Privacy Policy

What we collect

When you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address, and profile picture, plus access to the Google Business Profile locations you choose to connect. We store your business listing details, reviews, posts, keyword lists, and the scan results the app generates for you.

How we use it

Only to run the product: showing your rankings, managing your reviews and posts, checking your AI visibility, and emailing you about your account or the beta program. We do not sell your data or share it with advertisers.

Google user data

Houund's use of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Google OAuth tokens are stored server-side and used solely to read and manage the Business Profile data you connected. You can revoke access any time at myaccount.google.com/permissions.

Chrome extension

The Houund Chrome extension (Houund: Local SEO Insights for Google Maps) shows Google Business Profile categories, claim status and listing IDs on Google Maps. It reads that information from what Google Maps loads in your browser and sends none of it to Houund. On your device it saves your settings: whether categories show, and which of your locations you last picked for a search (the last 50 searches). These settings stay in Chrome's storage on your computer.

If you connect the extension to your Houund account, it also shows your heatmaps on Google Maps. When you connect, we create a connection key for that browser. We keep only a scrambled (hashed) copy of the key with your account. The extension saves the key in your browser and sends it to Houund, over HTTPS, when it downloads your locations, tracked keywords and latest heatmap scans. To decide when to show a heatmap, the extension reads the search you type into Google Maps and compares it with your keywords inside your browser. Your searches, the pages you visit, your location and what Google Maps shows you are not sent to Houund. The downloaded heatmaps are kept only until Chrome closes. Disconnecting on houund.com/extension/connect deletes the key, and so does deleting your account. Disconnecting in the extension deletes it from your browser at once and asks Houund to delete it too. If you were offline at the time, remove it on houund.com/extension/connect.

Houund's use of information received from the Chrome extension adheres to the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. We use it only to show your heatmaps in the extension. We don't sell it, use it for advertising, or let people read it, except where the law requires or to investigate abuse.

Third-party processors

We use third-party vendors to run Houund. We disclose them by category rather than by name, so this page stays accurate when we change suppliers — the current list of named processors is available on request from privacy at houund.com.

Search & listings data providers — receive your keywords, business name and location so we can measure rankings and check directory listings. They never receive your personal information.
AI model providers — receive your business name and keywords to check whether AI assistants recommend you.
Website performance testing — receives your public website address.
Hosting and database — store your account and business data.
Email delivery — receives your name and email address to send account and product emails.
Payment processing — handles card details directly; we never see or store your card number.
Usage analytics — receives anonymous interaction data (clicks, scrolling, pages visited) so we can see where the product is confusing and improve it. Not used for advertising.

Retention & deletion

We keep your data while your account is active. You can delete your account yourself at any time from the account menu inside the app — this immediately and permanently removes your businesses, scans, reports, and connections. You can also email privacy at houund.com to request deletion — we complete emailed requests within 30 days. We keep encrypted backups for disaster recovery only; copies of deleted data age out of them within 12 months.

Contact

Questions about this policy: privacy at houund.com