have further rights (for example under the GDPR); contact us to use them.

Changes

We may update this policy. For important changes we will let customers know by email.

Contact

For privacy questions contact us at support@example.com.