Privacy Policy

Overview

Searches.com is a simple directory website. We collect as little personal data as possible. This policy explains what we do collect and why.

Information We Collect

• Analytics data — We use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to understand how the site is used in aggregate. Google’s gtag.js script records page views and basic interactions (such as scrolling and clicks on links to other sites, where GA4 measures them), along with your browser and device type, the site that referred you, and an approximate location that Google derives from your IP address. Google states that GA4 does not log or store IP addresses. GA4 sets first-party cookies (named _ga and _ga_*) holding a random identifier so it can tell visits apart; they do not contain your name or email address. When a suggestion is sent successfully we record a form_submit event in GA4 that says only which form was used, never what you typed.
• Tool suggestions — The “Suggest a search tool” form on the Contact page collects the tool’s name and web address, your note about why it’s useful, your email address and, if you give it, your name. When you submit it, our web server sends those details by email to greg@searches.com, with your address set as the reply-to so we can answer you. We use them only to review the suggestion and reply, and we don’t add you to any list. The suggestion stays in that mailbox until we delete it; ask us and we will.
• Server logs — Like most websites, our hosting provider’s web server may log your IP address, browser details and the time of each request, including form submissions. To stop repeated automated submissions, the form handler also briefly keeps a one-way hash of your IP address with the submission time (for up to an hour); it is not linked to what you wrote.
• Emails you send us — If you email greg@searches.com directly, we receive your email address and message and use them only to reply. There is no newsletter or mailing list.

What We Do Not Do

• We do not sell, rent, or share personal information with third parties for advertising.
• We do not run advertising networks or behavioral tracking pixels beyond standard analytics.
• We do not require an account to use the directory.

Outbound Links

When you click a tool in the directory you leave Searches.com and go to a third-party site. Those sites have their own privacy policies. Links to tools are plain links with no referral, affiliate or tracking parameters, and they use rel="noreferrer", so your browser does not tell the destination which Searches.com page you came from.

Site Search and Web Results

• Where your search goes: When you search on Searches.com, your browser sends the words you typed to our server. If live web results are available where you are, our server sends the search words (and your country, to localise the results) to the Brave Search API, run by Brave Software, which returns the web results. Brave receives the request from our server, not from your browser, so it does not see your IP address. Brave handles the query under its own privacy policy. Matching Searches.com guides are found in your browser and aren't sent anywhere.
• What we keep: We keep a search log of the words searched, the visitor's country and the time, and nothing else: no IP address, no browser details, no identifier. We use it to see what people look for and which guides to write next. Log files are kept for up to about six months and then deleted.
• Daily limits: To keep the service fair and stop automated abuse, we count searches per visitor per day using a salted one-way hash of the IP address that changes every day. The raw IP address is never stored, and the counters are deleted after about two days.
• Country: We work out your country from our hosting provider's country header where available. If it isn't, our server asks a free lookup service (country.is) for the country of your IP address. We remember the country, not the IP address, against a hashed key for up to seven days.
• Results are not stored: Web results are fetched fresh for every search and passed straight to your browser. We do not save, cache or reuse them.
• Guide tools: The small tools inside some guides run in your browser. The domain lookup sends the domain name you enter from your browser to rdap.org, which passes it to the registry for that ending; it never reaches our server. The VIN, phone and archive tools only build links and don't send anything until you click one.
• Please don't type sensitive personal information, such as passwords or ID numbers, into the search box.

Cookies

The only cookies this site sets are the Google Analytics cookies described above. You can block them in your browser settings or with an extension, or install the Google Analytics opt-out add-on; the site works the same either way. Google’s own use of this data is described in How Google uses information from sites that use its services.

Contact

If you have questions about this policy or want us to delete an email you sent us, contact us via the Contact page.