Privacy

SEO Specimen privacy policy

Last updated 9 October 2026. Contact: hello@codespecimen.com.

In short: SEO Specimen has no account and no advertising, and it never searches Google for you. What it reads from Google and from the pages you open, your search log, and the business details and logo you add for client reports all stay in your browser. It sends anonymous usage and error reports only if you say yes, and those never include a search, a keyword, a page, a result or a position. The optional AI tools send only what each one shows you, only when you press it, and only to the AI provider you chose, with your own key.

What SEO Specimen reads, and when

On Google's search pages in the 30 markets it supports, SEO Specimen reads the results as you search, so it can number them, label ads and special blocks, and show them in its side panel or popup. When you search a keyword you saved in the search log, or press "Log this search" on any other search, it also reads which sources the AI Overview cites and where your followed sites rank, and records that as one "look" on your computer. It never runs a search, opens a hidden tab or reloads a page to do this. On any other page, it reads the page only after you press its toolbar icon or choose "Audit this page" from the right-click menu: the title and description, headings, canonical and robots tags, images, links, structured data, share tags and language versions. Everything it reads is shown to you inside your browser. Nothing it reads is sent anywhere, except as described under "Network requests".

What SEO Specimen stores

These are kept in your browser's local extension storage, on this computer only. They are never synced, and nothing in them is sent anywhere:

• your settings, such as how it opens, the theme, the language and the default market;
• the markets you used most recently in the market switch;
• the keywords and sites you save in the search log, and the looks recorded when you search them yourself, each with its time, country, language, device, whether you were signed in to Google, the AI Overview's cited sources and your sites' positions (the looks are kept in the extension's own database on this computer);
• the business name, your name, email address, website, phone number and logo you add for client reports, and the latest client report you opened;
• your AI provider, model and API key, if you add one;
• your answer to the reports question, and, only if you said yes, the random install ID described below.

Settings has "Delete all data", which removes all of it at once. Removing SEO Specimen from your browser removes it too.

Network requests

SEO Specimen never searches Google for you, and it makes no request you did not cause. Requests happen only as the direct result of something you do:

• The audit's header check. When you open the audit on a page, SEO Specimen asks that page's own address again, once, with a request that fetches only the headers, because a page cannot otherwise see whether its server sends an X-Robots-Tag header. It goes only to that page's own site.
• Images in the audit. When you open the images row or the share cards, their images load from the page's own addresses, as they would on the page.
• Links you press. The market switch, quick checks (robots.txt, sitemap.xml and two site: searches) and the outside checkers (such as PageSpeed Insights or the Rich Results Test) open those addresses in a tab. An outside checker receives the address of the page you're auditing, which its button says.
• AI with your own key. When you press Check and save, SEO Specimen sends your key to the provider you picked in Settings (Anthropic, OpenAI or Google Gemini), once, to ask whether it can use the chosen model; that request generates nothing and costs nothing. After that, each AI tool (title and description rewrites, and schema drafts) sends only what it shows under "What will be sent", only when you press it, using your key. That provider's own privacy policy covers what it does with a request, and any charge is on your account with them. Your key is never sent anywhere else. In Firefox, Firefox also asks your permission first.
• Search again. In the search log, Search again opens one Google search for that keyword in your tab, the same search you would type yourself.
• The feedback page after removal. Removing SEO Specimen makes your browser open a short feedback page on codespecimen.com in a new tab. The browser does this itself once the extension is gone, and the page's address names only the extension, its version and your browser. Filling it in is optional. If you press Send feedback, your answer (the reason you chose, your comment if you wrote one, and your email address only if you typed it) is emailed to the developer, and the site keeps a count of the reason, extension, version and browser so it can limit how many emails arrive in a day. It does not keep your comment, your email address or your IP address.
• Client reports. A client report opens in a tab of its own and is drawn on your computer from the audit and the details you added. Saving it as a PDF uses your browser's own print window, and nothing about the report is sent anywhere. Each report's footer names SEO Specimen and its website as the tool that made the audit.
• Reports, only if you say yes. See below.

Anonymous usage and error reports

The first time you open SEO Specimen, it asks: "Help improve SEO Specimen by sharing anonymous usage and error reports?" Nothing is sent before you answer, and nothing is sent if you say no. You can change your answer at any time in Settings, under Privacy.

If you say yes, SEO Specimen sends, with each event: a random install ID made at that moment, the name of the feature used (such as "Compare" or "Export CSV"), the version of SEO Specimen, your browser and its major version, and your operating system. Error reports also include the error's message and where it happened, with every web address and quoted text removed. Reports never include a page address, a search, a keyword, a result, a position, a cited source, a market, your business details or anything you copied.

Reports go to SEO Specimen's own server, run on Cloudflare, which stores them without any IP address, country or other request detail and deletes them after 90 days. Turning reports off deletes the install ID from your computer, so anything sent after a later yes cannot be joined to what was sent before. In Firefox, Firefox asks its own permission before the first report.

SEO Specimen's use of information complies with the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements, and with Mozilla's add-on policies. Data is never sold, never used for advertising and never shared with anyone else.

Permissions, and why SEO Specimen needs them

SEO Specimen never asks for access to all websites, not even as an option.

• Google's search pages (the Google domains of the 30 supported markets): to number and read results as you search, and to record looks for the keywords you saved. Your browser lists this when you install.
• activeTab and scripting: to audit the page you open SEO Specimen on, and to highlight its links, only after you ask.
• sidePanel (Chrome only): SEO Specimen opens in the side panel by default, beside the page. Firefox's sidebar needs no permission.
• contextMenus: for "Audit this page" on the right-click menu.
• storage: to keep your settings, search log keywords, client report details and logo on this computer.

Changes

If this policy changes, the new version will be published at this address with a new date, and the Chrome Web Store and Firefox Add-ons listings will link to it.