Privacy Policy

What this site is

MyTopRate ("we," "our," "the site") is a business-search tool that lets you find nearby businesses by zip code or current location, sorted by their Google rating. This policy explains what information the site collects when you use it, and how it's used.

Information you provide

When you run a search, you may provide:

• A zip code, which you type in directly.
• Your device's location, only if you click "Use My Location" and your browser grants permission. We never access your location without that explicit action and browser-level permission.
• A business type or free-text search term (e.g., "restaurants," "vegan bakery").

We do not require an account, a name, an email address, or any payment information to use this site, and we don't ask for any of that.

How search information is used

Your zip code or coordinates and search term are sent, at the moment you search, to:

• Zippopotam.us — a free, independent public service we use to convert a zip code into map coordinates. No API key or account is involved; see their own practices for how they handle requests.
• Google (via our own server) — we run a small server-side function that forwards your search coordinates and search term to the Google Places API to retrieve matching businesses, their ratings, and addresses. Your search never sends our Google API key to your browser; the key stays on our server.

We do not store your searches, your location, or your zip code in any database. Each search is processed and the result returned to your browser; nothing about the search itself is retained by us afterward.

Automatically collected technical information

Like virtually all websites, our hosting provider (Vercel) automatically logs standard technical information for every visit — things like your IP address, browser type, and the pages/requests made — for security, performance, and abuse-prevention purposes. We do not personally review these logs to identify individual visitors, and we do not combine them with your search activity.

Cookies and local storage

This site uses your browser's local storage (not cookies) to remember a small amount of configuration data used to display advertising, if configured. This is not used to track you personally or across other websites.

If advertising is active on this site (see below), Google's advertising systems may set their own cookies or use other tracking identifiers in your browser, separately from anything we control directly.

Advertising

This site may display ads served through Google AdSense. Google and its advertising partners may use cookies and similar technologies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this and other websites, and to measure ad performance. You can learn more about how Google uses this data, and opt out of personalized advertising, at Google's Advertising Privacy & Terms page and at Google Ads Settings.

Your choices

• You can search by zip code instead of location at any time — using your device location is always optional.
• Most browsers let you block or clear cookies and site data through their own settings.
• You can opt out of personalized Google advertising through Google Ads Settings.

Children's privacy

This site is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from children under 13.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time, for example as the site adds features. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision.

Contact

Questions about this policy can be sent to 1640rc@gmail.com.