7 Must Know Facts And Implications Of GDPR On SEO

The goals that you track on your website are one of the most important aspects of SEO. It should be then recognized that the GDPR can have an impact on tracked goals that you have set up for example- newsletter sign-up. GDPR will not only change some of the necessary wording but will also ensure that your tracked goals have active, clear consent requests. You will need to be explicit on what you will do with customer’s set of data, once the regulations come into force. This means that in order to send additional marketing materials you will no longer be able to request someone’s email address for a newsletter sign-up unless this has been made completely clear.

Search engine optimization is potentially being one of the best and most effective ways to market your business once GDPR comes into effect. To make your business best and most effective as per GDPR Compliance, you can opt for the Best SEO Services.

Implications of GDPR on SEO are as follows:

GDPR after Brexit: Organizations based in UK that will be handling data related to EU citizens regardless of Brexit will be affected by GDPR. The UK’s Data Protection Bill will implement the GDPR and may even impose higher standards as UK’s Protection Bill and GDPR goes hand in hand so even if the UK is not in the EU anymore it will have greater or similar obligations as the GDPR. Even after Brexit is completed, it is important to reiterate that GDPR will still be relevant. While the UK is still a part of the EU the new regulation will come into force. GDPR needs to be implemented by UK lawmakers into national law as it is a regulation and therefore directly applicable to UK national law as opposed to a directive.

Personal data: The term ‘personal data’ is broadly defined as any type of information that relates to an identifiable or identified ‘natural person’. The personal data allow a natural person to be easily identified based on the data such as their ID number; IP address or their cultural/genetic/mental/economic/physical/physiological attributes or features. The GDPR functions with a new and different definition of the term personal data. All data that could be used to identify an individual can be considered personal data under the GDPR and as such be subject to the GDPR. Any information that can be used directly or indirectly to identify the person which is related to a Data Subject or a natural person are included. It can be anything from a name, a computer IP address, bank details etc.

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Data Protection Officer (DPO): Data protection officers must be appointed within a company under Article 37 of the GDPR. Officers should be appointed in a company where the entity conducts large-scale processing of “special categories of personal data” (such as revealing political opinions, philosophical and religious beliefs, ethnic or racial origin) or where the core activities of the controller or the processor involve “regular and systematic monitoring of data subjects on a large scale”. Article 37 does say that he or she shall be designated on the basis of professional qualities and does not state the exact credentials that are required for a DPO. It also states the ability to fulfill the tasks referred to in Article 39 and expert knowledge of data protection law and practices.

Penalties: Organizations that breach the regulations may be fined either between 2% to 4% of their annual global return or 20 million whichever is higher when GDPR in enforced. Failure to address the issue and frequent breaches of the regulations can even result in higher fines up to 40 million. So, it is important to comply with the GDPR otherwise you have to face some hefty penalties.

Record Keeping: Article 30 says that GDPR organizations are required to keep detailed records o their own processing activities and these include the time limit for erasure and a description of the security measures taken, categories of recipients to whom personal data is disclosed, reason for processing, and description of the categories of the Data Subjects and personal data. GDPR does not distinguish between external and internal records anymore and now there is only one kind of record that is an internal record. Therefore, now a lot of small and large firms will be obliged to keep the records. Those enterprises that employ 250 employees or more than that have to keep a record of processing activities.

Individual’s rights under GDPR: Along with the right to object to direct processing, profiling, and marketing of their data GDPR also provides greater rights to access any data referring to them. Individuals also have the right to be informed, right to data portability, right to rectification, right to object, right to erasure, right to restrict processing, right to access etc.

Is GDPR retrospective? The EU adopted a 2-year long transition period which was intended to allow an organization to prepare for the Regulation and for this reason GDPR is not retrospective. This means that GDPR have been in the ‘transition period’ for the past 18 months and GDPR has actually been in force since 2016.

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