Privacy Policy

Last updated: July 5, 2026

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LinkWatchr ("we," "us," or "our") operates the website at linkwatchr.com, the LinkWatchr platform (collectively, the "Service"), and browser extensions that we publish, including "DR in SERP" (see Section 11, which applies specifically to the extension). This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and the third-party services we rely on.

By using the Service, you agree to the collection and use of information as described below. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.

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1. Who We Are

LinkWatchr is an independent SaaS product for backlink monitoring and link status tracking. For any privacy-related questions you can reach us at privacy@linkwatchr.com.

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2. Information We Collect

2.1 Information You Provide

• Account information: Name, email address, and password when you register
• Billing information: Name, email, and payment details, processed by our payment provider Paddle (we do not store credit card details directly)
• Service data: Backlink URLs, domain information, workspace settings, and monitoring configurations you upload or create
• Communications: Messages, feedback, and support requests you send to us

2.2 Information Collected Automatically

Whenever you visit the website or use the platform, we automatically collect:

• Device and browser information: Browser type, operating system, device type, screen resolution
• Network information: IP address, approximate geographic location (country/region level)
• Usage data: Pages visited, features used, clicks, scrolls, session duration, referring URLs, timestamps
• Behavioral data: Mouse movements, click patterns, scroll depth, and session recordings
• Identifiers: First-party cookies, localStorage entries, and similar technologies used to recognise your browser across visits

We collect this information from every visitor in order to operate, secure, and improve the Service. We do not show a cookie consent banner — by using the Service you accept the use of these technologies.

2.3 Linking Activity to Your Account

Once you sign up, we associate the automatically-collected activity above with your user account. This lets us understand how individual users interact with the product, debug issues, provide better support, and improve features. Activity collected before you sign up may also be linked to your account once we can match the identifier to you.

2.4 Information from Third Parties

• Payment provider: Paddle provides us with transaction confirmations, subscription status, and billing-related contact information
• Advertising platforms: When you arrive at our site after clicking an ad, we may receive a click identifier from Google Ads, Meta (Facebook), or Reddit

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3. How We Use Your Information

We use the data we collect to:

• Provide and operate the Service (account management, backlink monitoring, alerts)
• Process payments through Paddle
• Send transactional emails (account verification, billing receipts, security alerts)
• Run product and website analytics so we can understand and improve the Service
• Record sessions and generate heatmaps to understand how the Service is used
• Measure the effectiveness of our advertising and marketing campaigns
• Detect, prevent, and respond to fraud, abuse, or security issues
• Comply with legal obligations (tax records, lawful requests)

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4. Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services, which may process data on our behalf:

4.1 Analytics

Google Analytics 4 — Used to understand website traffic and usage patterns. Google Analytics sets first-party cookies (_ga, _ga_<container-id>) with a retention period of up to 13 months. Data is processed by Google LLC in the United States. Privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy

Microsoft Clarity — Used to capture behavioural metrics, heatmaps, and session replays so we can improve the Service. Clarity sets first- and third-party cookies including _clck, _clsk, CLID, ANONCHK, MR, MUID, and SM. Data is processed by Microsoft Corporation in the United States. Privacy policy: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/privacy/privacystatement

OpenPanel (Self-Hosted) — We run our own instance of OpenPanel for first-party product and website analytics. OpenPanel is deployed on infrastructure that we operate, and the data it collects stays on our servers — it is not shared with OpenPanel as a company or any other third party. Via OpenPanel we collect:

• Session recordings and screen interactions on the LinkWatchr platform
• Pages and features visited, clicks, scrolls, session duration, and referring URLs
• A persistent first-party identifier that lets us link activity across sessions to a user account once you sign in
• Device, browser, and approximate geolocation information derived from your IP address

OpenPanel sets first-party cookies and/or browser localStorage entries to maintain this identifier. Project website: https://openpanel.dev

4.2 Payment Processing

Paddle — Paddle acts as our Merchant of Record for all payment processing. When you make a purchase, Paddle collects your name, email, payment card details, IP address, and browser information. Paddle handles PCI compliance, sales tax, VAT, refunds, and chargebacks on our behalf. We do not have access to your full payment card details. Privacy policy: https://www.paddle.com/legal/privacy

4.3 Advertising and Conversion Tracking

We use pixel/conversion tracking technologies to measure the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns. We do not display third-party advertisements on our website.

Google Ads (Conversion Tracking) — Cookies set include _gcl_aw and _gcl_dc (90-day retention). Data is processed by Google LLC in the United States. Privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy

Meta (Facebook) Pixel — Cookies set include _fbp (90-day retention) and _fbc. Data is processed by Meta Platforms, Inc. in the United States. Privacy policy: https://www.facebook.com/privacy/policy/

Reddit Pixel — Cookies set include _rdt_uuid. Data is processed by Reddit, Inc. in the United States. Privacy policy: https://www.reddit.com/policies/privacy-policy

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5. Cookies and Similar Technologies

We use cookies, localStorage, and similar technologies to:

• Keep you signed in and maintain your session
• Process payments via Paddle
• Run website and product analytics (Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, self-hosted OpenPanel)
• Measure ad performance (Google Ads, Meta Pixel, Reddit Pixel)

By using the Service you accept the use of these technologies. You can clear or block cookies through your browser settings, but doing so may break parts of the Service.

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6. International Data Transfers

Some of the third-party services we use are based in the United States, so your data may be transferred to and processed in countries outside your country of residence. Analytics data collected through our self-hosted OpenPanel instance is not transferred to a third-party analytics provider — it stays on our infrastructure.

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7. Data Retention

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary:

When data is no longer needed, it is deleted or anonymised.

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8. Your Choices

You can contact us at privacy@linkwatchr.com to:

• Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Correct inaccurate or incomplete information
• Delete your account and the personal data associated with it

We will respond within a reasonable time. You can also clear or block cookies through your browser settings at any time.

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9. Children's Privacy

The Service is not directed to individuals under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16. If you believe a child under 16 has provided us with personal information, please contact us at privacy@linkwatchr.com and we will delete it.

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10. Data Security

We apply reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal data, including:

• Encryption in transit (TLS/HTTPS) and at rest
• Access controls and authentication requirements
• Regular security reviews

No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

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11. LinkWatchr Browser Extensions

This section applies only to the free browser extensions we publish, currently "DR in SERP" (11.2) and "AI Backlink Placement Finder" (11.3), and overrides the rest of this policy for those extensions. The data practices described in Sections 2–5 (analytics, session recordings, cookies, advertising pixels, payment processing) apply to the linkwatchr.com website and platform — none of them are used in our extensions.

11.1 Rules That Apply to Every Extension

• No tracking. Our extensions do not collect analytics, session recordings, or advertising identifiers, and contain no trackers of any kind.
• Sign in with Google. Where an extension offers or requires signing in, the flow requests only the non-sensitive scopes openid, email, and profile. Signing in shares your name and email address with us, as provided by Google, to create your account. Some extensions work without an account; each subsection below states whether sign-in is optional or required.
• Local extension storage. Extensions store settings, caches, and (if you sign in) your session tokens in your browser's extension storage. Signing out clears account-related local data. We have no access to preference data your browser syncs.
• Account data stays yours. Data linked to your account is protected by row-level security: only you can read your rows. It is used solely to provide the extension's features, and is never sold or shared.
• Usage counters. Where an extension has fair-use limits, we keep counters (per account, or a salted, irreversible hash of your IP for anonymous use) solely to enforce those limits. We do not store your raw IP address.
• Deletion. You can request deletion of your history or your entire account and all associated data at privacy@linkwatchr.com.
• Disclosure promise. If a future version of any extension collects additional data, we will update this section and that extension's Chrome Web Store disclosures before the version is released.

11.2 DR in SERP

DR in SERP displays the Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR) of websites that appear in search engine results on Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Brave Search. It runs only on search engine result pages. Sign-in is optional; the extension is fully functional without it.

Without signing in:

• Search result domains: When you view a search results page, the extension reads the links shown on that page and looks up only the domain names of those results (e.g. example.com) through our lookup service, which retrieves each domain's Domain Rating from a shared cache or from the public Ahrefs API (api.ahrefs.com). These lookups contain no search query, no page URL, and no account identity. The domain-to-rating results are stored in a shared cache that contains no user data of any kind. Ahrefs' handling of rating requests is governed by the Ahrefs privacy policy.
• Local cache: Retrieved ratings are cached in your browser's extension storage for up to 30 days to reduce network requests. This data never leaves your device.

When you sign in (optional), we additionally store, linked to your account: the result domains you have seen, their Domain Rating at the time, the search engine used, the search query that produced the results, and timestamps — the data that powers your searchable, exportable history dashboard and cross-device sync. You can sign out at any time to stop all collection.

11.3 AI Backlink Placement Finder

AI Backlink Placement Finder helps link builders find where and how to place a backlink on the web page they are viewing. The user opens a page, provides the URL of the page they want to link to, and receives one AI-generated placement suggestion: the insertion point quoted from the page, ready-to-paste content written in the page's style, and anchor text. Sign-in is required to generate placements, because the free tier (10 placements per month) is enforced per account.

• Page access: The extension reads a page only when you invoke it on that page (by clicking the toolbar icon), or on pages you visit after you explicitly enable "Allow reading pages" so the panel can follow you between tabs. You can revoke that permission at any time from the extension's details page in your browser. The extension never modifies web pages.
• Page content: When you request a placement, the extension reads the readable text of the current page (headings, paragraphs, lists) and sends it to our backend together with the target URL and any optional inputs you typed (anchor text, your idea, owner guidelines). Our backend uses an AI service to generate your suggestion from this text. Page content is processed to generate the suggestion and is not stored as raw page text.
• Target pages: Our backend fetches the target URL you provide to understand what it contains. If the target site blocks our server, the extension asks your permission to read that one page through your browser in a background tab instead.
• Placement history: Each successful suggestion is saved to your account so your dashboard can show it: the source page URL, the target URL, your optional inputs, the generated suggestion, and a timestamp.

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12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be posted on this page with an updated "Last updated" date. Continued use of the Service after a change constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

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13. Contact Us

Questions about this Privacy Policy? Email us at privacy@linkwatchr.com.