Website Privacy Policy
Search Experiences takes your privacy seriously. So we’ve developed a Privacy Policy that covers how we collect, use, disclose, transfer, and store your information. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with our privacy practices and let us know if you have any questions.
Information we collect and how we use it
We may collect the following types of information:
Information you provide – When you sign up for a Search Experiences Account, we ask you for personal information. We may combine the information you submit under your account with information from other Search Experiences services or third parties in order to provide you with a better experience and to improve the quality of our services. For certain services, we may give you the opportunity to opt out of combining such information.
Cookies – When you visit Search Experiences, we send one or more cookies to your computer or other device. We use cookies to improve the quality of our service, including for storing user preferences, improving search results and ad selection, and tracking user trends, such as how people search. Search Experiences also uses cookies in its advertising services to help advertisers and publishers serve and manage ads across the web and on Search Experiences services.
Log information – When you access Search Experiences services via a browser, application or other client our servers automatically record certain information. These server logs may include information such as your web request, your interaction with a service, Internet Protocol address, browser type, browser language, the date and time of your request and one or more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser or your account.
User communications – When you send email or other communications to Search Experiences, we may retain those communications in order to process your inquiries, respond to your requests and improve our services. When you send and receive SMS messages to or from one of our services that provides SMS functionality, we may collect and maintain information associated with those messages, such as the phone number, the wireless carrier associated with the phone number, the content of the message, and the date and time of the transaction. We may use your email address to communicate with you about our services.
Location-based data – To provide location-based services on Search Experiences products, Search Experiences and our partners and licensees may collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Search Experiences computer or device. This location data is collected anonymously in a form that does not personally identify you and is used by Search Experiences and our partners and licensees to provide and improve location-based products and services.
Third Party Applications – Search Experiences may make available third party applications, such as gadgets or extensions, through its services. The information collected by Search Experiences when you enable a third party application is processed under this Privacy Policy. Information collected by the third party application provider is governed by their privacy policies.
Other sites – This Privacy Policy applies to Search Experiences services only. We do not exercise control over the sites displayed as search results, sites that include Search Experiences applications, products or services, or links from within our various services. These other sites may place their own cookies or other files on your computer, collect data or solicit personal information from you.
Why we collect information
To respond to your queries with the best possible answers and search results.
To understand our users (their demographics, what they do on our website, what site features they like, how they use them, etc.) and improve our services.
To understand our users (their demographics, what they do on our website, what site features they like, how they use them, etc.) and improve our services.
To send you the Search Experiences newsletter, though you can opt out of receiving it if you wish.
To enable us to show you ads on our website and in our mobile applications that are more relevant to you.
We use cookies, pixel tags and mobile device IDs to collect and store this information.
If you register with Search Experiences, all past and future information collected about your web and mobile activity using the Search Experiences service will become part of your account information. You may prevent certain search activity from being associated with your account by signing out of your account, and we will not store your search activity on Search Experiences.
Cookies, pixel tags and mobile device IDs
A cookie is a small text file that is stored on your computer.
Search Experiences cookies enable us to recognize you (for example, as a registered user) when you visit our website and to store your preferences and settings.
Cookies from advertising companies enable them to track your activity across various sites where they display ads and record your activities, so they can show ads that they consider relevant to you.
You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most Web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to sign in or use other interactive features of Search Experiences and services that depend on cookies, and some advertising preferences that are dependent on cookies may not be able to be respected.
If you choose to accept cookies, you also have the ability to later delete cookies that you have accepted. For example, in Internet Explorer 9, you can delete cookies by selecting “Tools”, “Delete browsing history”. Then select the control box “Cookies” and click the “Delete” button. If you choose to delete cookies, any settings and preferences controlled by those cookies, including advertising preferences, will be deleted and may need to be recreated.
If you are using an Search Experiences mobile application, we use your mobile device ID number to recognize you when you use the application and to store your preferences and settings. Advertising companies may also store your mobile device ID to show ads that they consider relevant to you in various mobile services that you use.
A pixel tag (also called a web beacon or clear GIF) is a tiny graphic with a unique identifier, embedded invisibly on a webpage (or an online ad or email), and is used to count or track things like activity on a webpage or ad impressions or clicks, as well as to access cookies stored on users’ computers.
Search Experiences pixel tags are used to measure the popularity of our various pages and services.
Advertising company pixel tags are used to measure the number of ad impressions and the performance of ads on our site, and to access the advertising company’s cookies placed on your computer.
We use outside vendors to help us better understand our user demographics. They use technologies such as cookies and pixel tags in providing their services to us, but do not use them to target ads to you.
Information from children under 13
We do not knowingly collect any personally identifiable information from children under 13. If we determine that a user is under 13, we will immediately delete all information pertaining to that user.
How long we keep data about you
We anonymize your search queries after 18 months, unless government authorities request otherwise.
We retain all Search Experiences account profile information and activity other than search queries (e.g. questions to the community and answers to community questions) until you close your account.
If you close your account, we retain your username and email address to prevent others from creating a profile using the same information.
We retain all your community questions, answers and comments indefinitely. While you remain registered with us, these postings are publicly attributed to you. If you terminate your account, we no longer display your username and avatar or photo with these postings.
Third Party Information Gathering
Search Experiences contains links to other websites on the Internet. Please be aware that Search Experiences is not responsible for the information collection and use and privacy practices of such other websites and third parties. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave Search Experiences and to read the privacy statements of each and every other website that may collect their personally identifiable information. This privacy policy applies solely to information collected by us from the Search Experiences website.
We use third party companies to serve advertisements when you visit Search Experiences. These companies may use information about your visits to Search Experiences in order to provide advertisements about goods and services that may be of interest to you. In the course of serving advertisements to Search Experiences, these companies may place or recognize a unique cookie on your computer or use other technologies such as pixel tags. Our privacy policy does not cover any use of information that a third-party ad-serving company may collect from you. These companies have their own policies as to record keeping and data retention.
How you can opt out of our collection of information about you
If you want to disable the cookies placed on your computer by advertising companies that display ads on our site to prevent them from using information about you for targeting purposes, you can use the opt-out feature at http://www.networkadvertising.org/.
Security of the information we collect
We have implemented security measures to prevent unauthorized or unlawful access to and misuse of the information we collect, including technological and physical security measures as well as procedural safeguards. However, because no security system can be 100% effective, we cannot completely guarantee the security of any information we may have collected from or about you. If you are asked to select a password to access a Search Experiences Service, you should select a password that contains a combination of letters, numbers and non-alphanumeric characters (for example, %, $ and &) and avoid dictionary words. In addition, you should not use the same password that you use for other business or personal accounts.
Government Authorities and Legal Rights
If requested or required by government authorities, such as law enforcement authorities, courts, or regulators, or otherwise to comply with the law, we may disclose any information we have about our users or modify other practices described in this policy, such as how long and in what form we keep information. We also may disclose information collected about you in order to exercise or protect legal rights or defend against legal claims.
International Users
Information you provide may be transferred or accessed by entities around the world as described in this Privacy Policy. Search Experiences processes personal information on our servers in the United States of America and in other countries. In some cases, we process personal information outside your own country. By using our website, you consent to our collection and use of your data as described in this privacy policy. Search Experiences abides by the “safe harbor” framework set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information collected by organizations in the European Economic Area and Switzerland.
Mergers; Business Transitions
In the event Search Experiences goes through a business transition, such as a merger, being acquired by another company, or selling a portion of its assets that involve Search Experiences, the information we collect from Search Experiences will, in most instances, be transferred to the third party as part of the assets.
Our Companywide Commitment to Your Privacy
To make sure your personal information is secure, we communicate our privacy and security guidelines to Search Experiences employees and strictly enforce privacy safeguards within the company.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We will occasionally update this privacy policy to reflect changes in our services and customer feedback. When we post changes to this Policy, we will revise the “last updated” date at the top of this policy. If there are material changes to this policy or in how Search Experiences will use your personal information, we will notify you either by prominently posting a notice of such changes prior to implementing the change or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to periodically review this policy to be informed of how Search Experiences is protecting your information.
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