Privacy Policy

The Backyard Sear keeps this simple: we collect the least we can, we do not sell your data, and the only personal information we ask for is an email address, and only when you choose to give it.

What we collect

• Email address, when you ask for the free guide or subscribe to the guides. That is the only personal detail we ask for.
• Google Analytics 4 runs on every page. It records aggregate, non-identifying data: which pages are visited, roughly where in the world the visit came from, the device and browser, and which site referred you. No profiles, no ad targeting, no advertising tags.
• Which site sent you. We read the referring address your browser already sends, and when it matches one of fourteen AI assistants (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, and similar) we record the assistant's name alongside the visit. That is how we tell whether an assistant recommended a guide. It is the name of a website, never anything about you or your conversation, and we cannot see what you asked.
• Nothing else. We do not ask for your name, address, income, or payment details on this site.

How we use it

• To send you the free guide and the weekly guide you asked for.
• To understand which guides are useful, so we make more of the ones that help.
• We do not sell, rent, or trade your email address. Ever.

Third-party services

The site runs on a small set of standard services, each with its own privacy policy:

• An email provider stores your address and sends the newsletter, once one is connected.
• Google Analytics 4 provides the aggregate traffic data described above. Google's own privacy policy governs what it does with it.
• The host serves the site.

Cookies

The site itself sets no tracking cookies. Google Analytics sets its own, to tell a returning visitor from a new one. We also store one short-lived key in your browser's session storage, which records that we already counted this visit so we do not count it twice. It clears when you close the tab.

There is no cookie banner. You can block cookies, block analytics, or use your browser's do-not-track or private mode, and every guide on this site still works exactly the same.

Your choices

Every email has a one-click unsubscribe. To have your address removed entirely, email hello@thebackyardsear.com and we will delete it.

Contact

Questions about privacy: hello@thebackyardsear.com.