Privacy notice

1. Who is responsible

This site is run by Mike Arnold, trading as Mike the SEO Guy, a sole trader based in Suffolk, England. I’m the controller of the personal data described here. For anything about your data, email mike@miketheseoguy.com.

2. What I collect and why

• Contact form. Your name, email, website address, what you need and your message, plus which page you came from and the type of enquiry. I use it to reply and to quote. The legal basis is your request for me to get back to you, and taking steps towards a contract if you want to work together.
• “Send me the results” boxes on the free tools. Your email and the results you asked for. If you also tick the newsletter box, your email is added to my mailing list. The basis is your request, and your consent for the newsletter, which you can withdraw with the unsubscribe link in any email.
• Live chat. What you type, plus your email if you leave it so I can reply when I’m offline. The chat provider also records technical details such as your browser, device, rough location from your IP address and the page you’re on, so the conversation works and I can see where you’re asking from. The basis is my legitimate interest in answering questions from people visiting the site.
• The free SEO tools. The website address you type in is sent to fetch and test that page. It isn’t linked to you and I don’t keep it. Your IP address is used for a few minutes to stop the tools being abused, then dropped.
• Clients. If we work together I also keep the details needed to do the work, invoice it and keep my accounts, on the basis of our contract and my legal obligations.

I don’t sell personal data, and I don’t use it for automated decision-making or profiling.

3. Services that handle your data

These companies process data for me, only for the purposes above:

• Vercel hosts the site. Like any web host, its servers log requests (including IP addresses) to deliver pages and keep the site secure.
• Web3Forms receives contact form and tool form submissions and forwards them to my inbox.
• Kit runs the mailing list, only if you opt in.
• Crisp runs the live chat in the corner of each page.
• Google runs the PageSpeed Insights tests behind the speed tools, using only the website address you enter.
• My email provider stores the emails and enquiries I receive.

If you found me through Fiverr, Fiverr’s own privacy policycovers what you share there.

4. Cookies and storage

• Live chat cookies. Crisp sets cookies so the chat can remember your conversation as you move between pages and come back to it later.
• Theme choice. If you switch between light and dark mode, that choice is saved in your browser’s local storage. It never leaves your device.

There are no analytics, advertising or social media tracking cookies. You can clear or block cookies in your browser settings; the site still works, though the chat won’t remember earlier conversations.

5. How long I keep it

• Enquiries and chats that don’t lead to work: up to two years, so I have the history if you get in touch again. Ask and I’ll delete them sooner.
• Client records: for as long as we work together, then six years for tax and accounting purposes.
• Mailing list: until you unsubscribe.

6. Your rights

Under UK data protection law you can ask for a copy of the personal data I hold about you, ask me to correct it, delete it or limit how I use it, object to how I use it, and ask for it in a format you can take elsewhere. Where I rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

Email mike@miketheseoguy.com and I’ll reply within one month. If you’re unhappy with how I’ve handled your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk.

7. Data outside the UK

Some of the services above are based in, or use servers in, the EU or the US. Where data leaves the UK, it’s covered by the safeguards those providers put in place, such as the UK’s adequacy rules or standard contractual clauses.

8. Changes to this notice

If the site starts using a new service that handles personal data, this page will be updated first, with a new date at the top. See also the terms of business.