Store Reporting Tools

This page describes the private reporting tools used to run matthewphilip.com, an online store selling aerial photography prints of Australian coastlines. It is published here so that the purpose of the application is clear to anyone reviewing it.

What the application does

It is a small command line reporting tool. It reads performance data about this store from Google, and produces reports that help decide which products to photograph next, which pages need rewriting, and which product listings have errors that stop them appearing in Google Shopping.

It is not a public product. It is not offered to anyone else, it has no sign-up, and it has exactly one user: Matthew Philip, the owner of this store.

What data it accesses

The application requests two Google scopes, and only for the Google account of the store owner:

• Search Console, read only (webmasters.readonly). Reads search performance data for matthewphilip.com: the queries people used, impressions, clicks and average position. It cannot change anything in Search Console.
• Merchant Center (content). Reads the product feed for this store and the diagnostics Google reports against it, so that disapproved or incorrectly formatted listings can be found and corrected.

Both are limited to properties and accounts that the store owner already owns and administers. The application does not read Gmail, Drive, Contacts, Calendar, or any other Google service, and it cannot access data belonging to anybody else.

How the data is handled

Data is requested at the moment a report is run and written to a file on the store owner's own computer. Nothing is uploaded to a server, nothing is stored in a database, nothing is shared with any third party, and none of it is used for advertising. The Google credential is held in a file on that same computer, readable only by the owner's user account.

No customer data is involved at any point. The application only reads aggregated search statistics and the store's own product listings.

Google API Services User Data Policy

Use of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Privacy and contact

Our full privacy policy covers this store and its customers. For any question about this application, email matt@matthewphilip.com.