Privacy policy

1. Who we are

HollerSpot (“HollerSpot”, “we”, “us”) is run from New South Wales, Australia. We are responsible for the personal information described in this policy. You can reach us about privacy at [email protected].

We handle personal information under the Australian Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles. Where they apply to you, we also follow the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and US state privacy laws such as California's.

2. What we collect

Information you give us

• Account details: your email address and your name. We don't use passwords: you sign in with a code we email you, or with Google.
• Your products: the websites you add, their names, and anything you write about them.
• Your work in HollerSpot: the status you give each opportunity, your notes, and the drafts we write for you.
• Messages to us: what you write when you email us, for example for help or a refund.
• Payment details, once paid plans are available: these go to our payment company, not to us. We only keep your plan, its status and your billing history.

Information collected when you use HollerSpot

• Sign-in sessions: when you sign in, we record your IP address and browser type with the session, to keep your account safe.
• Server and security logs: our servers and network provider record requests, such as IP address, page, time and errors, to keep the Service running and stop abuse.
• Product analytics: which pages you visit and which buttons and links you click, how long you stay, your browser, device and screen size, the website that sent you, and your rough location (country and city) worked out from your IP address. When you're signed in, this is linked to your account ID, name and email address. We may also record sessions, which shows how you moved around a page. We hide all text on the page and everything you type from analytics and recordings, so what you see and write in HollerSpot, including your results and any Google data, is never sent.
• Cookies: to keep you signed in and for analytics. See Cookies.

We don't use advertising trackers.

Information from Google, if you choose

• Sign in with Google: your name, email address, profile picture and Google account ID.
• Google Search Console, if you connect it to a product. See Google user data.

Information from public sources, during scans

To find opportunities for your product, scans read public web pages: search results, articles, directories, Q&A sites, forums and social media posts. From them we save what you need to judge each opportunity:

• links, titles, dates and short quotes from public pages and posts;
• the public username or name of a post's author, and public counts like likes and replies;
• public work contact details for websites you might email, such as an editor's name, a work email address or a contact page. We find these on the website itself, or with an email-lookup service that searches public sources for work email addresses.

We use this information only to show opportunities to the HollerSpot user who ran the scan, and to help them write one-to-one messages. We don't build profiles of people, and we don't sell or publish contact details. If this is about you, see section 12.

3. How we use it

We use personal information to:

• Run HollerSpot for you: create your account, sign you in, run scans, show opportunities and write drafts.
• Send you emails you need: sign-in codes, and messages about your account, payments, security, or important changes to our terms.
• Keep HollerSpot safe: stop spam, fraud and abuse, enforce our limits and our terms, and protect our users.
• Fix and improve HollerSpot: find bugs and use product analytics to understand which pages and features people use. We use as little personal information for this as we can.
• Follow the law: for example tax and accounting rules, or valid requests from authorities.
• Tell you about HollerSpot: only if you agree, or where the law allows. Every such email has a way to unsubscribe.

HollerSpot scores opportunities, not people. We don't make decisions about you by automated means that have legal or similarly serious effects on you.

Legal bases (for people in the EU and UK)

• Contract: to provide the Service you signed up for.
• Legitimate interests: to keep the Service secure, improve it (including product analytics), and process public information during scans so users can find relevant opportunities. We have weighed these interests against your rights, and you can object at any time.
• Consent: for connecting Google Search Console and for marketing emails. You can withdraw consent at any time.
• Legal obligation: where the law requires us to keep or share information.

4. AI processing

HollerSpot uses AI models to read what a scan finds, pick and rank opportunities, and write drafts. To do this we send the relevant information, such as your product details, public posts and pages found in the scan, and Search Console data if you connected it, to AI model companies through a service that routes requests to them.

• They process it to return a result to us. We don't send your account details, like your email address.
• We don't use your information to train AI models, and we don't sell it to anyone who does.
• We prefer AI companies that don't use customer data to train their models.

5. Google user data

You can connect Google Search Console to a product. When you do, we ask Google for read-only access (the webmasters.readonly permission). Google asks you to tick a box to allow it. With it we read:

• The list of sites in your Search Console, so you can choose the one for your product.
• Search data for the site you choose: the searches people used to find it, the pages Google showed, and the clicks, views and average position for each, over the last few weeks.

How we use it. Only to give you suggestions for that product, for example a page that is close to the top of Google and could get there with a few changes. To write these suggestions, we send the search data to the AI model service described in AI processing. We never use your Google data to train AI models. We can't change anything in your Search Console, and we never do.

How we share it. We don't sell Google user data, use it for advertising, or share it with anyone except to provide this feature, keep the Service secure, or follow the law. It is never sent to our analytics provider: page text, including suggestions made from your Google data, is hidden from analytics. No person at HollerSpot reads it unless you ask us to, for example to help with a problem, or the law requires it.

How long we keep it. We store the Google access key so scans can read your data later. The suggestions made from your data stay with that product's results.

How to stop it. Click “Disconnect” on the product, and remove HollerSpot in your Google account settings. Deleting a product deletes everything we found for it. Deleting your account deletes your Google access keys.

HollerSpot's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs to any other app will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

6. Who we share it with

We share personal information only as described here, and only as much as each company needs. Companies that work for us must protect it and may only use it to do that work.

• Hosting and database: the companies whose servers run HollerSpot and store its data.
• Network and security: a company that delivers our website, protects it from attacks and encrypts the connection. Your requests to HollerSpot pass through it.
• Email delivery: a company that sends our emails, such as sign-in codes.
• Product analytics: a company that stores usage data, described in What we collect, so we can see how HollerSpot is used. Its servers are in the United States.
• AI models: see AI processing.
• Search and data companies: companies that run searches and read public websites for scans, and look up public work email addresses. We send them search terms, website addresses and topics, not your account details.
• Payments: once paid plans are available, a payment company that processes payments and may act as the seller of record.
• Google: if you sign in with Google or connect Search Console.

We may also share information:

• if the law requires it, or to respond to a valid request from a court or government;
• to protect the rights, safety or property of our users, the public or HollerSpot;
• if HollerSpot is sold or merged. The new owner would have to follow this policy, and we'd tell you first;
• with anyone else, if you ask us to or agree to it.

We don't sell personal information, and we don't share it for targeted advertising, as those terms are defined in US state privacy laws.

7. Where your data is stored

Our servers are in the United States, and some of the companies we use process data in other countries. So your information may be stored and processed outside Australia and outside your own country. We take reasonable steps to make sure these companies protect it to the standard the Australian Privacy Principles require. For information from the EU or UK, we rely on approved safeguards, such as the European Commission's standard contractual clauses or a company's certification under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.

8. Cookies

• Sign-in cookie (essential): keeps you signed in. It lasts up to 7 days, or until you sign out. HollerSpot can't work without it.
• Analytics cookie and browser storage: a random ID that lets our analytics tell visits from the same browser apart. It lasts up to a year, and is cleared from HollerSpot when you sign out.

You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, but you'll need the sign-in cookie to use your account. If your browser sends a “Do Not Track” signal, we don't collect analytics. Blocking analytics doesn't change how HollerSpot works for you.

We don't use advertising cookies, and we don't let other companies track you across sites through HollerSpot.

9. How long we keep it

• Sign-in codes: 10 minutes. We store them in a form that can't be read back.
• Sign-in sessions: up to 7 days, or until you sign out.
• Your account, products, scans and opportunities: while your account is open. Deleting a product deletes its scans and opportunities.
• Google access keys: until you disconnect, delete the product, or delete your account.
• Search results we store to avoid repeating paid searches: up to 7 days. These hold public search data and aren't linked to your account.
• Server and security logs: for a limited time, then deleted.
• Product analytics: only as long as we need it to understand how HollerSpot is used. If you delete your account, we also delete the analytics linked to it.
• Billing records: as long as tax and accounting laws require, usually 5 to 7 years.

When you ask us to delete your account, we delete it and its data within 30 days. Copies in backups are removed when those backups expire. We may keep information longer only where the law requires it, or to settle a dispute or stop abuse.

10. How we protect it

• All connections to HollerSpot are encrypted (HTTPS).
• We don't store passwords, and sign-in codes are stored in a form that can't be read back.
• Access to our servers and data is limited to the people who need it to run HollerSpot.
• Each account can only see its own products and results.

No service can be perfectly secure, but we work to protect your information. If a data breach is likely to cause you serious harm, we'll tell you and the relevant authorities as the law requires, including under Australia's Notifiable Data Breaches scheme.

11. Your rights and choices

Depending on where you live, you can ask us to:

• tell you what personal information we have about you, and give you a copy;
• correct information that is wrong or out of date;
• delete your information or your account;
• give you your information in a format you can take elsewhere;
• stop or limit how we use it, or object to how we use it;
• withdraw consent you gave us, such as for Google Search Console.

To do any of this, email [email protected] from the email address on your account. We may ask you to confirm it's you. We'll reply within 30 days. We don't charge for this, and we won't treat you differently for using your rights.

Complaints. If you're unhappy with how we handled your information, please tell us first and we'll try to fix it. If you're still not satisfied, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au, or to the data protection authority where you live.

12. If your public information appears in HollerSpot

You may not use HollerSpot, but a public post, article or work contact detail of yours may appear in a user's results. We collect this from public sources, as described in section 2, only to show relevant opportunities to that user. Our terms require users to follow anti-spam laws and only send relevant one-to-one messages.

If you'd like us to remove your information and stop showing it, email [email protected] with the page or email address concerned. We'll remove it and take steps to keep it out of future results.

13. Children

HollerSpot is for businesses and is only for people aged 18 or over. We don't knowingly collect information about children. If you think a child has given us information, email us and we'll delete it.

14. Changes to this policy

We'll update this policy when HollerSpot or the law changes, and change the date at the top. If a change is important, we'll also email you before it takes effect.

15. Contact us

Questions or requests about privacy? Email [email protected].