IP Addresses

What is an IP address?

An IP address, short for Internet Protocol address, is a unique numerical address for your computer that identifies your device when using the internet. All websites receive the IP address of each visitor because this is the way devices online are able to find each other. Without an IP address your emails, search results or any online content could not find its way to you.

How Ecosia protects your IP address

From September 2023, we will be gradually rolling out our new unique search offer. This will happen over several months and won’t apply to everyone at the same time. This means that when you search through Ecosia, we work with either Microsoft Bing or, with your consent, Google to provide you with search results and ads. In order to do this, we automatically collect data required by search partners to prevent bot attacks and ad fraud - which includes your IP address and search terms.

We only collect and process data that is necessary to provide you with the best search results (which include your IP address, search terms, and session behavioral data). Beyond this, we will give you the choice to consent to the collection and sharing of data, and you will always have the right to opt out of that at any time. We don’t collect any further data from third parties.

Internally, we anonymize your IP address after a maximum of 7 days. Microsoft will anonymize your IP address after 6 months, and if you consent to receive Google search results, your IP address will be anonymized after 9 months. For more information on how our search partners handle your data, please see their privacy statements linked below.

To learn more about how Ecosia protects your data, see our Privacy page.