Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy describes the information that we gather on or through our Services and how we use and process such information. For each processing purpose we will articulate the reason for requiring the data, what data we will process, the legal basis for processing the data and how long we will keep the data.

Where the legal basis of consent is to be used, this will be gathered freely, and we will use clear, plain language that is easy to understand, and you will be able to remove your consent at any point.

This Privacy Policy applies to personal data processed in connection with Search Engine Watch, searchenginewatch.com, newsletters, subscriber lists, contact forms, event registrations, webinars, downloads, marketing communications, advertising, surveys, analytics and related products or services.

Who we are and how to contact us

Search Engine Watch LTD is the data controller responsible for deciding how and why personal data covered by this Privacy Policy is processed.

  • Company name: Search Engine Watch LTD
  • Company registration number: J23/1673/2018
  • Registered office: str. Devonshire 22, London
  • Data protection contact: via our contact page

Where required by applicable data protection law, we will provide details of any EU or UK representative, data protection officer or other privacy contact on this page or upon request.

Personal data we collect or receive

We may collect or receive the following categories of personal data, depending on how you interact with our services:

  • Contact and identity data: name, email address, telephone number, job title, company name and business contact details.
  • Business profile data: company type, company size, business type, company turnover range, industry, company region, professional interests and marketing preferences.
  • Subscriber and preference data: newsletter subscriptions, consent status, unsubscribe status, suppression records, communication preferences, sign-up source and date, campaign data and form submissions.
  • Activity and usage data: articles or content viewed, newsletter engagement, website interactions, downloads, event attendance, survey responses, referral source, approximate location, device information and browser information.
  • Technical data: IP address, cookie identifiers, log files, operating system, browser type, device type, language settings and similar technical information.
  • Corporate and support data: messages sent to us, help-desk requests, business enquiries, customer or partner records, supplier records, invoices, contractual records and related correspondence.
  • Public-area data: information voluntarily submitted in comments, public profiles, forums, community areas or other public features, where such features are available.

We do not intentionally collect special category personal data unless it is voluntarily provided by you and we have a lawful basis to process it. Our services are not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children under the age at which parental consent is required by applicable law.

Our Product / Service

If you choose to use our service, you must provide us with some personal data so that we can provide our services to you, this will include your name, email address, job title, company name, company type, company size, business type, company turnover and company region.  Activity data including the articles and content you view may also be gathered. This data will be used to improve our service, aggregated anonymously, as well as provided to clients with your consent. Other non-mandatory personal data may also be gathered including IP addresses.

We will process data using two legal rationales, if you are an individual and not associated with a contracted client we will ask for your consent. If you are associated with a contracted client we will use legitimate interest as the legal basis to process the data.

Personal data will be retained for a period of up to 5 years for a dormant account, ie an account which hasn’t been used.

Corporate

If you choose to use our service, personal data items such as Name, Email Address and Telephone number may be stored in our Corporate Cloud Storage, Corporate Email Platform or our Help Desk platform.

We will process data using two legal rationales, if you are an individual and not associated with a contracted client we will ask for your consent. If you are associated with a contracted client we will use legitimate interest as the legal basis to process the data.

Personal data will be retained for a period of up to 5 years for an active account, ie an account which has been used.

Marketing

We would like to send you information about products and services of ours which may be of interest to you. You have a right at any time to stop us from contacting you for marketing purposes. The personal data will include names, addresses, email addresses, employer, job title and telephone numbers.

We will process data using the following legal rationales to send marketing information, if you are an individual and not associated with a contracted client we will ask for your consent. If you are associated with a contracted client, we will use contractual obligation as the legal basis to process the data. If you are associated with a previous contracted client, we will use legitimate interest as the legal basis to process the data. All of the above rationales for marketing information can be removed by informing us of your wish to remove consent.

We will retain personal data for active customer leads for a period of up to 5  years, a lead will be active under the following circumstances

  • An email sent by our organisation has not received an unknown account bounce back
  • An email has been sent to our organisation from the data subject

Who we share personal data with

Except as described in this Privacy Policy, we will not intentionally disclose personal data to third parties without consent or another lawful basis. We may share personal data with:

  • service providers that help us operate our websites, hosting, email systems, newsletters, CRM, analytics, forms, surveys, webinars, security, cloud storage, help desk, payment, accounting and business administration tools;
  • advertising, analytics and measurement partners where permitted by law and cookie choices;
  • professional advisers, auditors, lawyers, accountants, insurers, banks and transaction advisers;
  • group companies, affiliates or business partners where needed to provide, improve or administer the services;
  • clients or partners, but only in aggregated/anonymised form or where the individual has consented or another lawful basis applies;
  • law enforcement, courts, regulators, public authorities or other third parties where required by law or where disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect rights, safety, security or legal interests; and
  • an acquirer, successor or assignee as part of a merger, acquisition, debt financing, sale of assets, restructuring, insolvency or similar transaction, provided that the recipient commits to privacy terms substantially consistent with this Privacy Policy or otherwise provides legally required protections.

We require service providers who process personal data for us to process it only on our instructions or for agreed purposes, to keep it confidential, to use appropriate security measures and to comply with applicable data protection law.

Public areas and user-submitted content

If you voluntarily submit information in a public area of our services, such as comments, forums, profiles, community areas or article submissions, that information may be visible to other users and the public. Please take care before sharing personal data or confidential information in public areas.

Aggregated and anonymised data

We may create aggregated, statistical or anonymised information from personal data to understand audience behaviour, improve services, prepare reports, support advertising or provide insights to clients and partners. Where information has been properly anonymised so that it no longer identifies an individual, it is not treated as personal data under this Privacy Policy.

Marketing communications and unsubscribing

We may send newsletters, updates, research, event invitations, product or service information and similar communications where permitted by law. You may stop receiving marketing communications at any time by using the unsubscribe link in an email or by contacting us using the details above.

If you unsubscribe, we may keep a limited suppression record to make sure we do not send you further marketing communications. We may still send non-marketing communications where necessary, such as service, legal, security or transactional messages.

Cookies

We use cookies and similar technologies to operate our website, remember preferences, understand aggregate usage, measure traffic, improve content and, where applicable, support advertising and analytics. Cookies may collect technical data such as IP address, browser type, device type, operating system, pages viewed, referral source, interaction data and cookie identifiers.

Where required by law, we will ask for consent before placing non-essential cookies or similar technologies. Essential cookies may be used where necessary to provide the service. You can manage cookies through our cookie banner or browser settings, where available. Some features may not work correctly if cookies are disabled.

We do not use aggregate analytics data to target marketing material to an identified individual unless we have a lawful basis to do so. Cookie data is normally retained for up to 1 year while active, unless a shorter or longer period is stated in our cookie tool or required for security or legal purposes.

Where a separate Cookie Policy or consent management tool is available, it should be read together with this Privacy Policy.

Learn more about how we use cookies https://searchenginewatch.com/cookie-policy/

Data security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal data against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure or access. These measures may include access controls, confidentiality obligations, secure hosting, encryption where appropriate, backups, malware protection, patching, monitoring, logging, vulnerability management, staff access controls and incident response procedures.

Access to personal data is limited to personnel, contractors and service providers who have a genuine business need to access it and who are subject to confidentiality obligations. We also maintain procedures to handle suspected personal data breaches and will notify affected individuals and regulators where legally required.

No method of transmission over the internet or method of electronic storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. However, we use reasonable measures to protect personal data in line with applicable law and the nature of the data we process.

Updating These Terms

We may change our Service and policies, and we may need to make changes to these Terms so that they accurately reflect our Service and policies. Unless otherwise required by law, we will notify you at least 30 days before we make changes to these Terms and give you an opportunity to review them before they go into effect. Then, if you continue to use the Service, you will be bound by the updated Terms. If you do not want to agree to these or any updated Terms, you can request an account deletion.

Your rights

Depending on your location and the applicable law, you may have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

  • the right to be informed about how your personal data is used;
  • the right to access personal data we hold about you;
  • the right to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete personal data;
  • the right to ask us to delete personal data in certain circumstances;
  • the right to restrict processing in certain circumstances;
  • the right to object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing;
  • the right to withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent;
  • the right to data portability in certain circumstances; and
  • the right not to be subject to decisions based solely on automated processing that produce legal or similarly significant effects, where applicable.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details in Section 1. We may ask for information to confirm your identity and understand your request. We will respond within the period required by applicable law.

You also have the right to complain to a data protection authority. If you are in the United Kingdom, this may be the Information Commissioner’s Office. If you are in Romania or the European Economic Area, this may be the Romanian National Supervisory Authority for Personal Data Processing or your local supervisory authority.

Keeping personal data accurate

We aim to keep personal data accurate and up to date. Please contact us if your information changes or if you believe any personal data we hold about you is inaccurate.

Deletion, dormancy and suppression

We will delete, anonymise or archive personal data when it is no longer needed for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, unless we need to retain it for legal, regulatory, security, accounting, audit, dispute-resolution or legitimate business purposes. Where a user unsubscribes or objects to direct marketing, we may retain a suppression record to respect that choice.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our services, legal obligations, technology, business structure or privacy practices. Where required by law, or where we make material changes that affect how we use personal data, we will provide appropriate notice. Unless a shorter period is required by law or by urgent operational need, we will aim to provide at least 30 days’ notice before material changes take effect.

Your continued use of the services after an updated Privacy Policy takes effect will be treated as acceptance of the updated policy where permitted by law. Where consent is required for a new processing activity, we will request it separately.

This privacy policy was last updated on 15th of June 2026.