Link to your privacy policy in the footer

Collecting user data without a publicly accessible privacy policy violates GDPR (EU), CCPA (California), PIPEDA (Canada), and other regulations — even if the policy is technically published but not linked from the site.

Quick Reference

• Link to a published privacy policy from the footer of every page
• The privacy policy must be written in plain language and accessible to all users
• Required when you collect any personal data: names, emails, IP addresses, cookies, analytics data
• GDPR requires the policy to be easily accessible — a footer link satisfies this requirement
• The link text should be 'Privacy Policy' (or locale equivalent) for SEO and accessibility
• Disclose retention periods and whether analytics, logs, or monitoring receive personal data

Check

Check whether the website footer contains a link to a privacy policy page. Verify the linked page contains an actual privacy policy with contact information, what data is collected, and user rights. Check that the link is present on all pages, not just the homepage. Confirm the policy discloses retention periods and whether analytics, logging, or monitoring vendors receive user data.

Fix