Privacy Policy

Google user data

251 Design operates Ringleader, an internal software tool built and used by 251 Design to manage Google Ads accounts under 251 Design's Google Ads manager account. Ringleader is not a product or service offered to customers — it has a single user (Brad Jones, operating as 251 Design) and is not sold, licensed, or made available to anyone outside 251 Design. Because Ringleader connects to Google Ads (and, read-only, to Google Analytics and Search Console), this section explains exactly what it accesses and how that data is handled.

What is accessed

Ringleader reads Google Ads campaign performance, account structure, and keyword-planning data, and makes structural changes to campaigns, ad groups, ads, and keywords. This covers 251 Design's own Google Ads account and a small number of client accounts 251 Design manages directly, all linked under 251 Design's Google Ads manager account. Separately and read-only, it can read Google Analytics traffic data and Google Search Console search-performance data for properties 251 Design owns.

How access is authenticated

Google Ads access uses OAuth2 authorization granted directly by Brad Jones as the 251 Design account owner through Google's standard consent screen. That authorization produces a refresh token, which Ringleader stores and uses to obtain short-lived access tokens — the same mechanism any Google Ads API application uses, without granting Ringleader an ongoing, independent identity of its own. Google Analytics and Search Console access uses a separate mechanism: a Google Cloud service account that 251 Design has added directly to those specific properties. In both cases, this describes how 251 Design manages its own accounts — nothing about a website visitor's own Google account is ever involved in either flow.

Purpose and use

This data is used solely to manage the advertising and marketing accounts described above — to review performance, plan keywords, and make changes to campaigns, ad groups, ads, and keywords. It is not used to serve ads to anyone, it is not sold, and it is not used for any purpose beyond operating those accounts.

Storage, retention, and AI processing

Credentials — the OAuth refresh token and the service account key — are encrypted at rest and stored only in Ringleader's own private database, never in this website's codebase or database. They are never exposed to any AI model or third party. Credentials are retained only for as long as the relevant Google connection stays active; disconnecting it removes the stored credentials immediately and completely.

Ringleader itself is operated with the assistance of a third-party AI model provider (Anthropic's Claude). To read campaign performance, plan keywords, and make the structural changes described above, the account data being acted on — but never the credentials themselves — is processed by that model provider as part of performing the requested action. This is the account-management functionality the data was obtained for, and no more.

Ringleader keeps an internal audit log of structural changes it makes to Google Ads accounts (what changed, when, and why) for 251 Design's own accountability. That audit log is retained indefinitely as an internal business record, is never sold, and is never shared outside 251 Design.

Limited Use compliance

Ringleader's use of Google Ads, Google Analytics, and Google Search Console data complies with Google's API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Data obtained through these APIs is used only to provide the account-management functionality described above, including the AI-assisted processing described in the section above, which is necessary to provide that functionality. It is not transferred to any other third party, is not used for serving advertisements, and is not sold to data brokers or anyone else.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted here with a new "last updated" date. Material changes to how Google user data is handled will be reflected here before they take effect.