Why do advertisers need a W9 and posted privacy policy?

Some platforms require a W9 and/or a posted privacy policy for advertisers.

W9

The purpose of requiring a W9 is to verify the authenticity of the advertiser. It proves the advertiser is legit and real. There are other manners to verify this, however they are more intrusive and timely to complete. A W9 is a common IRS tax document that all businesses should already have on file, including sole proprietorships.

Privacy Policy

A publicly posted privacy policy satisfies privacy regulations on data collection. It lets visitors to a website or app know what information is collected about them and how it’s used. Even if your website doesn’t appear to collect and use information from users, such as through a submission form, your website almost certainly is. It doesn’t have to be personally identifying information. Collecting website traffic data, such as pageviews, is collecting data on the user, which must be disclosed in a privacy policy.

Even if you aren’t doing advertising on a platform requiring a posted privacy policy, lack of one is hurting organic search rankings as that is something Google and other search engines consider in its ranking algorithm. (Google’s policy can be read here: https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/1348695?hl=en)

How do I post a privacy policy? In most cases, especially if you aren’t collecting and using personal information, privacy policies don’t have to be complicated. Work with your website developer to post a privacy policy if you don’t already have one. They have been recommended on websites for years and any experienced website developer should already be aware of this and have a solution.