Terms of Service

Ascendant SEO is a web service provided by Ascendant SEO, LLC. By accessing or using the Service and the Website, you agree to the terms and conditions herein. Please read them carefully. If you do not agree with the provisions herein, please do not use the Service or the Website.

 

1. DEFINITIONS

• “Ascendant” means Ascendant SEO, LLC Castle Pines, CO.
• “You” or “Your” means the individual or organization that Registers to use the Service.
• “Website” means the ascendant-seo.com website.
• “Service” means the Ascendant SEO web based service and corresponding documentation, printed materials, online or electronic documentation.
• “Account” means the Ascendant SEO account that you create by Registering on the Website, or is created for you by a User, with all its related items (invited users, report files, email templates, resources and other elements of User Data.
• “User” means any individual accessing and / or using the Service through an Account.
• “User Data” means any data, including Personal Data, that Ascendant SEO processes on behalf of the User in the course of providing the Service. User Data includes invited user email addresses, invited user accounts, report recipient email addresses, keyword and website related stats that are gathered from external data suppliers according to the preferences set in the Account.
• “Subscription” means the free trial period or paid plan you choose on your own, that limits your use of the Service according to their Attributes.
• “Registration” means the process by which you sign up for an Account and provide current and accurate identification information with the scope of accessing and using the Service.
• “Attributes” means the characteristics of a Subscription, included in the description of that Subscription.
• “Resources” means the sources that are available in the Account for processing User Data.
• “External supplier” means a third party provider of infrastructure, billing, IT and customer communication services for Ascendant, or provider of third party data for the User.
• “Terms of Service” means this Agreement between you and Ascendant.
• “Data Processing Addendum” means Ascendant’s binding rules for Personal Data Processing under the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679, amending and supplementing the Terms of Service and being an inseparable part of the Terms of Service.
• “Privacy Policy” means Ascendant’s binding rules for handling Service subscriber or user information.
• “Cookies Policy” means Ascendant’s binding rules for handling Website user information.

 

2. DESCRIPTION OF THE SERVICE

Ascendant SEO provides a suite of tools such as search engine rank tracking, website auditing, keyword research, analytics and search engine optimization (“SEO”) reports. By signing up for the Service, you agree to comply with the following Terms of Service, which govern Ascendant SEO’s relationship with You in relation to the Service.

Ascendant SEO reserves the right to modify, suspend or discontinue the Service at any time, with or without notice, and without any responsibility or liability to you, including, but not limited to, suspending or discontinuing the Service as a result of overuse of the Service or use of the Service for reasons not intended or anticipated, as determined by Ascendant SEO at its sole discretion.

Warranties and Limitations. You understand and acknowledge that the Service is provided to you by Ascendant SEO on an AS IS and AS AVAILABLE basis. Ascendant SEO provides no express warranties, guarantees, or conditions related to the Website or Service. To the extent permitted by law, Ascendant SEO disclaims any implied warranties including those of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, workmanlike effort, and non-infringement and including those arising by usage of trade, course of dealing, or course of performance. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, Ascendant SEO does not warrant that the Service will be accurate, error-free, virus-free, or uninterrupted or that it will meet any specific requirements of a User or Subscriber.

Ascendant SEO will take commercially reasonable endeavors to make the Service available 24 hours per day and 7 days per week (except for planned maintenance which shall be notified to you at least 48 hours in advance and a maximum of 72 hours of planned maintenance per month). Ascendant SEO will confirm immediately when the Service is not accessible.

If the Service is available less than 95% in any one month, except for planned maintenance, You may terminate the service and will receive a pro rata refund of any fees paid.

“Availability” means the total number of minutes during a month, expressed as a percentage, that the Service is available to You, and functioning in accordance with this Agreement, during the month.

Availability is calculated by dividing Net Minutes (defined below) by Total Minutes (defined below).

Availability commitments exclude unavailable situations (i) caused by factors outside of Ascendant SEO’s reasonable control, including any force majeure event or Internet access or related problems beyond the demarcation point of Ascendant SEO’s hosting facility and (ii) that result from any actions or inactions of You.

“Net Minutes” means the total number of minutes in a month, minus the number of minutes in any planned maintenance and the number of minutes the Service is not Available.

“Total Minutes” means the total number of minutes in a month, minus the number of minutes in any planned maintenance.

 

3. CONDITIONS GOVERNING SUBSCRIBERS.

For purposes of this Agreement, a User who pays for the Service shall be referred to as a “Subscriber”. As a Subscriber, you must agree to the payment terms presented to you at the time you Register for the Service.

Ascendant SEO provides a free trial and several fee based Subscriptions. Each Subscription has a monthly or an annual fee, based on the Attributes of the Subscription.

If you would like to upgrade to a higher Subscription level you can do this directly from your Ascendant SEO account settings. By upgrading to a paid Subscription, you agree to pay for the Service provided according to the monthly fee of that Subscription.

Subscribers are responsible for taking action prior to renewal if you do not want your Subscription to renew automatically. You might not receive further notice of your renewal after registering for an account or subscription, and must visit your Subscription and Billing page to find out when your account or subscription is set to renew. Subscriptions recur either monthly or annually, depending upon the renewal term you choose during the Registration process.

You are responsible to ensure that the credit card associated with your account or subscription is up to date, that the information posted in connection with it is accurate, and that you are authorized to use it. If Ascendant SEO cannot charge your credit card, we may cancel your subscription and you may lose access to the Service and any User Data associated with your Subscription.

Invoiced Subscriptions. Some accounts can be paid for via invoicing with mutual agreement between the parties. There may be extra fees associated with invoiced accounts. If Ascendant SEO has agreed to enter into an invoicing relationship with you, all invoices must be paid within 30 days. You agree that Ascendant SEO may charge interest of 1.5% per month for past due accounts and that you are liable for attorneys’ fees and reasonable collection costs arising from Ascendant SEO’s efforts to collect on past due amounts.

 

4. USE OF THE SERVICE

The Service is made available in accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (you must be at least sixteen (16) years old to use the Service). Upon registering, you must provide current and accurate identification information, and other Personal Data that may be required during the registration process and/or use of the Service. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your Service Account and password, and for all activities performed thereunder. Ascendant SEO will not be liable for any loss or damage resulting from your failure to comply with this security obligation.

You agree that you will use the Service in compliance with all applicable local, state, national, and international laws, rules and regulations, including any laws regarding the transmission of technical data exported from your country of residence.

You agree that you are responsible for your own communications and for any consequences thereof. You shall not, shall not agree to, and shall not authorize or encourage any third party to: (i) use the Service to upload, transmit or otherwise distribute any content that is unlawful, defamatory, harassing, abusive, fraudulent, obscene, or contains viruses; (ii) upload, transmit or otherwise distribute content that infringes upon another party’s intellectual property rights or other proprietary, contractual or fiduciary rights or obligations; (iii) upload, transmit or otherwise distribute Private Data that infringes Data Protection legislation in force, including the GDPR; (iv) prevent others from using the Service; or (iv) use the Service for any fraudulent or inappropriate purpose. Violation of any of the foregoing may result in immediate termination of the Service, and may subject you to state and federal penalties and other legal consequences. Ascendant SEO reserves the right, but shall have no obligation, to investigate your use of the Service in order to determine whether a violation of this Agreement has occurred or to comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request.

 

5. CONTENT OF THE SERVICE

Ascendant SEO takes no responsibility for third party content (including, without limitation, any viruses or other disabling features), nor does Ascendant SEO have any obligation to monitor such third party content.

Ascendant SEO reserves the right, at all times, to remove or refuse to distribute any content on the Service, such as content which violates the terms of the Terms of Service herein. Ascendant SEO also reserves the right to access, read, preserve, and disclose any information as it reasonably believes is necessary to (a) satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request, (b) enforce the Terms of Service, including investigation of potential violations hereof, (c) detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues (including, without limitation, the filtering of spam), (d) respond to user support requests, or (e) protect the rights, property or safety of Ascendant SEO, its users and the public. Ascendant SEO is not responsible or liable for the exercise or non- exercise of its rights under this Terms of Service agreement.

User Data. Any data that you create or submit to your Account in the course of using the Service represents User Data and remains your property. User Data is collected, stored and processed in accordance with Ascendant SEO Privacy Policy. Private Data subject to GDPR, that you submit to the Service as part of User Data, is processed in accordance with the Ascendant SEO Data Protection Addendum.

User Data includes, without limitation, keywords, websites, web pages, reports, search engine optimization preferences, keyword and website related stats. Depending on your use of the Service, User Data may include Private Data (such as invited user email addresses, invited user accounts, report recipient email addresses) and keyword and website statistics that are gathered from external data suppliers, according to the connection preferences set in the Account. Connections between the Service and external data suppliers are optional, the Service being operational in the absence of such connections.

Connections can be made only manually from the Account, with external data suppliers such as, without limitation, Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Facebook, Twitter. During the connection process, credentials for the external data supplier are not shared with the Service.

If your User Data includes Personal Data, you are fully responsible to verify that you have the necessary rights and consents to submit the Personal Data to the Service according to Data Protection laws in force.

Confidentiality. In the course of using the Service, you may provide or disclose to Ascendant SEO data that is not known to the general public. This data will be handled by Ascendant SEO as confidential. Without limitation, confidential data includes details concerning software, content, specifications, research projects, products or services, development opportunities or other information that you specifically identify as Confidential. Ascendant SEO will handle such information in confidence, and will not use it except for the limited purpose of performing its rights and obligations under this Agreement.

 

6. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

You acknowledge that Ascendant SEO owns all right, title and interest in and to the Service and the Website, including without limitation all intellectual property rights including, but not limited to, any and all text, graphics, software, data, information, images, music, sound, video, audiovisual works, and data associated with the Service (the “Ascendant SEO Rights”), and such Ascendant SEO Rights are protected by U.S. and international intellectual property laws.

Accordingly, you agree that you will not copy, reproduce, alter, modify, or create derivative works from the Service and the Website. You also agree that you will not use any robot, spider, other automated device to monitor or copy any content from the Service and the Website. Ascendant SEO Rights include rights to (i) the Service and the Website developed and provided by Ascendant SEO ; and (ii) all software associated with the Service.

Ascendant SEO Rights do not include third-party content used as part of Service, including the content of communications appearing on the Service

Ascendant SEO does not claim any ownership in any of the content, including any text, data, information, images, photographs, music, sound, video, or other material, that you upload, transmit or store in your Account. Ascendant SEO will not use any of your content for any purpose except to provide you with the Service.

Trademarks, Copyrights, Proprietary Rights. Ascendant SEO owns the visual interfaces, interactive features, graphics, design, compilation, computer code, products, software, and all other elements and components of the Service and the Website (“Ascendant SEO Content”).

Users may not modify, reproduce, distribute, create derivative works or adaptations of, publicly display or in any way exploit any of the Ascendant SEO Content in whole or in part except as expressly authorized in writing by Ascendant SEO . Ascendant SEO does not grant any express or implied rights in Ascendant SEO Content to Subscribers, and all rights in and to Ascendant SEO’s Content are retained and reserved by Ascendant SEO.

Moreover, the term Ascendant SEO and anything on the Website that identifies or distinguishes Ascendant SEO from other goods are services are registered or unregistered trademarks of the Company (the “Ascendant SEO Trademarks”). Except as otherwise permitted by law, you agree not to display or use in any manner the Ascendant SEO Trademarks without the Company’s prior written consent.

Copyright Infringement. If you believe that your work has been used in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, or your intellectual property rights have been otherwise violated, please notify Ascendant SEO at legal@ascendant-seo.com.

You must provide all of the following in writing: identify the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed (or if multiple copyrighted works, then a representative list of such works); identify the content on the Service and / or the Website that you claim is infringing with enough detail so that Ascendant SEO may locate it; provide a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; provide a statement by you declaring that the notification is accurate, and, under penalty of perjury, that you are the exclusive owner of the copyright interest involved or that you are authorized to act on behalf of the exclusive owner; provide information reasonably sufficient to permit Ascendant SEO to contact you, such as an address, telephone number, and email address; and your physical or electronic signature.

Upon receipt of notice as described above, Ascendant SEO will take whatever action, in its sole discretion, it deems appropriate, including removal of the challenged use from the Service.

 

7. REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES

You represent and warrant that (a) all of the information provided by you to Ascendant SEO to participate in the Service is correct and current; and (b) you have all necessary right, power and authority to enter into the Terms of Service herein and to perform the acts required of you hereunder.

 

8. PRIVACY AND SECURITY

Ascendant SEO will never share your Personal Data with any third party except as provided by these Terms of Service and the Ascendant SEO Privacy Policy. All your Personal Data will be collected and processed in compliance with any applicable privacy laws.

Ascendant SEO may monitor or disclose your Personal Data, including the content of your emails, if required to do so in order to comply with any valid legal process or governmental request (including, but not limited to, pursuant to a search warrant, subpoena, statute, or court order), or as otherwise provided in this Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy.

Ascendant SEO is committed to ensuring that your information is protected against unauthorized access, processing, distribution or erasure. For this purpose, Personal Data that is collected by or sent to Ascendant SEO is stored and processed on secure servers.

Ascendant SEO will not transfer User Data across any country or border unless: (a) the transfer is necessary for the performance of its obligations under the Agreement herein; (b) Ascendant SEO obtains your prior written approval to perform that transfer. In the course of using the Service, you acknowledge that your Personal Data may be subject to transfer outside your country of residence, for the technical scope of providing the Service. Such transfer is made securely by EU-US and Switzerland-US Privacy Shield certified external suppliers based in the European Union and in the US. By using the Service, you consent to any such transfer of information outside of your country.

Ascendant SEO will provide the Service in compliance with all applicable local, state, national, and international laws, rules and regulations. In addition, Ascendant SEO  will make reasonable efforts for maintaining and enhancing a security program with appropriate technical and organizational measures.

These measures include, without limitation:

Physical Access Control. Physical access to Ascendant SEO ’s offices is made by badge access readers.

Logical Access Control. Access to Ascendant SEO’s systems is restricted to employees with physical access within Ascendant SEO’s office. In addition, Ascendant SEO has in place certified network security controls for preventing outside access to the internal network.

Data Access Control. Data is stored securely on Amazon Web Services, Inc. infrastructure, with access restricted via Amazon security groups and authentication based on SSH key pair. Key access is restricted to a limited number of Ascendant SEO employees.

Data Transfer Control. All data transfers between Ascendant SEO and external suppliers, as well as transfers between servers and browser clients, are SSL encrypted.

Data Entry Control. Entry activities are restricted to certain Ascendant SEO employees who are engaged directly in processing your data import / upload requests, or employees engaged in maintenance activities. All data entry activities performed by Ascendant SEO employees, or by Users, are tracked in secured log files.

System Availability Control. Ascendant SEO ensures daily backups of database systems, as well as server failover solutions in place for cases where some of the database servers are down.

Separation Controls. Access to the Service production environment is restricted to Ascendant SEO employees engaged directly in live deployment and system monitoring activities.

All Ascendant SEO employees who are engaged in handling Personal Data and / or User Data are subject to privacy, security and confidentiality contractual obligations.

 

9. ACCOUNT INACTIVITY

After a period of inactivity, whereby a user fails to login to an Account for a period of six months, Ascendant SEO reserves the right to disable or terminate the Account.

 

10. TERMINATION; CANCELLATION

Cancellation. You may cancel your Account at any time by selecting the “Cancel my account” option in the Subscription Details section of your Account. Cancellation does not entitle you to a refund. You will continue to have access to the Service until the end of your subscription term. For security reasons, an email or phone call to Ascendant SEO is not sufficient to cancel your account or subscription.

When you cancel your Account, your subscription will be cancelled and you will not be billed again.

Upon the cancellation, Ascendant SEO will stop data processing activities for the Personal Data and User Data on the Account within a reasonable time which may not exceed 30 days. The information on the Account will be further archived and stored securely in accordance with Ascendant SEO Privacy Policy for a period of 6 months, after which your Account will be permanently removed from our servers and you need to register if you wish to access our service again.

30 Day Money Back Guarantee. If you are not satisfied with your subscription of the Service, you can ask for a full refund, minus the costs involved in the bank transfer. Requests for refund must be submitted within 30 days of the initial subscription date. To request a refund, please contact us by email. Refunds are usually processed within 7 business days from the date the refund request was submitted.

Refunds. Ascendant SEO is not obligated to provide you a refund after the initial 30 days of your subscription. If you choose to cancel your Account during your Subscription term, you will not be refunded in whole or in part. If you choose to downgrade your Subscription level during your Subscription term, you may be entitled to pay a lower, pro-rated amount at renewal, but you are not entitled to a cash refund at any time.

A terminated Account may continue to exist until the cancellation takes effect. Ascendant SEO may at any time and for any reason terminate the Service, terminate this Agreement, or suspend or terminate your Account. In the event of termination, your Account will be disabled and you may not be granted access to your Account or any files or other content contained in your Account.

In case the Service is suspended or discontinued, Ascendant SEO will refund the payment for the period in which the Service was not available.

Except as set forth above or unless Ascendant SEO has previously canceled or terminated your use of the Service (in which case subsequent notice by Ascendant SEO  shall not be required), Ascendant SEO will notify you via email of any such termination or cancellation, which shall be effective immediately upon Ascendant SEO’s delivery of such notice. The sections 4, 5, 6, 8, and 10 – 15 of the Terms of Service herein, along with applicable provisions of Section 2 regarding limitation of responsibility and liability, shall survive expiration or termination of this Agreement.

 

11. INDEMNIFICATION

You agree to hold harmless and indemnify Ascendant SEO, and its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, agents, and employees from and against any third party claim arising from or in any way related to your use of the Service, including any liability or expense arising from all claims, losses, damages (actual and consequential), suits, judgments, litigation costs and attorneys’ fees, of every kind and nature. In such a case, Ascendant SEO will provide you with written notice of such claim, suit or action.

 

12. CHOICE OF LAW; JURISDICTION

This Agreement is to be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws and jurisdiction of the defending party. Service of process upon either party shall be valid if served by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested and to the most current address provided by such party. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods shall not apply to this agreement.

 

13. ASSIGNMENT

Neither this Agreement nor any rights granted hereunder may be sold, leased, assigned, or otherwise transferred, in whole or in part, by you, whether voluntary or by operation of law. Any such attempted assignment shall be void and of no effect without the prior written consent of the parties involved.

 

14. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL ASCENDANT SEO BE LIABLE TO ANY SUBSCRIBER OF THAT SUBSCRIBER’S USE OR MISUSE OF OR RELIANCE ON THE SERVICE. ARISING FROM ANY CLAIM RELATING TO THIS AGREEMENT OR THE SUBJECT MATTER HEREOF SUCH LIMITATION OF LIABILITY SHALL APPLY TO PREVENT RECOVERY OF DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, AND PUNITIVE DAMAGES WHETHER SUCH CLAIM IS BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), OR OTHERWISE, (EVEN IF ASCENDANT SEO HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES). SUCH LIMITATION OF LIABILITY SHALL APPLY WHETHER THE DAMAGES ARISE FROM USE OR MISUSE OF AND RELIANCE ON THE SERVICE, FROM INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE, OR FROM THE INTERRUPTION, SUSPENSION, OR TERMINATION OF THE SERVICE (INCLUDING SUCH DAMAGES INCURRED BY THIRD PARTIES). THIS LIMITATION SHALL ALSO APPLY WITH RESPECT TO DAMAGES INCURRED BY REASON OF OTHER SERVICES OR GOODS RECEIVED THROUGH OR ADVERTISED ON THE SERVICE. THIS LIMITATION SHALL ALSO APPLY TO THE COSTS OF PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES, LOST PROFITS, OR LOST DATA. SUCH LIMITATION SHALL FURTHER APPLY WITH RESPECT TO THE PERFORMANCE OR NON-PERFORMANCE OF THE SERVICE OR ANY INFORMATION OR MERCHANDISE THAT APPEARS ON, OR IS LINKED OR RELATED IN ANY WAY TO, THE SERVICE. SUCH LIMITATION SHALL APPLY NOTWITHSTANDING ANY FAILURE OF ESSENTIAL PURPOSE OF ANY LIMITED REMEDY AND TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

You acknowledge that Ascendant SEO cannot provide the Service at a reasonable price without limiting its liability as set forth herein, so, as an express condition of use of the Service, you agree to limit Ascendant SEO’s potential liability to you as described in this clause. This limitation of liability is a fundamental element of the basis of the bargain between Ascendant SEO and you as a Subscriber.

Ascendant SEO does not: (i) guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information on the Service. Under no circumstances will Ascendant SEO or its affiliates be responsible for any loss or damage resulting from your reliance on information from the Service.

To the extent permitted by applicable law, Ascendant SEO shall not be liable for any consequential, special, or incidental damages or lost profits resulting from your access to or use of the Service, whether based on breach of contract, breach of warranty, tort (including negligence), or any other legal theory. This includes your inability to access or use (including due to modification, suspension, blocking, discontinuance, cancellation, or termination of the Service or any part thereof) the Service. These limitations apply to any matter related to the Service, third party Internet sites, programs or conduct, viruses or other disabling features, incompatibility between the Service and other services, software, or hardware, and any delay or failure in initiating, conducting, or completing any transmission or transaction in connection with the Service in an accurate or timely manner. These limitations also apply even if this remedy does not fully compensate you for any losses, or fails its essential purpose; or even if Ascendant SEO knew or should have known about the possibility of the damages.

Without limiting the foregoing, under no circumstances shall Ascendant SEO be held liable for any delay or failure in performance resulting directly or indirectly from acts of nature, forces, or causes beyond its reasonable control, including, without limitation, Internet failures, computer equipment failures, telecommunication equipment failures, other equipment failures, electrical power failures, strikes, labor disputes, riots, insurrections, civil disturbances, shortages of labor or materials, fires, floods, storms, explosions, acts of God, war, governmental actions, orders of domestic or foreign courts or tribunals, non-performance of third parties, or loss of or fluctuations in heat, light, or air conditioning.

 

15. SEVERABILITY

If any provision hereof shall be held illegal, invalid or unenforceable, in whole or in part, such provision shall be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it legal, valid and enforceable, and the legality, validity and enforceability of all other provisions of this Agreement shall not be affected.

 

16. ENTIRE AGREEMENT

The Terms of Service herein, together with Ascendant SEO Privacy Policy, Cookies Policy and Data Processing Addendum, contain the entire agreement between you and Ascendant SEO related to the Service and the Website and supersedes all prior agreements and understandings, whether oral or written. It may be amended only by a writing executed by both parties.