How ContentForge uses Google data
The ContentForge Inc.
This page explains exactly how ContentForge accesses, uses, stores and shares data we receive from Google APIs when you connect a Google account. It is section 6 of our Privacy Policy, published on its own; section numbers below refer to that policy.
6.1 Limited Use
ContentForge's use and transfer to any other app of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
6.2 How you connect
An Agency's owner or admin connects a Google account from Settings → Google Connection, and then links each Client's own Search Console property, Google Analytics 4 property, Google Ads account and Business Profile location. Google Sheets is connected separately, per website form. Google shows you each permission before you approve it, and you can approve or decline each one. We only request a permission when you use the feature that needs it.
6.3 What we access and why
| Google permission (scope) | What ContentForge accesses | Why |
|---|---|---|
Your email address (userinfo.email) | The email address of the Google account you connect | To show which Google account is connected, and to tell teammates' connections apart |
Search Console, read (webmasters.readonly) | Search terms, impressions, clicks, average position, pages, devices and sitemaps for the Search Console properties you link | To show search performance in your dashboard, your Client's portal, monthly reports and the MCP reporting tools; to let you pick keywords to track; and for Zeus to find search opportunities |
Search Console, manage (webmasters) | Adding a site to Search Console and submitting its sitemap | Only when you click to set up Search Console for a site published on Mount Olympus |
Site verification (siteverification.verify_only) | Getting a verification token and confirming ownership of a site you publish on Mount Olympus | So ContentForge can verify the site in Search Console for you. We cannot list or remove other owners |
Google Analytics, read (analytics.readonly) | Sessions, traffic sources, key events (conversions), cities and devices for the GA4 properties you link | To show traffic and conversions in your dashboard, Client portal and reports, and for Zeus's monthly scan |
Google Analytics, edit (analytics.edit) | Creating a link between a Client's GA4 property and that Client's Google Ads account | Only to make that one link, when you save the mapping or pick the Ads account. We change nothing else in Analytics |
Google Ads (adwords) | Campaigns, ad groups, keywords, search terms, ads, assets, budgets, conversion actions and performance for the Ads accounts you link | To show the Google Ads tab and portal reports; for the Zeus Ads Review; and to make the changes you choose to apply (for example adding negative keywords, pausing a keyword, creating a campaign in a paused state, setting up conversion tracking) |
Business Profile (business.manage) | The Business Profile locations you can manage: profile details, hours, services, categories, attributes, photos, reviews and replies, posts, and calls, direction requests and website clicks | To show the profile and its performance; to let you or your Client reply to reviews; and to publish posts and profile updates only after you approve them |
Google Sheets (spreadsheets) | Only the spreadsheet you create through ContentForge or whose link you paste for a website form | To add one row per form submission to that sheet. We do not browse or read your other files |
Google Calendar (calendar.readonly, calendar.events) | Busy times on the calendars you choose, and events for appointments booked through The Pantheon | To stop double-booking against your existing calendar, and to add, update and cancel the appointments booked through ContentForge on your calendar |
6.4 What we never do with Google user data
- We never sell Google user data.
- We never use or transfer it for serving advertisements, including retargeting, personalized or interest-based advertising.
- We never use or transfer it to determine creditworthiness or for lending purposes.
- We never use it to develop, improve or train generalized or non-personalized AI or machine-learning models. The providers Zeus uses are contractually prohibited from training on it.
- We never transfer it to data brokers or information resellers.
- We never use it for any purpose other than providing or improving the user-facing features described above.
6.5 Who Google data is shared with
We transfer Google user data only:
- To the people you choose, inside the Services: your Agency's team members, and the Client Users of the Client the data belongs to, in the portal sections you switch on. Sections you hide are never sent to the portal.
- To an AI assistant you connect, when you or your Client User ask it for a report through our MCP server or API (for example "How did Search Console look for Smith Roofing over the last 28 days?"). That assistant's provider then handles the result under its own terms.
- To our service providers, only as needed to provide the features above: our database and hosting providers (to store and serve it) and our language model provider (so Zeus can analyze it). They act on our instructions and are bound to the same restrictions. For example, when you ask for a monthly report summary or another written summary, the Client's Google figures (such as Search Console clicks, Analytics sessions or Google Ads results) are sent to that provider only to write the summary you asked for. The provider does not store them for any other purpose (beyond the short abuse-monitoring period described in section 5) and is contractually prohibited from using them to train its models.
- When required by law, to protect against fraud, abuse or security threats, or as part of a merger or acquisition with the same protections, with notice to you.
6.6 Human access
ContentForge staff cannot read your Google user data unless:
- you give us permission for a specific purpose (for example, you ask support to look at a client's Google Ads tab to fix a problem);
- it is needed for security purposes, such as investigating abuse or a security incident;
- it is needed to comply with applicable law; or
- the data is aggregated and de-identified and used for internal operations as allowed by Google's policy.
Staff access to an Agency's account is logged.
6.7 How Google data is protected
- Google access and refresh tokens are encrypted at rest with AES-256-GCM, with the encryption key held separately from the database.
- All traffic to and from Google, our app and our database is encrypted in transit (TLS).
- Access is limited to the Agency the connection belongs to by database-level access rules, and every team member can be required to use two-step verification.
6.8 Retention and deletion of Google data
- Most Google data is read live when you open a report and is not kept. Some is stored so reports can show history and Zeus can compare periods: for example daily Google Ads metrics, Business Profile snapshots (review count and rating over time), Zeus's findings and Ads reviews, and the record of changes you applied.
- When you disconnect Google (Settings → Google Connection → Disconnect), we always ask Google to revoke ContentForge's access and delete your stored Google tokens straight away. You then choose what happens to the Google data we stored for your Agency (Business Profile snapshots, performance and review summaries, Google Ads metrics, Zeus's Ads and Business Profile history and the Google figures Zeus compares):
- Disconnect and delete the stored Google data (the default): it is deleted straight away. The screen lists what will be deleted before you confirm. If any part can't be deleted at that moment, it is retried automatically and finished within 30 days.
- I'm reconnecting — keep the stored data: it is kept for no more than 30 days after you disconnect, so your history is still there when you reconnect. The screen shows the date it will be deleted. If someone in your Agency connects Google again before that date, it is kept and used as before; if not, it is deleted automatically on that date, exactly as with the first choice. Your tokens are never kept, whichever you choose. Your Clients' links (which Search Console site, Analytics property, Ads account and Business Profile each Client uses) are kept so you can reconnect without relinking; remove them with Remove Mapping or Unlink. Removing a Google Sheets connection from a form revokes and deletes that connection straight away too.
- Stored Google-derived data is otherwise kept while your account is active and the property stays linked. It is deleted automatically within 30 days after you delete the Client, close your account, delete your login or ask us to delete it, and removed from backups within 35 days after that.
- You can ask us to delete your Google user data at any time by emailing support@the-contentforge.com from your account's email address. We delete it automatically within 30 days of your request.
6.9 Revoking access
You can stop ContentForge's access at any time by:
- clicking Disconnect on Settings → Google Connection (and, for Sheets, Stop sending to this sheet on the form), or
- removing ContentForge at https://myaccount.google.com/connections.
After you revoke access, ContentForge can no longer read or change anything in your Google account.