How To Add A Privacy Policy In WordPress?

How To Add A Privacy Policy In WordPress?

A privacy policy is a legal requirement. No matter whether you are a blogger or you run a corporate website if you are operating in a country where it is mandatory, you need to publish it on your site.

Having a privacy policy ensures that you take users’ consent for collecting and processing their personal data. It also makes it clear that you agree to the terms and conditions of accessing the personal data of the citizens as defined by the law. 

If you are seeking some guidance about how to create a privacy policy in WordPress, you are in the right place. In this article, we will give you a step-by-step guide on how to create a privacy policy. 

What is a privacy policy? 

Privacy Policy

A privacy policy is a legal agreement between two parties that discloses the ways in which one party can access the other party’s data. In other words, it is a  document that carries a set of rules or terms and conditions that you will follow while using the personal data of your users.  In the context of a website, it discloses how the operators of the site will collect, store and utilize the personal data of its visitors. 

The definition of personal data usually includes:

  • The names of the users, their addresses (physical or e-mail) 
  • IP addresses, telephone numbers, date of birth
  • Financial information, for example, debit or credit card details.

Three reasons why you need a privacy policy on your website

  • Required by the law: The most important reason why you need a privacy policy is it is required by the law. If you are using the personal information of your users, it is mandatory for you to have a well-defined privacy policy and publish it on your website. 
    The framework varies from region to region. You need to form your policy based on the guidelines set by the administration in your area of operation. If you are dealing with the personal data of EU citizens, you have to follow GDPR. If you are operating in California or using the citizens’ personal information, you will fall under CCPA.   
  • Required by many third-party services: Many third-party services require you to publish a privacy policy on your website. If you want to use these services, you need to publish a privacy policy first. The most common services that require privacy policy are – Google Analytics, Facebook Apps, Twitter, etc.  
  • Users’ trust: If you have a well-defined privacy policy on your site, it increases users’ trust. Users feel safe sharing their personal data. Because they know that it will be protected and they will be informed if shared further with some other person. They may also request the deletion of their data.  

What to include in a privacy policy?

Though the content requirement of a privacy policy varies from country to country, there are some general details that every privacy policy should have. 

Here are the things you need to include in your privacy policy – 

  • All information that you collect about the users or visitors of your website
  • The methods you use to collect users’ information 
  • Name of the third-party advertisers collecting users’ information on your site 
  • Links to the privacy policy of all advertising programs you participate in 
  • How your users can opt out of the third-party advertisements and block cookies 
  • Your contact details so that users can reach you if they need to 

How to create a WordPress privacy policy page?

In order to create a privacy page on the WordPress website, you need to follow the steps below – 

  • Head on to your WordPress dashboard
  • Hover your mouse to Pages and click Add New 
WordPress dashboard > Add new page
  • Name your page as Privacy Policy and add the text you want to include in the statement
Create WordPress privacy policy page
  • Hit Publish and your privacy policy page is live!
  • Go to your Dashboard and hover over Appearance and click Menus
  • Name your menu, on the left-hand side you’ll see the Privacy Policy page under the most recent section 
Navigate to menu

WP Legal Pages is a WordPress plugin that allows you to create attorney-level privacy policies on your website. The plugin comes with many rich features to make your site compliant with the privacy policies of different countries without any coding knowledge. 

All you need to do is to install and activate the plugin. But the pro version of the plugin requires the free version to be installed first. You can download it from WordPress.org.  

After you have activated the plugin, follow the steps below to create a legal template – 

  • Click on WPLegalPages from your WordPress dashboard
  • On the screen that appeared, check the box in front of By Using WPLegalPages, you accept the terms of use
  • Click Accept
  • Then, you will get two different options. Click on Configure Details to customize the plugin and Create Page, to begin with the document
  • A new page will open up. You will find Templates, choose Privacy Policy
WPLegalPages- Choose Privacy policy template
  • Enter your website /organization details under recommended settings. Click on next. 
  • Under Data Sections, select the appropriate sections as per your requirement. Click on Next  
WPLegalPages-› Create privacy policy page
  • Preview the privacy policy page and Publish. 
  • You can customize or edit the page based on your requirements under the Edit Page option.

Create GDPR Cookie Policy Pages with automated third-party policy details. The details are automatically collected using the WP GDPR COOKIE CONSENT plugin. 

WordPress Cookie Consent Plugin for GDPR & CCPA
  • Click on the GDPR Cookie Policy on the right-hand side to create a GDPR cookie policy page
  • After selecting the template you can see all the required data and links in the template. You will also find shortcode added at the bottom. This shortcode will render a table of cookies with details of third-party companies, cookie purpose, and links to cookie & privacy policies of these companies. 
  • To automatically collect cookies and cookie data you need to scan for available cookies using the WP GDPR COOKIE CONSENT plugin.
  • Similarly, you can create a GDPR Privacy policy page using the ‘GDPR Privacy Policy’ template.

Where to include a privacy policy?

Where you will add your privacy policy on your site completely depends on your choice.   You can add a privacy policy to the following areas on your website – 

  • Footer or Sidebar 
  • Email subscription form 
  • Contact form 
  • Cookie consent popup 

Conclusion 

Hope we could provide you with some valuable information about how to create a privacy policy page in WordPress. But what we have given here is just a road map. Every country has its own privacy laws. You first need to know the laws of the area you are operating in. Then accordingly create your WordPress privacy policy.