# Privacy > What Stetwell collects and why: this website asks before Google Analytics, the plugin keeps your data on your own site, and installed copies share only anonymous totals you can switch off. Source: https://stetwell.ai/privacy/ Stetwell is made by John Kirker Inc. This page says what we collect, why, and what you can do about it, for this website (stetwell.ai), the Stetwell plugin, and the small service the plugin reports to. It is written to be read, not skimmed past. ## The short version - This website asks before it loads Google Analytics, and works the same either way. - If you request early access, we keep what you typed into the form to reply to you. Nothing else. - The Stetwell plugin runs inside your own WordPress site. Your content, your search data and your decisions stay in your site's database. We do not host them and never receive them. - Installed copies of the plugin send us anonymous totals about the site (never content, search queries or anything about its visitors). One switch turns that off and deletes what we hold. - We do not sell personal information, and we do not use it for advertising. ## Who we are Stetwell by John Kirker Inc., Tustin, California, USA: Stetwell is a product of John Kirker Inc. For anything on this page, see Contact below. ## This website ### When you request early access The form asks for your name, your work email, your website and, if you like, what you would have Stetwell proof first. With it we keep the time of the request, a coded form of your internet address (a one-way code used only to stop the form being flooded; the address itself is not stored), and your browser's description of itself (its user agent). We use this to contact you about early access and for nothing else: no newsletter, no list, no sharing. It is stored privately on our server, outside the public website. ### Counting visits We count page views with Independent Analytics, which runs on our own server and sets no cookies. It tells us which pages are read, not who read them. With your permission, and only then, we also use Google Analytics, which sets cookies to recognise a returning browser. See Cookies. If your browser sends Global Privacy Control, we take that as a no without asking. ### Fonts The site's typefaces are served from this website itself, so loading a page sends nothing to a font service. ### Security and delivery The site sits behind Cloudflare, which protects it from attacks and delivers pages quickly. Cloudflare processes every request (including your internet address) to do that, and may set a short-lived cookie to tell people from bots. Our host keeps standard server logs (address, time, page requested) for security and troubleshooting, for a limited period. ## The Stetwell plugin Stetwell is a WordPress plugin. It runs on your server, under your control, and keeps its data in your site's database: your pages and drafts, your Search Console and other search history, the ideas it suggests, the decisions you make and its records of its own work. We do not host your site, and we never receive that data. To do its work the plugin connects to services you choose, with accounts and keys you provide: an AI provider (Anthropic by default, or another you pick), Google (Search Console, Analytics, Business Profile), Bing, Cloudflare, a keyword data provider and others. Each receives only what each request needs, directly from your site, under that provider's own terms. Your keys are stored encrypted in your database. ### Sharing with Stetwell Installed copies of the plugin send us a few anonymous totals, so the product can learn from every site that uses it: a broken release is found within a day, defaults are tuned on real results, and each site can see how it compares with others. - Once a day: the versions of Stetwell, WordPress and PHP; which Stetwell modules are on; the site's theme family and SEO plugin; and whether its background jobs are healthy (counts of errors and warnings). - Once a week: totals such as how many articles Stetwell wrote and how many were published, appear in Google or rank on page one; the site's search clicks and impressions; how many suggestions were accepted and rejected; AI usage; conversion counts; and which integrations are connected (yes or no). - Never: page addresses, titles or text; search queries or keywords; anything about the site's visitors; emails, phone numbers or codes made from them; keys, passwords or tokens. Each site is identified by a random install number and its domain name. We keep the reports for a year. Anything we show outside our own records (benchmarks, the published results on this website) combines at least five sites. Sharing is on by default; turning it off (Settings, Connections, Sharing with Stetwell) stops it at once and asks us to delete everything we hold for that site, which we do automatically. The plugin shows every report exactly as it was sent. ### Features that involve your visitors Some features act on your own website's visitors, for example conversion tracking (off until you switch it on) and the visitor chat. For those, you decide whether to use them and you are responsible for telling your visitors; the plugin supplies wording for your privacy policy. Their data stays in your database: we do not receive it. ## Cookies A cookie is a small file a website asks your browser to keep. This website uses as few as it can. "Cookie choices" at the foot of every page lets you change your answer at any time. Name Set by Why Kept Needs your permission _ga, _ga_* Google Analytics Counts visits and tells a returning browser from a new one Up to 2 years Yes. Not set unless you allow analytics __cf_bm and similar Cloudflare Tells people from bots, to protect the site 30 minutes No (strictly necessary; set only when Cloudflare needs it) wordpress_*, wp-settings-* WordPress Keeps the site's own editors signed in Session, or up to 2 weeks No (only for people who sign in to manage the site) Your cookie choice itself is not a cookie: it is kept in your browser's local storage under stw_consent, until you change it or clear your browser's data. Independent Analytics, the fonts and the early-access form set no cookies. If you allow analytics and later change your mind, choosing "Only what is needed" stops Google Analytics and removes its cookies from this site. ## Why we may use your information - Your permission: Google Analytics. You can withdraw it at any time with "Cookie choices". - Doing what you asked: replying to an early-access request. - Our legitimate interests: keeping the site secure, and improving Stetwell from the anonymous totals installed copies share (which you can switch off). - The law: keeping records when we are required to. ## Who else sees it The companies that run parts of the service for us, each only for that purpose: our hosting provider, Cloudflare, and Google (Analytics, only if you allow it). We may disclose information if the law requires it, or to a buyer if the business is ever sold, under the same promises as this page. We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for advertising. ## How long we keep it - Early-access requests: until early access ends, or sooner if you ask. - Shared plugin reports: one year, or until the site switches sharing off. - Google Analytics data: as set in our Google Analytics account, never beyond Google's 14-month maximum for detailed data. - Server logs: a limited period set by our host, for security. ## Your rights You can ask what we hold about you, ask us to correct or delete it, ask us to stop using it, and withdraw consent at any time. Depending on where you live (for example the European Union, the United Kingdom or California), the law may give you further rights, and you may complain to your data protection authority. We honour Global Privacy Control as a request to opt out. We will not treat you differently for using any of these rights. ## Children Stetwell and this website are for businesses. They are not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 16. ## Where it is processed We are in the United States, and our providers may process information in the United States and elsewhere. Where the law requires safeguards for international transfers, we rely on our providers' standard contractual terms. ## Security Requests are kept outside the public website, keys in installed copies are stored encrypted, every report a plugin sends us is signed, and we collect as little as the work needs. No system is perfectly secure; if something goes wrong that affects you, we will tell you as the law requires. ## Changes When this policy changes, the date below changes with it, and if a change matters, we will say so on this website first. ## Contact Stetwell by John Kirker Inc., Tustin, California, USA. For privacy questions or requests, email privacy@stetwell.ai. For anything else, support@stetwell.ai. Version of 28 October 2026. See also the Terms.