How to Add a Privacy Policy in WordPress (The Easy Way)

Launching a new WordPress website can be exciting, but there’s one super important page many people overlook: the privacy policy.

It’s easy to think of privacy policies as something only large companies need. But with privacy laws becoming more common, every blog and website needs one.

The challenge is that most beginners don’t know how to create a legitimate privacy policy and then display it on their websites. Some try to write one from scratch, while others avoid it completely, and both approaches can lead to issues further down the line.

That’s why I’ve put together this step-by-step guide to help you out. In this article, I’ll show you the simplest way to add a privacy policy in WordPress, without any legal jargon or hassle.

What Is a Privacy Policy, and Do You Need It on Your Website?

If your website collects personal information from visitors, then you need a privacy policy. This is a legal document that explains exactly what information you collect and how you use it.

In many countries, having a privacy policy is required by law. But even if it’s not legally mandated where you are, it’s still a good idea to create one.

A privacy policy shows that you care about the visitor’s privacy, which helps to build trust with your audience.

Going further, here are some ways a typical WordPress site collects user information:

• Name and email address in comment forms
• Comment form cookie, which remembers a user’s name or email address
• Name and email addresses submitted through a contact form
• Name and email address submitted to sign up for an email list
• Information collected when users register on a website
• Google Analytics tracking
• Facebook page plugin and ‘like’ button cookies
• Other social media platform widgets that track users
• Advertising programs like Google AdSense, which track users

This data can be directly collected by your site (known as first-party data) or through services you use, like Google Analytics or social media widgets (third-party data).

With that in mind, every website should have a privacy policy page. This helps protect your business from legal problems and builds trust with your audience.

Does your WordPress blog or website collect any personally identifiable information from visitors who live in the European Union (EU)?

Then you’ll need to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This applies even if you’re not located in an EU country yourself.

The GDPR is all about giving EU citizens more control over their personal data, and a key part of this law requires you to add a privacy policy to your site.

What Should I Include in my Privacy Policy?

Creating the basic content for your privacy policy is made much simpler thanks to helpful tools. Essentially, you’ll need to clearly list all the ways your website collects or plans to collect user information.

In more detail, your privacy policy should contain the following:

• Information you collect about users visiting your website.
• Methods used to collect information, like cookies and web beacons (similar to cookies), sign-ups, registration, and comment forms.
• Any third-party advertisers who collect user information on your website, like Google AdSense.
• Links to the privacy policy of each advertising program you use.
• How users can block cookies and opt out of third-party advertisements.
• Your contact information, so users can reach out with any questions.

Thankfully, there are many tools that can automatically create text for your privacy policy or terms of service pages. WordPress also has its own basic privacy policy generator that you can use.

Another option is using our WPBeginner privacy policy page as a starting point. Simply replace all references to ‘WPBeginner’ with the name of your website or business.

How to Add a Privacy Policy Page in WordPress

WordPress has a built-in privacy policy generator that you can use to quickly create this important page. It also has a generic template with instructions on how to add content to this basic privacy policy, saving you even more time and effort.

That said, let’s see how you can add a privacy policy page in WordPress.

Step 1: Choose Your Page

To get started, head to Settings » Privacy in your WordPress dashboard.

One option is creating an entirely new page, where you’ll display your privacy policy.

To do this, click the ‘Create’ button.

This will create a new page and open it for editing.

You can now make changes to this page using the standard WordPress block editor.

If you want to add the privacy policy to an existing page instead, then open the ‘Use This Page’ dropdown.

You can now choose your page and then click the ‘Use This Page’ button.

You’ll typically want to make some changes before publishing this page, so click the ‘Edit’ link.

This will open the default privacy policy in the WordPress editor.

You can now make your changes to the privacy policy.

Step 2: Customize the Privacy Policy

No matter which method you use, the default privacy policy will include instructions on how to edit each section.

You’ll see it has sections for the different ways your WordPress website might collect personal information, such as through comments, embeds, and login cookies.

It will also have sections with no information, such as for contact forms and analytics.

For contact forms, you can mention what information you collect and how you use it. If you’re using the WPForms plugin, then you can easily create GDPR-compliant contact forms.

If you’re using Google Analytics, then you can check out this guide on Google Analytics and GDPR compliance.

You’ll also find a section dedicated to information about cookies and how you use them on your site. This is crucial for transparency, explaining to your visitors what cookies are, why your site uses them, and how users can manage their preferences.

However, for even greater transparency, I recommend creating a separate cookie policy, which I’ll discuss below.

Step 3. Add a Cookie Policy (Needed for Compliance)

The default template already mentions login cookies. However, you’ll need to add information about any other cookies used by your WordPress plugins, core features, or third-party services.

The easiest way to do this is using WPConsent. It’s the best cookie and compliance plugin for WordPress. We use it across WPBeginner to show cookie popups and manage user consent.

After installing the plugin, it’ll scan your site and create a detailed list of all the cookies used across your WordPress website.

You can then use this information to create a cookie policy with just a few clicks.

After creating this cookie policy, you can add it to your privacy policy page using a simple shortcode:

[wpconsent_cookie_policy]

For detailed instructions, please see our guide on how to add a shortcode in WordPress.

Step 4. Publish Your Privacy Policy

When you’re happy with how your privacy policy is set up, you can update or publish the page as usual.

You can either click the ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ button to make the page live.

Now, simply visit your site to see the policy in action.

It’s as simple as that! You’ve just added a helpful, informative privacy policy to your site.

Step 5: Adding a Link to the Privacy Policy Page

It’s not enough to simply have a privacy policy on your website. You need to make sure visitors can find it easily.

This helps them access the information they need to make smart decisions about their data, and by being straightforward and transparent, you’ll build trust with your audience.

That’s why it’s a good idea to add a link to a prominent area of your site, such as the main navigation menu, footer, or sidebar.

I recommend adding a link to the privacy policy in your website’s footer area. This way, the link appears on every page without taking up too much space.

There are multiple ways to do this, so let’s start with the easiest one.

Option 1: Adding a Link to Your Cookie Popup

One of the best ways to get visitors to see your privacy policy is by linking to it from a cookie consent popup. This popup automatically appears the first time someone visits your site.

Regulations like the European Union’s GDPR and others actually require you to inform users about your use of cookies and get their permission before you can set them.

So if your website has visitors from those regions, it’s particularly important to create a cookie consent notice.

The good news is that you can easily add a cookie consent popup to your WordPress site with a plugin like WPConsent.

For complete, step-by-step instructions please see our guide on how to add a cookies popup in WordPress.

After setting that up, WPConsent will automatically link to the privacy policy page you selected on your website’s Settings » Privacy screen.

This ensures your visitors can easily find and review your policy right from the popup.

Option 2: Adding a Link in Classic Themes

Many WordPress themes have areas in the footer where you can add widgets. These are also sometimes called footer sidebars.

To check whether your theme has a footer widget area, go to the Appearance » Widgets page.

If your theme has a footer area, then you can add a link to your privacy policy using the Navigation Menu widget.

To start, you need to make a new custom navigation menu by going to the Appearance » Menus page. Here, click the ‘create a new menu’ link.

After that, type in a name for your menu.

Then, click the ‘Create Menu’ button.

In the left column, select your privacy policy page to add it to your menu. You can also check the box next to any other pages you want to include.

With that done, click the ‘Add to Menu’ button.

You will now see all your chosen pages listed under the new menu. You can rearrange these pages using drag and drop.

When you’re happy with how the menu is set up, remember to click the ‘Save Menu’ button to save your changes.

Now, go to the Appearance » Widgets page.

Here, click the ‘+’ button and start typing in ‘Navigation Menu.’

When the right block appears, click to add it to the footer.

Next, you can type a title for your widget if you want. This title will appear above the list of links in your menu widget.

Finally, open the ‘Select Menu’ dropdown and choose the menu you just created.

With that done, don’t forget to click the ‘Update’ button.

You can now visit your website to see the privacy policy links in the footer area.

Option 3: Adding Link to Privacy Policy Page in Block Themes

If you’re using a block theme, you can add a menu using the full site editor. This method is a bit different because it lets you add any menu you have already created. You can then add a link to your privacy policy.

If you haven’t made a basic menu yet, you’ll need to create one before continuing.

Once that’s done, go to Appearance » Editor in your WordPress dashboard.

Here, you’ll see options to customize different parts of your block theme.

Go ahead and click on ‘Navigation.’

Now, click on the three-dotted icon in the left-hand panel.

When it appears, select ‘Edit.’

You should now see the menu you previously created.

Click to select this Navigation block and then click the ‘+’ icon when it appears.

In the search field, start typing in the title of your privacy policy page.

When the right page shows up, click to add it to the navigation menu.

You can now make any other changes you want to the menu, such as adding custom links, a call-to-action button, a search form, or a site logo.

For a deeper dive into managing menus with the Full-Site Editor, check out our guide on how to style WordPress navigation menus.

When you’re happy with how the menu is set up, click ‘Save’ to make your changes live.

Option 4: Manually Add a Link to Privacy Policy Page in WordPress

If your theme doesn’t have a footer widget area or a footer navigation menu, then you can manually add a link to your privacy policy page using HTML code.

To do this, you would normally edit your theme’s footer.php file. However, I don’t recommend this approach because even a small mistake in your code can potentially break your website and cause common WordPress errors.

While block themes offer more flexibility through the Full Site Editor for some HTML, for complex manual additions to your footer, using a plugin like WPCode is the safest and easiest method. It’s the best code snippets plugin that lets you add code to your footer without having to edit your theme’s core files.

Our guide on how to add custom code to WordPress will walk you through setting up WPCode.

When the plugin is ready, go to Code Snippets » Header & Footer in your WordPress admin panel.

Then, you can add the following code into the ‘Footer’ box:

<a href="https://example.com/privacy-policy">Privacy Policy</a>

Don’t forget to replace the href value with the URL of your privacy policy page. You can now save your changes and preview your site to see the link in action.

For more detailed instructions, see our guide on how to edit the footer in WordPress.

That’s all! You have successfully added a privacy policy page to your WordPress site.

Video Tutorial

Privacy Policy FAQs: All Your Questions, Answered

Online privacy is a serious topic, so it’s understandable if you still have some questions about privacy compliance and how it affects your site.

In this section, I’m sharing the most common questions I get asked about privacy polices, and offering some straightforward, practical advice.

Why is a privacy policy important for my WordPress site?

A privacy policy is crucial for informing visitors about the data you collect and how it’s used. It helps build trust with your audience, and it’s essential for complying with multiple international privacy regulations, including the GDPR and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

Do I need a lawyer to create a privacy policy?

While there are plenty of tools and templates that can help you create a comprehensive privacy policy, it’s always best to have a lawyer review it as a final step. That way, they can verify compliance where possible.

What key elements should I include in my privacy policy?

You should list all the data you collect, how you use it, and any other companies that’ll have access to it. Also, tell users how they can manage their personal information. For example, explain how they can request a copy of their data.

I also recommend including your contact information. This makes it easy for users to reach you if they have questions.

How can I display my privacy policy on my WordPress site?

WordPress has a built-in privacy policy generator that you can use.

After generating this policy, add a link in an easy-to-find spot such as your website’s footer. This makes it simple for visitors to access this important information.

Can third-party plugins impact my site’s privacy compliance?

Yes, WordPress plugins can affect your compliance if they collect user data or set cookies. You should make sure all these plugins follow privacy laws. It’s a good practice to check a plugin’s documentation or website for its privacy statement before you install it.

After installing, make sure you update your own privacy policy to include information about what data the plugin collects on your behalf.

How often should I update my privacy policy?

Privacy laws can change, and new rules might appear. By regularly checking your site’s compliance, you can avoid possible fines and other legal problems.

It’s good practice to revisit your policy at least once a year. It’s also important to review your privacy policy every time you make big changes to how your site collects or manages user data.

For the best results, I recommend adding privacy policy reviews to your website maintenance checklist.

Additional Resources: More Information About Privacy and Compliance

Having a good understanding of privacy and data protection is very important for website owners. To help you further, here’s some additional resources that you can explore:

• The Ultimate Guide to WordPress and GDPR Compliance: This step-by-step guide shows you how to comply with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
• Best WordPress GDPR Plugins to Improve Compliance: Avoid fines and damage to your reputation, with our expert pick of the best GDPR plugins.
• The Ultimate Guide to WordPress and CCPA Compliance: Make sure your site is compliant with another important privacy law: the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).
• How to Keep Personally Identifiable Info Out of Google Analytics: Are you tracking your visitors? Learn how to keep sensitive personal data out of your Google Analytics.
• How to Know if Your WordPress Website Uses Cookies: Find out what cookies your website uses, so you can take steps to stay compliant.

I hope this article helped you learn how to add a privacy policy in WordPress. You may also want to see our ultimate guide to WordPress privacy compliance or our expert pick of the best WordPress security plugins.

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