Do you want to add a privacy policy on your WordPress site? Privacy policy is a document required by law that discloses the information you collect about visitors on your website. In this article, we will show you how to easily add a privacy policy in WordPress.
What is Privacy Policy and Do You Need it on Your Website?
All websites collect information about their visitors in different ways. In many countries (including the United States), websites are required by law to disclose the information they collect about their visitors and how this information is used.
Here are some of the ways in which a typical WordPress site collects user information.
Name and email address in comment forms
Comment form cookie which remembers a user’s name or email address.
Name and email addresses submitted by user by using a contact form
Name and email address submitted to sign up for email list
Information collected when users register on a website.
Google Analytics tracking
Facebook page plugin and like button cookies
Other social media platform widgets that track users
Advertising programs like Google Adsense which track users
All websites on the internet should have a privacy policy page. It protects your business from legal issues and also helps build consumer trust.
What to Include in a Privacy Policy?
The basic requirements for a privacy policy are quite simple. You need to list all the ways you collect or intend to collect user information on your website.
A simple privacy policy page should contain the following information:
Information you collect about users visiting your website.
Methods used to collect information, e.g. cookies and web beacons, sign up, registration, comment forms, etc.
Mention all third-party advertisers collecting user information on your website like Google Adsense.
Include links to the privacy policy of each advertising program you participate in
How users can block cookies and opt-out of third party advertisements
Your contact information so that users can reach out if they have questions
There are many websites on the internet that allow you to automatically generate text for your privacy policy or terms of service pages.
You can also use WPBeginner’s privacy policy page as an starting point. Simply replace all references to WPBeginner and our parent company with the name of your website or business.
Adding a Privacy Policy Page in WordPress
First you need to visit Pages » Add New in your WordPress admin area to create your new privacy policy page.
You should name your page Privacy Policy, so that your users immediately know what this page is about.
Next, you need to add the text for your privacy policy page. You can copy the text of our privacy policy page or use an online privacy policy generator.
You can even use a plugin like Auto Terms of Service and Privacy Policy to generate the content.
Don’t forget to add your own contact information and business name before hitting the publish button.
Adding Link to Privacy Policy Page in WordPress
Most websites display link to their privacy policy page in the footer area of their website. This way the link appears on every page but is not taking space in your main navigation menu.
There are multiple ways to do this. You can simply add the link to your theme’s footer.php file. If this is your first time editing a WordPress theme file, then take a look at our guide on how to copy paste code in WordPress.
<a href="http://example.com/privacy-policy">Privacy Policy</a>
Many WordPress themes have widget areas in the footer. You can add a custom menu widget with the link to your privacy policy page in this area.
First, you will need to visit Appearance » Menus page and create a new custom menu. See our beginner’s guide on how to add navigation menu in WordPress for detailed instructions.
Don’t forget to click on the save menu button to save your new menu.
After creating your menu head over to Appearance » Widgets page. You will notice ‘Custom Menu’ widget under the list of available widgets.
Add this widget to your footer widget area. See our guide on how to add and use widgets in WordPress.
You will need to select the custom menu you created earlier in the widget settings and then click on the save button.
That’s all, you have successfully added a privacy policy page to your WordPress site.
We hope this article helped you learn how to add a privacy policy in WordPress. You may also want to see our step by step WordPress SEO guide for beginners.
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