Privacy policy

This English version is a courtesy translation. The German version is legally binding.

Last updated: October 2026

1. Controller

The controller responsible for processing personal data on this website and in the SEMSCOUT platform is:

SEMSCOUT
Owner: Bernd Otter
Hunsingerweg 14
97084 Würzburg, Germany
Phone: +49 931 358 033 87
Email: info@semscout.de

We have not appointed a data protection officer because the legal requirements for doing so are not met. For questions about data protection, contact us using the details above.

2. Overview

This privacy policy informs you, in accordance with Articles 13 and 14 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which personal data we process when you
– visit our website www.semscout.de,
– contact us through the form, by email, or by phone,
– book an appointment for a live demo, or
– use the SEMSCOUT platform at login.semscout.de as a customer or user.

In short: our website sets no cookies, uses no advertising tracking, and loads no third-party content unless you trigger it yourself with a click. We serve fonts, icons, and images from our own server. There is no connection to Google Fonts or other external services.

3. Hosting

We operate the website and the platform on servers rented from Hetzner Online GmbH, Industriestr. 25, 91710 Gunzenhausen, Germany. The servers are located in data centers in Germany. We also store backups in a Hetzner Online GmbH data center in Helsinki, Finland, and therefore within the European Union. We do not use a content delivery network or any other upstream service.

We have concluded a data processing agreement with Hetzner under Art. 28 GDPR. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in providing our services securely and reliably (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR) and, if you are a customer, the performance of the contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).

4. Visiting the website and server log files

When you visit our website, your browser necessarily transmits data to our server. The web server stores this data in log files:
– IP address
– date and time of access
– page or file requested and amount of data transferred
– HTTP status code
– referrer URL (the page visited before)
– browser type, browser version, and operating system

We process this data to deliver the website, to keep it stable and secure, and to investigate attacks or errors. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in doing so (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). Log files are deleted automatically after 14 days. We do not combine this data with other data sources. If a longer retention period is needed to investigate a specific security incident, we keep the affected entries until the investigation is complete.

5. Encryption

Connections to our website and to the platform are encrypted with TLS. You can recognize this by “https://” in your browser’s address bar. Data you submit through the form cannot be read by third parties in transit.

6. Cookies and storage on your device

Our website sets no cookies and does not store any other information on your device. That is why there is no cookie banner.

Exceptions arise only from your own action or in the platform:
– If you disable audience measurement (section 7), we store an entry in your browser’s local storage so that your objection is respected. This storage happens at your request and is strictly necessary for that purpose (Section 25(2) No. 2 TDDDG, the German Telecommunications Digital Services Data Protection Act).
– If you load the meetergo booking calendar (section 9), meetergo may set its own cookies.
– The platform at login.semscout.de uses cookies that are technically required for signing in (section 11).

7. Audience measurement with Umami

To understand which content on our website is used and to improve it, we use the open-source tool Umami. We host Umami ourselves on our server in Germany (section 3). No data is transferred to the maker of Umami or to any other third party.

Umami works without cookies and stores nothing on your device. It records the page visited, the referring page, browser, operating system, device type, screen size, language setting, and the country derived from the IP address. Your IP address itself is not stored. To count visits, Umami creates a hash value from the IP address, the browser identifier, and a secret value that changes every month. After the change, this value can no longer be linked to anyone, including by us. We only analyze the data in aggregate, create no user profiles, and do not combine it with other data.

The legal basis is our legitimate interest in a data-minimizing statistical analysis of our website (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

You can object to audience measurement at any time. If your browser sends the “Do Not Track” signal, Umami does not record your visit. You can also turn measurement off here: Disable audience measurement in this browser. Your objection applies to the browser you use and remains in place until you clear your browser’s local storage.

8. Requests through the form, by email, or by phone

You can request a free brand check through the form on our website. We process your first name, last name, work email address, optionally your phone number, and your message, in particular the brand concerned. Required fields are marked with an asterisk. Without this information, we cannot process your request.

We use your information to handle your request, carry out the brand check, present the results to you, and arrange follow-up questions and appointments. For the brand check, we monitor the brand terms you provide in search engines for seven days. The emails we send you in this context relate exclusively to your request. We send any other marketing emails only with your express consent.

The form is transmitted to our own server. From there, your information is sent through our own mail server as an email to our mailbox, which we run on Google Workspace (section 10). The form contents are neither stored nor logged on the web server. To protect against automated spam, we check whether a field invisible to humans was filled in and how quickly the form is submitted after the page loads. We also keep your IP address in the server’s memory for up to 60 minutes to limit repeated requests from the same address. It is not stored permanently. We do not use a third-party CAPTCHA.

If you contact us by email or phone, we also process your information (e.g. name, contact details, and the content of your inquiry) to handle it.

The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR insofar as your request aims at concluding a contract. This applies in particular to a request for a brand check. Otherwise, we process your information on the basis of our legitimate interest in answering inquiries (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

We keep your request for as long as needed to handle it and any follow-up questions. If no contract is concluded, we delete the data once it is clear that the conversation has ended. Business correspondence that serves to prepare or conclude a contract is kept for up to six years under statutory retention obligations (Section 257 HGB, Section 147 AO).

9. Appointment booking with meetergo and live demo with Google Meet

To book an appointment for the live demo, we use meetergo software from meetergo GmbH, Germany, on the booking page. The calendar is not loaded automatically, only after you click “Load calendar”. Only then is a connection to meetergo’s servers established, and in particular your IP address and technical connection data are transferred to meetergo. meetergo may set cookies. If you book an appointment, meetergo processes the data you enter (e.g. name, email address, and selected time) and transfers the appointment to our calendar on Google Workspace (section 10).

The legal basis for loading the calendar is your consent given by the click (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR, Section 25(1) TDDDG). It applies only to the current page view. If you visit the page again without loading the calendar, no data is transferred to meetergo. Processing your booking data is based on Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR, as the demo serves to prepare a contract. Instead of using the calendar, you can also arrange an appointment by email or phone.

We have concluded a data processing agreement with meetergo. You can find more information in meetergo’s privacy policy at meetergo.com.

We hold the live demo via Google Meet, a service within Google Workspace (section 10). Your name, email address, technical connection data and, if you use your camera, microphone, or chat, video, audio, and chat data are processed. You can join in your browser without a Google account. We record a session only after announcing it in advance and with your consent. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.

10. Email and calendar with Google Workspace

We run our mailbox (info@semscout.de) and our calendar on Google Workspace. The provider is Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland. Emails you send us or that arrive through the form, as well as appointment data, are stored on Google servers.

We have a data processing agreement with Google (Cloud Data Processing Addendum). Processing by Google LLC in the USA cannot be ruled out. Google LLC is certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, for which the European Commission has adopted an adequacy decision (Art. 45 GDPR). In addition, Google has agreed to the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses (Art. 46(2)(c) GDPR).

The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR insofar as the communication concerns a contract or its preparation, and otherwise our legitimate interest in reliable business communication (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

11. SEMSCOUT platform (login.semscout.de)

Customer accounts and use of the platform

To provide the platform, we process data of our customers and of the users they set up: name, work email address, role and permissions, access credentials, sign-in times, and technical access data such as the IP address. This also includes the settings you make in the platform, such as brands, keywords, approvals, and templates.

For signing in, the platform sets cookies that are technically required for a secure session (Section 25(2) No. 2 TDDDG). We do not use analytics or advertising tools in the platform.

We send platform notifications and reports, such as alerts and weekly reports, through Mailtrap. The provider is Railsware Products Studio LLC, 117 E Colorado Blvd, Suite 600, Office 650, Pasadena, CA 91105, USA. In particular, the recipient’s name and work email address and the content of the message are processed.

We have a data processing agreement with Mailtrap. Processing takes place in the USA. Railsware Products Studio LLC is certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, for which the European Commission has adopted an adequacy decision (Art. 45 GDPR). If this certification ceases to apply, the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses agreed with Mailtrap apply (Art. 46(2)(c) GDPR).

The legal basis for our contractual partners is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR. For users that a customer sets up for its employees or service providers, we rely on our and the customer’s legitimate interest in giving these people the agreed access (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

We store account and usage data for the term of the contract. After the contract ends, we delete user accounts within 90 days. We keep invoices and accounting records in accordance with commercial and tax law, currently for eight years.

Data from monitoring search ads

On behalf of our customers, we record publicly served search ads for their brand terms. We store the ad text, display URL and destination URL, redirects including partner and affiliate IDs, screenshots of the ad and the landing page, time, location, and device of the search query, and the advertiser named in the ad or on the landing page. If an advertiser is a natural person, such as a sole trader or affiliate, this may include personal data.

We process this data as a processor for the respective customer (Art. 28 GDPR). The controller is the customer, who defines the monitored terms and the purpose, usually enforcing its trademark and contractual rights. The data is kept separately for each customer account and is not used across customers. The retention period is set by the respective customer. If you are an advertiser and want to exercise your rights, contact the company whose brand is concerned. We forward any requests we receive to the responsible customer without delay.

12. External links

Our website contains links to other websites, such as LinkedIn or industry articles. These are plain links, not embedded content or social media plugins. Data is transferred to the respective provider only when you click a link. From then on, that provider’s privacy policy applies.

13. Recipients and transfers to third countries

We share personal data only as described in this policy, where there is a legal obligation (e.g. toward tax authorities), or where you have consented. We do not sell data. Our service providers are:
– Hetzner Online GmbH (hosting and backups, Germany and Finland)
– Google Ireland Limited (email, calendar, video conferencing)
– meetergo GmbH (appointment booking)
– Railsware Products Studio LLC (Mailtrap, sending platform notifications, USA)

A transfer to countries outside the European Union or the European Economic Area is possible within Google Workspace (section 10) and Mailtrap (section 11) and takes place on the grounds stated there.

14. Retention period

Unless this policy states a more specific retention period, we store personal data only as long as necessary for the respective purpose. If you withdraw consent or make a justified request for deletion, we delete your data unless statutory retention obligations prevent this. In that case, we restrict processing and delete the data once the period has expired.

15. Your rights

You have the right at any time to
– access the data we hold about you (Art. 15 GDPR),
– rectification of inaccurate data (Art. 16 GDPR),
– erasure of your data (Art. 17 GDPR),
– restriction of processing (Art. 18 GDPR),
– data portability (Art. 20 GDPR), and
– withdraw consent with effect for the future (Art. 7(3) GDPR). This does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before the withdrawal.

To do so, simply contact info@semscout.de.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority (Art. 77 GDPR). The authority responsible for us is the Bavarian Data Protection Authority (BayLDA), Promenade 18, 91522 Ansbach, Germany, www.lda.bayern.de.

16. Right to object under Art. 21 GDPR

If we process your data on the basis of a legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR), you may object to this processing at any time on grounds relating to your particular situation. We will then no longer process your data unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds that override your interests, rights, and freedoms, or the processing serves the establishment, exercise, or defense of legal claims.

If we process your data for direct marketing, you may object at any time without giving reasons. We will then no longer use your data for this purpose.

You can send your objection informally to info@semscout.de. You can also object to audience measurement directly in section 7.

17. No automated decision-making

We do not make decisions based solely on automated processing, including profiling, that produce legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affect you (Art. 22 GDPR).

18. Changes to this privacy policy

We update this privacy policy when our services, the services we use, or the legal situation change. The version published on this page applies.