How to Add A Privacy Policy to Blogger, and Privacy Policy Text

NOTE: post updated November 30 2016 because of the multitude of changes to both AdSense and Blogger functionality.

Over the last 10 years, I’ve made of the Google help forums and discovered that there is a never-ending stream of questions coming into the help centers. Some quite simple, but others much more complex. What I also discovered is that help can sometimes be as simple as pointing someone to the right link in the vast network of Google help links.

I don't consider myself an "expert" on all Google's help systems, but for the most part I have learned how and where to find help when I need it. What you’ll find though, is that getting a direct answer from any person who actually works for Google is difficult, at best. And only those who qualify for direct email support can have it. The rest need to use the help forum to get answers, and the help forum has volunteers who have been using AdSense for a long time (some have been using AdSense since it first was acquired by Google, so that's a lot of knowledge just waiting for you to ask for it).

While not related to all the Google categories where you can find help, one of the issues that cropped up a lot when Privacy Policies were first a requirement was how to add it to Blogger, without having it be your first post.

Adding A Privacy Policy to A Blogger Blog

This can be done quite simply by adding the pages gadget to your blog. Pages are static (not like a blog post) and can be added as tabs across the top of your blog (the same as you see above in my menu), or can be added as a link in your sidebar.

Create your page, and copy and paste the sample privacy policy from below. Be sure you use your own blog's URL (or your website link) in the body of the privacy policy, and provide your own contact information.

If you don't want to use the pages gadget, or have too many pages already, you can create a post and "backdate" the post (use a date that is before the very first post on your blog) using the "published on" option in the post settings. When you publish that post, it will not appear in your current posts, but will be the first post on your blog ... hidden away from recent posts.

Grab the URL for that post, and then add it as a link in your sidebar, or your blog's footer, or in your own menu section. When anyone clicks on the link they'll be able to access your Privacy policy.

Either of these methods are fine, and it doesn't matter if you are using a custom domain with your blog, or if you are using a blogspot URL.

SAMPLE PRIVACY POLICY TEXT(you can copy the text below and paste it into your blog to create your own privacy policy)

Start of policy text:

Privacy Policy

We take your privacy seriously. This policy describes what personal information we collect and how we use it. (This privacy policy is applicable to websites falling under the primary holder fill in your website(s) and urls here.)

Routine Information Collection

All web servers track basic information about their visitors. This information includes, but is not limited to, IP addresses, browser details, timestamps and referring pages. None of this information can personally identify specific visitors to this site. The information is tracked for routine administration and maintenance purposes, and lets me know what pages and information are useful and helpful to visitors.

Cookies and Web Beacons

Where necessary, this site uses cookies to store information about a visitor's preferences and history in order to better serve the visitor and/or present the visitor with customized content.

Advertising partners and other third parties may also use cookies, scripts and/or web beacons to track visitors to our site in order to display advertisements and other useful information. Such tracking is done directly by the third parties through their own servers and is subject to their own privacy policies.

Controlling Your Privacy

Note that you can change your browser settings to disable cookies if you have privacy concerns. Disabling cookies for all sites is not recommended as it may interfere with your use of some sites. The best option is to disable or enable cookies on a per-site basis. Consult your browser documentation for instructions on how to block cookies and other tracking mechanisms.

Special Note About Google Advertising

Any advertisements served by Google, Inc., and affiliated companies may be controlled using cookies. These cookies allow Google to display ads based on your visits to this site and other sites that use Google advertising services. Learn how to opt out of Google's cookie usage. As mentioned above, any tracking done by Google through cookies and other mechanisms is subject to Google's own privacy policies.

About Google advertising: What is the DoubleClick DART cookie? The DoubleClick DART cookie is used by Google in the ads served on publisher websites displaying AdSense for content ads. When users visit an AdSense publisher’s website and either view or click on an ad, a cookie may be dropped on that end user’s browser. The data gathered from these cookies will be used to help AdSense publishers better serve and manage the ads on their site(s) and across the web. Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy.

Contact Information

Concerns or questions about this privacy policy can be directed to fill in your contact information here for further clarification.


End of policy text.
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On my own privacy policy, I include other useful information for my readers. The above text is required by AdSense, but if you want to take it a step further you can also add this information, or include other information related to controlling ads or privacy concerns.

I like to this that the information I included on my privacy policy is actually of some help to people - not everyone will read it, or even look at it, but there are people who want to know how their information is used, and while I may not have cookies or login requirements, Blogger and AdSense both do use cookies, and we are responsible for letting people know that.

(note that for Amendment 3, if you do receive paid promotions like free items to review, you must not claim that you aren't receiving compensation/payment when you are).

Whether or not you want to add any of these amendments to your privacy policy is up to you (in terms of what AdSense requires), but do note that the FTC requires bloggers and writers to disclose whether or not they are being paid for links on their sites.

Amendment 1:

Some third-party advertisers used by Google may use a different cookie. You may opt out of most third-party advertising cookies by following this link  and visiting the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page, or by visiting this Consumers page to opt out of all advertising cookies.

Amendment 2:

PLEASE NOTE:
Some advertisers may use cookies to serve interest based ads. You may choose to opt out of the cookies as noted in the policy below.
You may also set your browser preferences to be asked to opt in to cookies, rather than having to opt out. Each browser may have specific options available to opt out of cookies all together, to be asked first if you want to accept the cookies, or to allow cookies.  To find the instructions for your own browser, please visit "About Cookies" and select your browser for instructions.

Amendment 3:

 DISCLAIMER
This website is a personal endeavour to provide useful help/information for others. This site may from time-to-time display advertising or sponsorship, both paid and free. Any product endorsements which have paid compensation will be identified as such.
All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network. Advertisements are identified by the advertising network and where available, links are shown in the privacy policy to opt out of advertising cookies.
The owner of this site is not compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Products used in tutorials or listed here are products used by the site owner and/or have been purchased by the site owner. No endorsement fees have been paid. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider.

Amendment 4:

On some of my other websites, I also include links to helpful online security, and local laws. If you wanted to include something like this, make sure to include links to any local websites (ie: for your own country) where they list privacy, security, or copyright laws for your country.

EPIC.org
Privacy.org
CIPPIC Cdn.
Children's Online Privacy Act
Internet Privacy Laws Canada
US Privacy Laws
UK Privacy Laws
EU Privacy Laws