RankPros Privacy Policy

Introduction

Welcome to our product review website, rankpros.net (the “Site”). We value your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, share, and safeguard information when you visit or interact with our Site, which is operated from Monterey Park, California, USA. We monetize our content through affiliate links and advertising (including Google Ads), and we strive to ensure our practices comply with all applicable U.S. state and federal privacy laws. By using our Site, you agree to the practices described in this Privacy Policy.

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us using the information provided in the Contact Us section below.
 

Information We Do Not Collect Directly

No Direct User Submissions: We do not collect personal information from you through forms, account registrations, newsletter sign-ups, comment sections, or any other direct input on our Site. In other words, we do not ask you to provide your name, email address, phone number, financial information, or any other personally identifying details in order to use our Site. We also do not knowingly collect any sensitive personal information (such as social security numbers, financial account details, health information, or biometric data).

No User Transactions on Our Site: Our Site does not handle direct sales of products or services. Any purchases you make as a result of clicking on affiliate links on our Site are completed on third-party websites (e.g., retailers like Best Buy, Walmart, Home Depot, etc.), not on our Site. Thus, we do not collect payment information or shipping details. Any information you provide to those third-party sites is governed by their respective privacy policies.

Voluntary Contact: The only personal information we might receive directly is if you choose to contact us via email. If you email us at our provided contact address, we will receive your email address and any other information you choose to include in your message. We will use that information solely to respond to your inquiry and will not add it to any mailing list or use it for marketing.

Sensitive Personal Information (SPI): We do not intentionally collect or use SPI.
 

Information We Collect Automatically

Although we do not collect personal data through user-provided forms, certain information is collected automatically when you visit our Site, primarily through cookies and similar technologies (explained in the next section). This information may include:

• Device and Usage Information: We (or our third-party analytics and advertising partners) automatically receive and record information from your browser or device when you visit our Site. This can include your IP address, browser type, operating system, device type, device identifiers, and browsing actions (such as the pages or products you view, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on each page, and the referring URL that led you to our Site). This data is generally used in aggregate form to analyze trends and improve our website and is not used by us to identify you personally. For example, we use Google Analytics to gather such usage statistics (see Analytics below).

• Cookies and Similar Tracking Technologies: Our Site uses cookies, which are small text files stored on your browser, and related technologies like web beacons and pixels, to automatically collect certain information. Cookies help us understand how visitors use our Site and support our affiliate marketing and advertising functions. Please see Cookies and Tracking Technologies below for more detail on our use of cookies.

Importantly, the information collected automatically (such as IP address or device info) may be considered “personal information” under some privacy laws (e.g., California’s privacy laws) when it can reasonably be linked to a particular consumer or household. We handle such identifiers in accordance with applicable law, as described in this Policy. However, we do not link this automatically-collected data to your name or other identifying details, since we do not collect those directly.
 

Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We and our third-party partners use cookies and similar tracking technologies to enhance your experience, analyze traffic, and support our advertising and affiliate programs. Below is an overview of how we use cookies and what choices you have:

• What Are Cookies: Cookies are small data files placed on your device when you visit a website. They serve various functions, like remembering your preferences and recognizing you upon return visits. Some cookies are session cookies (which expire when you close your browser) and others are persistent cookies (which remain on your device for a set period or until deleted).

• Types of Cookies We Use: The Site and our partners may use the following categories of cookies:

  • Essential Cookies: These are necessary for the Site to function correctly (e.g., to load pages or ensure security). We use Wix (our website hosting platform) which may employ certain essential cookies for website operation and performance.

  • Analytics Cookies: We use Google Analytics to collect information about how visitors use the Site. Google Analytics uses first-party cookies to track visitor interactions. This helps us compile reports and improve the Site. For example, Google Analytics may collect your truncated IP address, browser type, and pages visited. We have configured Google Analytics not to collect any personally identifiable information. Google provides an opt-out browser add-on if you wish to prevent your data from being used by Google Analytics. (See Analytics below for more details.)

  • Advertising Cookies: We display advertisements on our Site through Google AdSense and possibly other advertising networks. These ads may use cookies to enable personalized advertising (ads tailored to your interests based on your browsing history) or contextual advertising (ads based on the content of the page). Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user’s prior visits to our website or other websites. Google’s use of advertising cookies (such as the DoubleClick cookie) enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to our Site and/or other sites on the Internet. For example, if you’ve visited sites about electronics, you might see electronics-related ads on our Site. These cookies do not give us personally identifiable information about you; rather, they may log an anonymous identifier to track that an ad has been shown to you.

  • Affiliate Tracking Cookies: Our Site participates in affiliate marketing programs with various retailers (such as Best Buy, Walmart, Home Depot, and others). When you click on an affiliate link on our Site (for example, a “Buy Now” or “Learn More” button that leads to a retailer’s product page), a cookie may be placed on your browser by the retailer or affiliate program to track that you were referred from our Site. This cookie allows the retailer to attribute any purchases you make to our affiliate account so we can earn a commission. These affiliate cookies typically have a limited duration (e.g., a few days) and do not provide us with personally identifiable information about you. They simply let the retailer know that a visitor from our Site (identified by an anonymous cookie ID) made a purchase. We do not see your personal details from these transactions. (For instance, if you click a Best Buy affiliate link and buy something, Best Buy’s system notes that our affiliate ID referred the sale, but we do not receive your name or payment info.)

• Third-Party Tracking and Data Use: We do not have direct access to or control over the cookies and tracking technologies that third-party services (like Google or affiliate partners) use on our Site, beyond choosing to implement their services. For example, our advertising partners and affiliate program partners may themselves use cookies or pixel tags to track impressions, clicks, and conversions. Any data collected by those third parties is subject to their own privacy policies. However, we require that our partners not collect any directly identifying personal information via our Site without appropriate consent. We also honor any contractual obligations with these partners to ensure data is used lawfully.

• Your Choices – Managing Cookies: You have the right to decide whether to accept or reject cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies or alert you when cookies are being sent. Please note that disabling certain cookies (especially essential ones) may affect the functionality of our Site. For instance, if you disable all cookies, some features (like remembering preferences or participating in affiliate programs) may not work properly. Each browser is a little different, so check your browser’s Help menu for instructions on how to manage your cookies or visit an informational site like AllAboutCookies.org for guidance.

• Opting Out of Personalized Ads: If you prefer not to receive personalized ads from Google or other participating ad networks, you have options to opt out. Users may opt out of Google’s personalized advertising by visiting Google’s Ads Settings. You can also opt out of certain third-party vendors’ use of cookies for personalized advertising by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative’s opt-out page or the Digital Advertising Alliance’s opt-out portal. (These are industry organizations that allow you to see which advertising cookies are on your browser and choose to disable them.) Keep in mind that even if you opt out of personalized ads, you may still see ads – they just may be less relevant to your interests.
   

How We Use the Information We Collect

We use the information collected, both automatically and (if applicable) manually, for the following purposes:

• To Operate and Improve the Site: We process usage data (via analytics) to understand how our Site is used and to make improvements. For example, we look at aggregate metrics like page views, time on site, and popular content in order to optimize our articles and site navigation. This helps us create a better user experience and develop content that our readers find useful.

• To Display Advertisements: We use information like device identifiers, cookies, and browsing data to facilitate the serving of ads on our Site. This includes allowing third-party ad networks (like Google AdSense) to show you ads that may be relevant based on your prior browsing. We do not decide which specific ads you see – that is done by our ad partners – but we allow them to tailor the advertising to make it more relevant for you. Revenue from these ads helps support our Site.

• To Facilitate Affiliate Partnerships: When you click affiliate links, we use the embedded cookies to ensure that our partner retailers recognize our referral. We may receive reports from affiliate programs that tell us, in aggregate, about actions taken (for example, how many purchases were made after users clicked a certain product link). We use this information to gauge the effectiveness of our content and affiliate links. It also allows us to earn commissions that fund our Site. We do not use affiliate click information to profile you; it is used solely for tracking and revenue attribution purposes.

• To Communicate with You: If you contact us (for example, by sending us an email), we will use your email address and any information you provide to respond to you. We may keep a record of such correspondence (including your contact info and message) for our records and to help address any follow-up issues or inquiries. We will not use this information for marketing or share it with others beyond what is necessary to respond to your request.

• To Ensure Security and Prevent Fraud: We may use automatically-collected data such as IP addresses and browser information to help diagnose technical problems, defend our Site against malicious attacks, and prevent fraudulent use of our services. For instance, we may check log files to filter out spam or attacks (our hosting provider may log IP addresses for security monitoring). This is a standard practice to protect the integrity of websites.

• To Comply with Legal Obligations: If we are required by law to retain or disclose certain information, we will do so. For example, we may use or disclose information to satisfy applicable laws, regulations, legal processes, or enforceable governmental requests (such as responding to a court order), or to investigate or assist in preventing security or legal issues (such as fraud). In general, because we collect minimal personal data, these circumstances are rare, but we include this for completeness.

We do not use personal data for any purposes other than those described above. In particular, we do not sell your personal information to data brokers or engage in email marketing, telemarketing, or unsolicited advertising directed at individuals, since we do not collect contact information via the Site.
 

How We Share or Disclose Information

We understand the importance of keeping your information private. We do not sell or rent your personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. However, we do share certain information with third parties in the following contexts:

• Service Providers: We may share data with third-party service providers or vendors who perform services on our behalf. This includes companies that provide website hosting (e.g., Wix), analytics services (e.g., Google Analytics), and advertising networks (e.g., Google AdSense). These service providers have access to information (like your IP address or cookie identifiers) only to the extent necessary to perform their functions, and they are contractually obligated to handle such information confidentially and securely. For example, Google Analytics may process usage data for us, but cannot use it for their own unrelated purposes under their terms.

• Affiliate Program Partners: When you click an affiliate link and are redirected to a merchant’s site (such as Best Buy, Walmart, Home Depot, or any other company with whom we have an affiliate relationship), the fact that you came from our Site is shared with that merchant. This occurs via the affiliate tracking URL or cookie. We do not directly provide the merchant with your personal information; the process is automated by the affiliate network or program. We may receive from the merchant or affiliate network basic information about transactions (e.g., an anonymized order number and purchase amount for commission calculation), but these reports do not include your personal details. The affiliate partners require this data sharing to properly credit us for referrals, which is a commercial purpose as part of our business model. All such partners are expected to handle your information in accordance with their privacy policies. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any site you visit via affiliate link.

• Advertising Partners: As noted, third-party advertisers (including Google and possibly others) will receive certain information when they serve ads on our Site. They may receive or set their own cookies, and see your device identifiers, IP address, and information about your interaction with the ad. This sharing happens when ads are loaded on our pages. We may also allow third-party ad networks to serve non-personalized ads to California residents who have opted out of personalized advertising, in which case contextual information (like page content) is shared instead of behavioral data. We ensure that any such partners are part of established advertising privacy frameworks. You can opt out of many ad networks as described in Cookies and Tracking above.

• Legal Compliance and Protection: We may disclose information about you if required to do so by law or legal process (such as a subpoena or court order), or if we have a good-faith belief that such disclosure is necessary to (i) investigate, prevent, or take action regarding suspected or actual illegal activities or to assist law enforcement; (ii) enforce our Site’s Terms of Use or other agreements; (iii) investigate and defend ourselves against any third-party claims or allegations; (iv) protect the security or integrity of our Site; or (v) exercise or protect the rights, property, or safety of our company, our users, or others. In these cases, we would only provide the information required and, whenever possible, with notice to affected users (if any).

• Business Transfers: In the event our business is involved in a merger, acquisition, sale of assets, or other corporate transaction, user information (which in our case is minimal) may be transferred as part of that deal. We will ensure that any successor entity honors the commitments we have made in this Privacy Policy with respect to your personal information, or we will notify you and seek any required consents. For instance, if the Site is sold to another company, the information (such as historical analytics data or affiliate referral records) would likely be transferred to the new owner so they can continue operating the site. We will provide notice on the Site of any such change in ownership or data transfer, as required by law.

Importantly, we do not sell personal information for monetary consideration. We also do not share personal information with third parties for their own direct marketing. Note, however, that under certain privacy laws (like the California Consumer Privacy Act or “CCPA”), allowing third-party advertising cookies on our Site could be deemed a “sale” or “sharing” of personal information because it involves transferring data (like cookie IDs and browsing behavior) to third parties in exchange for services or other value. We want to be transparent that while we do not sell data in the traditional sense (for money), some data collected on our Site is shared with advertising partners to enable personalized ads, and this might fall under the broad definitions of “sale” or “share” in privacy laws. See Your Privacy Rights below for how you can opt out of such practices if you wish.
 

Advertising and Affiliate Links

Our Site uses advertising and contains affiliate links in order to generate revenue. We want to clarify how these work and what they mean for your data and privacy:

Google AdSense Advertising: We display Google AdSense ads on our pages. As required by Google’s policies, we inform you that: Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to our Site or other websites. Google’s use of advertising cookies (such as the DoubleClick cookie) enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to our Site and/or other sites on the Internet. In other words, if you’ve been browsing other websites, Google may use that history (if you haven’t opted out) to show relevant ads when you visit our Site. Users may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google’s Ads Settings page. Alternatively, you can opt out of some third-party vendors’ use of cookies for personalized ads by visiting the industry opt-out sites (such as aboutads.info). We have not enabled any Google feature that involves sharing personally identifiable information with advertisers. We also have the option in AdSense to allow or block certain ad categories or networks; while we may allow Google to optimize ad delivery (meaning a variety of advertisers can bid to show ads), all are subject to Google’s policies and the information shared is limited to what’s described in Cookies above.

If we allow third-party ad networks via AdSense or directly, we will update this policy to list those partners. Currently, our primary ad partner is Google. Google may collect certain information directly from your browser as ads are served (for example, by using their own web beacons). Please refer to Google’s Privacy Policy for more details on how they handle data. We comply with Google’s requirement to obtain consent for cookies where applicable and to disclose this information to you.

Affiliate Links Disclosure: Some of the links on our Site are “affiliate links,” which means we earn a commission if you click the link and subsequently make a purchase or take a qualifying action on the third-party site. We participate in affiliate programs with several companies, including but not limited to Best Buy, Walmart, Home Depot, and potentially others. These affiliate programs are a way for us to monetize our product reviews and other content. When you click an affiliate link, a cookie is placed on your browser to track that click and any resulting purchase. This tracking is necessary for the merchant to know that our Site referred you. The cookies used for affiliate tracking do not reveal personal details about you to us; they only inform the merchant that a visitor from our Site (identified by a cookie ID) made a purchase or other action. For example, if we link to a product on Walmart’s site, and you purchase it, we may get a small commission, but Walmart would only report to us something like “a purchase of $X occurred, via affiliate link ID #12345,” without telling us who you are.

We are required by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to disclose our affiliate relationships to you. While this section primarily covers privacy, we also want to be clear: we have a financial incentive when you use our affiliate links. However, this does not affect the price you pay or the independence of our product reviews. We choose products to review or recommend based on our own research, not because of the commission. Affiliate commissions simply help support the operation of our Site.

Each affiliate program has its own privacy policy. For instance, if you go to Best Buy’s site, their privacy policy will govern the data you provide there. We encourage you to read the privacy notices of any external sites you visit through our links. We are not responsible for how those third-party sites handle your data, but we aim only to partner with reputable companies that respect consumer privacy. We do not share any more data with these partners than described: essentially, the act of clicking the link itself, and the information that you completed a transaction, are the extents of data exchange from our side.

If you have questions about our use of affiliate links or want more information on which specific companies we have affiliate relationships with, you can contact us. We can provide a current list of affiliate programs upon request.
 

Analytics (Google Analytics)

We use Google Analytics on our Site, which is a web analytics service provided by Google LLC. Google Analytics helps us understand how users find and use our Site. It operates via cookies and similar technologies to collect information such as: how often users visit, what pages they visit, and what other sites they came from prior to visiting our Site. Google Analytics collects the IP address assigned to you on the date you visit (and possibly general location information inferred from the IP, such as city or region), as well as technical data like browser type and operating system. Importantly, Google Analytics does not give us information that personally identifies you, and we do not combine the analytics information with any personally identifiable information.

We have configured Google Analytics to respect privacy to the extent possible. For example, we may have IP anonymization enabled, which means Google truncates the last octet of your IP address before storing it (this reduces the precision of any geolocation). We also honor any settings we can to prevent the collection of unnecessary data. Google Analytics data is used in aggregate form for site improvement.

Google’s Use of Data: Google may use the data collected via Analytics for its own purposes (e.g., improving its services). You can review Google’s privacy practices in the Google Privacy Policy. Google is prohibited from sharing your analytics data with others except under certain circumstances (like if required by law).

Your Choices for Google Analytics: If you do not want Google Analytics to be used in your browser, you can install the official Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-on. This instructs Google Analytics JavaScript not to send information. You can also disable or delete cookies (as discussed earlier) to prevent tracking, but note that if you visit multiple sites that use Google Analytics, opting out is more efficient via the browser add-on.

We may also occasionally use other analytics or tracking tools (for example, built-in Wix analytics or similar), but at this time, Google Analytics is our primary analytics tool. We will update this policy if we introduce new analytics services that collect data.
 

Your Privacy Rights (California and Other U.S. State Laws)

We are committed to complying with the privacy laws of all U.S. states in which we operate or where our Site is accessible. Various states have enacted comprehensive privacy laws providing rights to their residents regarding personal information. This section describes those rights and how you can exercise them. While these rights specifically apply to residents of certain states, we will extend similar controls to all users of our Site in the United States, as a matter of transparency and fairness.

California Privacy Rights (CCPA/CPRA)

If you are a California resident, you have specific rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) of 2018, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) of 2020. These rights (effective as of January 1, 2023, with CPRA amendments) include:

• Right to Know: You have the right to request that we disclose what personal information we collect, use, disclose, and sell or share about you. This includes the specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you in the 12 months prior to your request, as well as the categories of personal information, the categories of sources of that information, the business or commercial purposes for collecting (or sharing) it, and the categories of third parties with whom we disclose that information. Essentially, you can ask for a report of the data we have about you and how it’s handled.

• Right to Delete: You have the right to request deletion of personal information we have collected from you and retained, subject to certain exceptions. Once we receive and confirm a verifiable consumer request, we will delete (and instruct our service providers to delete) your personal information from our records, unless an exception applies. Note that we may deny deletion requests if the information is necessary for us or our service providers to, for example, complete a transaction you initiated, detect security incidents, comply with legal obligations, or other reasons permitted by law.

• Right to Correct: Under the CPRA, California residents have the right to request correction of inaccurate personal information maintained about them. However, since we do not maintain user profiles or detailed personal records (and generally collect minimal personal info), this right will rarely apply. If you believe we hold inaccurate information about you (for instance, if you contacted us and we have a record of your name or email spelled incorrectly), you may request that we correct it.

• Right to Opt-Out of Sale or Sharing: You have the right to opt out of the sale of your personal information or the sharing of your personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. As noted, we do not sell personal data for money. However, we do share certain identifiers (like cookies) with third-party advertising networks to enable personalized ads, which may be considered a “sale” or “sharing” under California law. If you want to opt out of such data sharing for targeted advertising, you can do so by utilizing browser-based signals (like the Global Privacy Control (GPC)) or by contacting us as described below. We honor Global Privacy Control signals in browsers set to California mode: if we detect a GPC signal, we will treat it as a valid opt-out of sale/sharing request for that browser. You can also opt out by using the cookie management methods described earlier (e.g., turning off advertising cookies). Additionally, if we ever have a “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” link on our Site (as required for larger businesses), you can click that as well. Since our Site is small and does not have user accounts, the most straightforward way to opt out is by adjusting cookie preferences or contacting us.

• Right to Limit Use of Sensitive Personal Information: This right applies if a business collects “sensitive personal information” (like precise geolocation, social security number, etc.) and uses it for purposes beyond what is necessary to provide the goods or services. We do not collect or use sensitive personal information of users in the way defined by law, so this right is not applicable in our case. If that changes, we will update this policy and provide a mechanism to limit use of sensitive data.

• Right to Non-Discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA rights. This means we will not deny you goods or services, charge you different prices, or provide a different level of quality because you exercised your rights. For clarity, our Site is free for all users, and exercising privacy rights will not change that. If you opt out of personalized ads, for example, you will still have access to all content; you’ll just see non-personalized ads or possibly the same ads with less relevance.

How to Exercise California Rights: If you are a California resident and would like to exercise any of the above rights, you (or your authorized agent) can submit a verifiable consumer request to us by emailing us at rankpros-team@rankpros.net with the subject line “California Privacy Rights Request” and letting us know which right(s) you wish to exercise. You may also send your request by mail to our postal address provided in Contact Us below (please include attention to “Privacy Compliance”).

For your protection, we will need to verify your identity before fulfilling your request. Since we generally do not collect directly identifying information, verification can be challenging – we might ask you to provide certain information such as the IP address and date of a recent visit to our Site, or details about your interactions (e.g., which product pages you viewed) that only we would know, to match against our records. We will only use the information you provide in a request to verify and fulfill your request, not for any other purpose.

If you use an authorized agent to submit a request, we may require proof of the agent’s authorization (for example, a signed permission from you). For a request for deletion or knowledge by an authorized agent, we may also require you to verify your own identity directly with us (unless the agent has power of attorney).

We aim to respond to verifiable requests within 45 days as required by law. If we need more time (up to an additional 45 days), we will inform you of the reason and extension in writing. Our response will explain the actions we took or could not take, along with any relevant reasons. For data portability requests (right to know in a portable format), we will provide the information in a readily usable format (generally, this will be a PDF or Word document via email). We do not charge a fee to process or respond to your verifiable consumer request unless it is excessive, repetitive, or manifestly unfounded, in which case we will inform you of the reason for refusing or any fee.

Categories of Personal Information Collected and Disclosed (California Notice at Collection): The CCPA requires that we disclose the categories of personal information we collect and how we share it. In the past 12 months, we have collected (through automated means as described above) the following categories of personal information about visitors to our Site:

1. Identifiers: Such as IP address, cookie ID, or other online identifiers (but not name, email, or postal address, since we don’t collect those from website visitors).

   • Sources: Collected automatically from your interactions with the Site (through cookies, server logs, and analytics scripts).

   • Purpose of Collection: To enable site functionality, analytics, and personalized advertising.

   • Disclosure: Shared with service providers (e.g., Wix, Google Analytics) and third parties like Google for ads. Not sold for money, but as noted, sharing with ad networks could be deemed a “sale” under CCPA’s broad definition. We offer opt-out from this sharing as described above.

2. Internet or Other Electronic Network Activity: Such as browsing history on our Site, pages viewed, clicks on affiliate links, and interaction with ads.

   • Sources: Collected automatically via cookies, analytics, and ad tracking pixels when you use our Site.

   • Purpose: To understand engagement with our content, measure affiliate program performance, and serve relevant advertisements.

   • Disclosure: Shared with our analytics provider (Google Analytics) in aggregated form and with advertising partners (Google AdSense, etc.) for ad delivery. Also, a subset (affiliate click information) is shared with merchants’ affiliate tracking systems when you click links. Again, this may be considered a form of “sharing” for behavioral advertising purposes under CPRA.

3. Geolocation Data: We do not collect precise GPS location, but we may infer general location (city, state) from your IP address for analytics (e.g., to know what regions our traffic comes from).

   • Sources: Derived from IP address via Google Analytics or our server logs.

   • Purpose: To analyze site usage geographically and ensure content relevance (e.g., if most users are in the U.S., we tailor content accordingly).

   • Disclosure: Shared with Google Analytics (we see aggregated location data in reports). Not shared at a personal level beyond that.

4. Commercial Information: We do not collect information about personal purchases or transactions on our Site (since we don’t sell anything directly). We may know that, for example, “an anonymous user bought a product on BestBuy.com after clicking our link,” but we don’t know who, what exact item specifically (unless it’s embedded in the affiliate report), or any payment details. So this category is mostly not applicable to us, aside from such anonymized affiliate conversion info.

5. Professional, Education, or Employment Information: Not collected.

6. Sensitive Personal Information (as defined under CPRA): Not collected. We do not collect social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, financial account info, precise geolocation, racial or ethnic origin, genetic data, biometric data, health data, or data about sex life or sexual orientation. Our Site’s content and business model have no need for this information.

For each category above that we collect, we collect it for “business purposes” (as defined by CCPA) such as maintaining and securing the Site, measuring analytics, showing ads, and facilitating affiliate commissions. We disclose these categories for business purposes to service providers (like hosting and analytics providers) who are bound by contracts to protect your data and use it only for our purposes, and in some cases to “third parties” like ad networks where not operating as our service providers. We do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of consumers under 16 years of age. In fact, we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16 at all (see Children’s Privacy below).
 

Other U.S. State Privacy Rights (Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, etc.)

Several other states have enacted privacy laws that confer rights similar to California’s, though with some differences in terminology and scope. These include:

• Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA) – effective January 1, 2023.

• Colorado Privacy Act (CPA) – effective July 1, 2023.

• Connecticut Data Privacy Act (CTDPA) – effective July 1, 2023.

• Utah Consumer Privacy Act (UCPA) – effective December 31, 2023.

• Iowa, Indiana, Tennessee, Montana, Texas, etc. – (Other states have passed laws effective in 2024 or 2025; we are monitoring developments to ensure compliance as they come into force.)

If you are a resident of one of these states, you may have some or all of the following rights (in most cases these laws apply to larger businesses meeting certain thresholds, but we are voluntarily extending rights):

• Right to Confirm and Access: You can request confirmation whether we are processing your personal data and to access such data. This is similar to California’s right to know/access. We will provide you with a summary of what personal data of yours we have, if any, and the purposes, sources, and third-party disclosures.

• Right to Correct: You may request correction of inaccuracies in your personal data, taking into account its nature and purposes of processing. As noted, because we collect very limited data and largely in pseudonymous form (cookie IDs, etc.), there may not be much to correct. But if you believe something like an IP address or location tied to you is recorded incorrectly and can be corrected, we will attempt to do so.

• Right to Delete: You may request deletion of personal data that we have collected from you. Our process would be similar to that described under California’s rights. We will delete what we can identify as belonging to you (which, again, might be limited to cookie-based or IP-based data). Some data, like web server logs, may be difficult to isolate by individual without additional information; we will work with you to identify data to delete if possible.

• Right to Data Portability: Where applicable, you may have the right to obtain a portable copy of personal data you provided to us. Since we do not have user accounts or collect data like photographs or documents from you, this is generally not applicable. However, if you request it, we can export any data we have about you that is feasible to compile (for example, a compilation of analytics records associated with your IP or device, to the extent we can gather that).

• Right to Opt Out of Certain Processing: You have the right to opt out of the processing of your personal data for purposes of (i) targeted advertising, (ii) the sale of personal data, or (iii) profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects. Let’s break that down:

  • Targeted Advertising: This is analogous to the discussion above about personalized ads. If you are in a state like Virginia or Colorado, you can opt out of targeted advertising. We will treat any opt-out of sale (as described for California) or any Do Not Track/Global Privacy Control signal as a request to opt out of targeted advertising as well. You can also contact us to request this. Essentially, we will stop any data sharing for advertising that could be deemed targeted advertising. In practice, we would likely switch Google AdSense to non-personalized ads for your visits (if possible) or instruct you on how to block cookies, since we do not have a user-specific advertising profile to remove beyond that.

  • Sale of Personal Data: We already do not sell data for money, and we extend an opt-out of any potential “sale” as broadly defined (similar to CCPA). So if you are in these states, consider our opt-out mechanism (cookie management or contacting us) as covering this right.

  • Profiling: We do not engage in profiling that has legal or similarly significant effects (like credit worthiness, job offers, etc.). Our profiling (if any) is limited to advertising and content personalization, which does not have such effects. Nevertheless, if you have concerns about profiling, you may contact us to discuss or opt out.

• Right to Appeal: If we decline to take action on a request you submit (for example, if we cannot verify your identity or we believe an exemption applies), you have the right to appeal our decision. You may do so by replying to our response email and stating that you are appealing the decision, or by sending a new email to us (same contact) indicating that you are lodging an appeal. We will review the appeal (someone other than the initial reviewer will handle it, if possible) and respond within the time frame required by your state law (generally 45 days). If we deny your appeal, we will provide you with an explanation and information on how you may contact your state’s Attorney General or appropriate authority to lodge a further complaint (for example, Virginia residents can contact the Virginia Attorney General’s Office).

We will not discriminate against you for exercising these rights, in line with all state laws.

As required by the Colorado Privacy Act, we honor Universal Opt-Out Mechanisms, such as the Global Privacy Control (GPC), as a valid request from Colorado residents to opt out of the sale of personal data and its use for targeted advertising.  

Scope and Applicability: These state privacy laws generally apply to businesses that meet certain revenue or data volume thresholds. Our Site is a small business operation, and we may not be legally required to comply with all provisions of every state law. However, we believe in respecting your privacy and are proactively providing you with these rights and disclosures. If any state law does not apply to us, we may treat a request from a resident of that state on a good-faith basis as if it did apply.

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Types of Personal Information We Collect and How We Use It

1. Identifiers
   Examples: Name, email, IP address, device ID, cookie ID

   • How we collect it: From you directly (e.g., forms/comments) and automatically via Wix, Google Analytics, ad networks, and affiliate links.

   • Why we collect it: To respond to inquiries, run and secure the site, improve performance, show personalized ads, and track affiliate sales.

   • Shared with: Wix, Google, advertising and affiliate partners

   • Sold or Shared? Yes (IP addresses and cookies)

2. Internet or Online Activity
   Examples: Browsing history, clicks, search behavior, affiliate link interactions

   • How we collect it: Automatically through Wix, Google Analytics, ad networks, and affiliate networks

   • Why we collect it: To improve the site, personalize ads, track affiliate performance, and monitor security

   • Shared with: Wix, Google, advertising and affiliate partners

   • Sold or Shared? Yes

3. Geolocation Data
   Example: Approximate location from IP address

   • How we collect it: Automatically from Wix and Google Analytics

   • Why we collect it: For location-based analytics and showing local ads

   • Shared with: Wix, Google, advertising partners

   • Sold or Shared? Yes

4. Commercial Information
   Examples: Products you view or buy through affiliate links

   • How we collect it: Automatically via affiliate networks

   • Why we collect it: To track affiliate sales and understand which products are popular

   • Shared with: Affiliate partners

   • Sold or Shared? Yes

5. Inferences from Other Data
   Examples: Profiles built from your activity (like your preferences or interests)

   • How we collect it: Automatically by ad networks and analytics tools

   • Why we collect it: To personalize advertising and recommend products

   • Shared with: Advertising partners

   • Sold or Shared? Yes

6. Sensitive Personal Information (SPI)
   Example: Exact location (GPS), if ever provided

   • How we collect it: We don’t intentionally collect SPI. If you give it to us (e.g., in a comment), it may be collected.

   • Why we collect it: We don’t use it in any way that triggers the California “Limit” opt-out rule

   • Shared with: Not applicable

   • Sold or Shared? No

 

Children’s Privacy

Our website and its content are intended for a general audience and are not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 years old. No one under age 13 should provide any personal information to or on the Site. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are under 13, please do not use or access this Site with the intention to provide any information about yourself. In the event that we learn that we have inadvertently collected personal information from a child under 13 (for example, if a child sends us an email), we will promptly delete that information from our records.

If you are a parent or guardian and you believe that your child under 13 may have provided personal information to us, please contact us immediately (see Contact Us below). We will work to delete the information as soon as possible.

For teens between 13 and 16: Our Site is available to users of all ages, but if you are under 16, you should use our Site only with parental consent and supervision. We do not knowingly “sell” the personal information of consumers under 16 (as that term is defined under California law), and we do not have any content that would fall under the protections of laws like the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) other than as stated above.
 

Data Security

We take the security of your information seriously and implement reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect it from unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures include using secure hosting infrastructure, encryption of data transmissions where appropriate (our Site is served over HTTPS, which encrypts data in transit), and limiting access to personal data (which is minimal to begin with) to those who need it. For example, our Google Analytics data is protected by Google’s security and is accessible only via accounts that require authentication. Our affiliate and advertising accounts also have security measures to prevent unauthorized logins. We also regularly update our website platform (Wix) and any plugins or integrations to apply the latest security patches.

However, please note that no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee absolute security. Cyber threats evolve, and despite our efforts, there is always a risk of a security incident. In the unlikely event of a data breach that affects your personal information, we will comply with all applicable breach notification laws. Given that we store very limited personal data, a breach is most likely to involve technical data (like IP addresses or cookie IDs) and not sensitive personal details.

You also play a role in protecting your information. Because we do not have user accounts, the primary thing you can do is ensure you secure your own devices and networks (use strong passwords, run antivirus software, etc.) and be cautious when clicking external links (including those on our Site) – we only link to reputable sites, but practicing general safe browsing is always wise.
 

Do Not Track Signals

“Do Not Track” (DNT) is a preference you can set in your web browser to inform websites that you do not want to be tracked. However, there is currently no uniform standard for how websites should respond to DNT signals, and we (like many websites) do not currently respond to these signals in any special way. In other words, if you enable DNT on your browser, our Site will still deploy cookies and collect information as described above. We are waiting for the industry and regulators to establish a consensus on how to interpret DNT signals.

In the meantime, if you do not wish to be tracked via cookies, please use the opt-out options we described in the Cookies and Tracking section (such as adjusting your browser settings to block cookies or using the Google Analytics opt-out). Those methods will be more effective in limiting tracking than DNT alone. We will update this Privacy Policy if our practices around DNT change in the future.
 

Third-Party Links and Services

Our Site contains links to third-party websites, including links to merchant sites via affiliate programs and possibly links to social media or other content. This Privacy Policy does not apply to information collected on those external sites. Once you leave our Site or are redirected to a third-party website or application (for example, by clicking an affiliate link to a retailer or clicking an advertisement that takes you to the advertiser’s site), you are no longer governed by our Privacy Policy or our Terms. The privacy and data collection practices of the third-party site will apply.

We are not responsible for the privacy practices of other sites. We recommend that you read the privacy statements of any third-party website that you visit, especially before providing any personal information to them.

For example, if our Site links to a “Best Product Reviews 2025” article on another blog, and you click that, any data that blog collects from you would be under its own privacy rules. Or if you go to BestBuy.com via our link, Best Buy’s privacy notice will explain how they handle your data. We do, however, aim to only partner with or reference trustworthy websites.
 

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update or revise this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technologies, legal requirements, or for other reasons. When we make changes, we will post the updated policy on this page with a new “Last Updated” date. Any changes will become effective when posted, unless otherwise required by law. In case of substantial or material changes to how we collect or use personal information, we will provide a more prominent notice (such as by posting a notice on our homepage or informing users via email if we had your contact info, which in our case we typically do not).

We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we are protecting your information. Your continued use of the Site after any changes signifies your acceptance of the updated terms.
 

Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or the way we handle your information, please do not hesitate to contact us: (preferred form of contact is our email address)

• Email: rankpros-team@rankpros.net

• Mailing Address:
  2108 N Street, STE N
  Sacramento, CA 95816 (United States)

We will do our best to respond promptly to your inquiries and to address any issues you bring to our attention. If you are contacting us to exercise a privacy right (such as those described above for California or other states), please make sure to mention that in your communication so it can be handled accordingly.

Thank you for reading our Privacy Policy. We appreciate your trust in us and are dedicated to safeguarding your privacy while you use our Site.