The short version
- We collect only what we need to research, write, post and report on articles for your website.
- We never sell your data, and we never use your account, website or Google data for advertising.
- Google Search Console and Google Analytics access is read-only. We use them only to show you how your articles do and to decide what to write and update next.
- Your website connection lets us post and update articles. You can disconnect it at any time.
- You can download or delete your data whenever you like.
1. Who we are
Readsgreat is run by Hypercowboy LLC, doing business as Readsgreat, PO Box 4436, Evansville, IN 47724-0436, USA ("Readsgreat", "we", "us"). This policy covers readsgreat.com, app.readsgreat.com and the emails we send. If you have a question, email hello@readsgreat.com.
For most of the data here, we decide how it's used; data-protection law calls this the "controller". When we handle personal information inside your website content on your behalf, we act as your "processor" and follow your instructions.
2. What we collect
Account details. Your name, email, company name, password (stored only as a secure hash), and your settings. If you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address and profile picture from Google instead of a password.
Billing details. Stripe, our payment processor, handles your card. We never see or store your full card number. From Stripe we receive the card brand, last four digits, expiry date, billing country and a card "fingerprint". We use the fingerprint only to stop the same card getting more than one money-back refund or free offer.
Your website and business. Your website address, the public pages we read to learn about your business, and your business profile. That profile covers what you sell, your customers, your competitors, your brand voice, and business facts you confirm, such as prices, services and hours.
Your website connection. When you connect your blog, we store the access you give us (a login key, token or app authorization), encrypted. We read your existing posts, pages, categories, tags and links, so we can plan topics, avoid repeating what you already have, link articles together and update older posts. We then create, update and (if you ask) unpublish articles.
Google Search Console and Google Analytics data. If you connect them, we read your site's search data and your site's daily visitor totals. See section 5.
Your content. The articles, drafts, outlines, images, research notes and edits we make or you make in Readsgreat.
Your expert's details. If you add an expert, we store their name, email, job title, credentials, short bio and optional photo. We also store their answers to our questions and the permission they gave: to be quoted by name, or to guide only. "Reviewed by" reviewer profiles hold the same kind of details.
Emails. Messages you or your expert send us, and replies to our emails.
Usage and device data. How you use the app (pages viewed, buttons used), your IP address, browser and device type, and error reports. We use this to keep the service working, prevent abuse and improve the product.
How you found us. The site that sent you to readsgreat.com and any campaign tags in the link you followed (for example "chatgpt.com" or "utm_source=newsletter"), plus your answer if you tell us how you found us after you sign up. We use these only to learn which places bring us customers.
Waitlist. If you leave your email to hear when we support something (for example, sites without a website yet), we keep that email for that purpose only.
We don't knowingly collect sensitive data, such as health information about individuals. Please don't put it in your business profile or expert answers.
3. How we use it
| What we do | Why |
|---|---|
| Run the service: research, write, fact-check, post and update articles, and send reports | To perform our contract with you |
| Take payments and prevent abuse of the money-back guarantee and any free offers (card fingerprint, one per business domain and email) | Contract, and our legitimate interest in preventing fraud |
| Email your expert their questions, and quote them only as they allowed | Our legitimate interest in providing a service you asked for, and the expert's own permission for quotes |
| Send service emails: sign-in links, receipts, renewal reminders, weekly or monthly summaries, and two reminders if setup is left unfinished | Contract, and legitimate interest |
| Send occasional product news, only if you agree. Every such email has an unsubscribe link | Consent |
| Keep the service safe, fix errors, and improve it using usage data | Legitimate interest |
| Meet legal, tax and accounting duties | Legal obligation |
Learning across customers. Readsgreat learns which public sources are reliable and which kinds of articles work, so every customer gets better research. That learning is about public web pages and article patterns. It never shares your private data, content, Search Console numbers or expert answers with another customer.
4. AI providers and your data
Readsgreat uses AI models to research, plan, write, check and illustrate articles. To do that, we send the relevant parts of your data to AI providers: your business profile, research notes, drafts, expert answers, and, when you're using features that depend on it, Search Console figures.
- We reach text models through OpenRouter, which routes our requests to model providers such as Anthropic, Google and OpenAI. Header images are made through fal.
- Each AI provider handles the data under its own terms and privacy policy. We send only what a task needs.
- Research searches the public web through Exa and DataForSEO. These searches contain topics and keywords, not your private data.
5. Google user data (Search Console and Google Analytics)
This section explains exactly how Readsgreat uses data from Google APIs.
What we access. If you sign in with Google, we receive only your name, email address and profile picture, and use them to create and sign in to your account. When you connect Google Search Console, we ask for read-only access (the webmasters.readonly permission). We read the list of sites you can access in Search Console, and for the site you choose we read clicks, impressions, click-through rate, average position, and the search queries and pages behind them. We can't change anything in your Google account, and we don't read your Gmail, Drive, contacts or any other Google data.
Google Analytics (optional). If you connect it, we ask for read-only access. For your site, we read daily totals: how many visits your pages got, where those visits came from (for example Google, ChatGPT or another website), how long people spent on them, and how many led to an action you've marked as important. We never receive information about individual visitors. We use these totals only to show you how your articles perform and to decide what to write and update next. Everything in this section applies to it: read-only, never used for advertising or to train AI models, and deleted within 30 days of disconnecting.
How we use it. Only for features you can see in Readsgreat:
- reports on how your articles perform in Google;
- finding articles that are slipping, "almost ranking", or have titles that don't get clicks, so we can suggest or make updates;
- finding questions people search for that your site doesn't answer yet, so we can plan new articles.
Who we share it with. Only the service providers who help run those features: our database and hosting providers (section 6), and the AI providers in section 4 when a feature needs them to analyse your search data. We don't share it with anyone else, except where the law requires it, and except the people you choose: anyone you add in Settings → Emails gets the Monday summary and the emails about articles waiting for your OK, and the summary includes your site's Google figures.
What we never do with Google data:
- We don't use it for advertising, and we don't sell it.
- We don't use it to train or improve general AI models. When an AI model helps analyse it, we send it only to AI providers set not to keep it or train on it.
- We don't use it to decide on credit or lending.
- Our team doesn't read it, except when you ask us to (for example, for support), when it's needed for security, when the law requires it, or when it's aggregated and anonymous for running the service.
Keeping and deleting it. We keep Search Console data while your site is connected, so we can show trends over time. If you disconnect Search Console (in Readsgreat's settings, or at myaccount.google.com/permissions), we stop reading it straight away, delete the stored access token, and delete the stored Search Console data within 30 days. Closing your account deletes it too.
Limited Use. Readsgreat's use and transfer to any other app of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
If we ever want to use Google data in a new way, we'll update this policy and ask for your permission first.
7. Your expert and the people you name
If you add an expert or reviewer, you confirm they agreed to hear from us. Every email we send them explains why they're getting it and lets them change the pace, pause or stop. The expert decides whether they may be quoted by name. They can withdraw that permission at any time by replying or emailing hello@readsgreat.com. We then stop using their answers and name in new articles and updates. Articles already on your website are yours, so removing an existing quote is your call; if you use our update tools, we'll remove it for you.
8. Emails
Service emails (sign-in, receipts, renewal reminders, reports, expert questions) are part of the service. You choose weekly or monthly summaries, or turn them off, in Settings → Emails. Marketing emails are sent only with your consent, always include our postal address and an unsubscribe link, and unsubscribes take effect within 10 business days. We don't track opens or clicks in our emails.
10. How long we keep data
| Data | How long |
|---|---|
| Account, business profile and content | While your account is open. After you close it, you have 30 days to download, then we delete it |
| Website connection keys | Until you disconnect or close your account, then deleted straight away |
| Search Console data | While connected; deleted within 30 days of disconnecting |
| Google Analytics totals | While connected; deleted within 30 days of disconnecting |
| Expert details and answers | While the site is active, or until the expert asks us to delete them |
| Billing records | 7 years, for tax and accounting law |
| Usage analytics and error reports | Up to 12 months |
| Backups | Deleted data leaves our backups within 30 days |
Articles already posted on your website stay there. They're yours, and deleting your Readsgreat account doesn't remove them.
11. Your rights and choices
Wherever you live, you can:
- see and download the data we hold about you (Settings → Account → Download your data, or email us);
- correct it;
- delete it: delete your account in Settings, or email us;
- object to or restrict some uses, and withdraw consent where we rely on it;
- disconnect your website or Google account at any time.
We reply within 30 days and may need to confirm your identity first. We won't treat you differently for using these rights. California residents have the rights above. We don't sell personal information. The advertising cookies on readsgreat.com may count as "sharing" for cross-context advertising under California law; to opt out, use the links in section 9 or email us.
12. Where your data is kept
Readsgreat is built for businesses in the United States. We and our providers store and process data in the USA. If you use Readsgreat from another country, your data is transferred to and processed in the USA.
13. Security
- Data is encrypted in transit and at rest.
- Website connection keys are kept in encrypted storage and used only by the part of Readsgreat that posts articles.
- Access is limited to people who need it, with two-factor sign-in.
- Our work is logged, and every change to your website can be undone.
No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your data, we'll tell you promptly and as the law requires.
14. Children
Readsgreat is for businesses and isn't meant for anyone under 18. We don't knowingly collect data from children. If you think a child gave us data, email us and we'll delete it.
15. Changes to this policy
We'll post any change here with a new date. For important changes, we'll email you at least 30 days before they take effect. We'll never use data we already hold in a new way without telling you first, and for Google data we'll also ask for your permission.
Change log
- September 28, 2026: First version.
- September 28, 2026: Added Google's advertising cookies on readsgreat.com (section 9), and how to opt out.
- September 28, 2026: Added Cal.com, which we use to book calls (section 6).
- October 1, 2026: Added a cookie of our own that remembers which site or campaign led you to Readsgreat (sections 2 and 9).
- October 6, 2026: Added the optional Google Analytics connection: read-only daily totals, never individual visitors (sections 2, 5 and 10).
- October 19, 2026: People you add in Settings → Emails get the Monday summary, with your site's Google figures, and the emails about articles waiting for your OK (section 5).
Contact us
Hypercowboy LLC, doing business as Readsgreat · PO Box 4436, Evansville, IN 47724-0436 Email: hello@readsgreat.com