What Is A Privacy Policy URL? 

Platforms that collect user data need a privacy policy. It is vital to post this policy somewhere prominent on your website to effectively communicate it to your users. You can do this through a uniform resource locator (URL). After reading your policy, customers can decide whether they want to interact with your website or application.

Keep reading to learn the definition of a privacy policy URL and why it is important to have one. You can also take a look at our free privacy policy generator to get started with one today.

What Is A Privacy Policy URL? 

A privacy policy URL links a web page that explicitly states your business’s privacy policy. It is also where you disclose how you collect and handle personally identifiable information (PII) about your users. 

PII includes everything and anything that can be used to identify a user. So, if your platform collects data such as full names, birth dates, contact numbers, bank details, and/or home addresses, you must communicate this to your users via a privacy policy.

Users have the fundamental right to know how a platform intends to use sensitive information about them. This right is protected and enforced by many laws that regulate data privacy. 

Two of them are the California Online Privacy Protection Act (CPPA) in the United States and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union. Both make it mandatory for businesses to publish a transparent and detailed privacy policy outlining:

• The kind of information collected.
• How it stores and manages data. 
• Whether data is shared with third parties.
• How a user can review and edit their personal information. 

Remember, your privacy policy must be free to access and easy to understand.

Why Is A Privacy Policy Important? 

Privacy policies work to protect both businesses and their customers.

Think of yourself as a user surfing the Internet. You come across an exciting product and decide to buy it. Unaware that your banking details are being collected and stored, you proceed to make a purchase. 

Without any privacy policy in place, this data could be vulnerable to a security breach, and you could become a target of a financial scam. 

If you knew that you fell victim to fraud because of the inadequate privacy policy of a specific website, would you return to make another purchase? Probably not—which explains how not having a privacy policy harms both users and businesses.

Where Is A Privacy Policy URL Displayed? 

A privacy policy URL simply needs to be on your website. Where? It’s your call. Place it anywhere you want but make sure that the URL is visible to your visitors.  

You can display your URL in various places, and almost every location is acceptable. For example, you can publish the link to the privacy policy for a personal blog in the website's footer. At the same time, mobile applications can make it available on the app’s initial access page.  

Let’s discuss in detail where websites and applications commonly place their privacy policy URL.

Privacy Policy URL For Websites   

You can host a website’s privacy policy through your website or a third party. Most people opt for the former as it gives you complete control over your privacy policy and allows you to address two crucial elements of hosting an online agreement—easy user access and a clear association of the posted policy with your company. 

Displaying your privacy policy URL in the footer of your website is the best option as users can always easily check it for important links. But this doesn’t mean you can’t add the URL in other locations.

For example, if you run an ecommerce website, you can add this link somewhere during your checkout process. Similarly, you can add a privacy policy URL to the prompt that asks users if they would like to receive updates about your business. 

Privacy Policy URLs For Applications 

Like websites, applications are also legally required to inform their users about any data they collect. A business can’t even upload an application to any big app store unless a privacy policy is included.

There are two important places where you must display the privacy policy URL for your app (and it doesn’t matter if it’s a mobile or a desktop application): 

1. On your app’s profile page on the app store: this gives users the ability to go through your privacy policy before downloading your app.
2. Anywhere within the application: settings bar, navigation menu, login page, and installation prompt are familiar places where applications choose to display their privacy policy URL.

Final Thoughts

A privacy policy URL is simply a link that helps you communicate your privacy policy to users. 

It’s crucial to publish one because an evident and transparent privacy policy protects you and your customers. Also, posting a privacy policy URL is mandated by law, so you can’t skip it even if you want to. 

You can publish the URL anywhere on your platform but make sure it’s visible to your users and easy to access. Your customers will appreciate that they can trust your brand, and your business will undoubtedly grow as a result.