The debate is on for long time whether SEO should be self regulated or regulated by the Advertising Standard Agency. The UK code of Advertising Practice has also been the subject of discussion for SEO regulation.

Surprisingly nobody is discussing about what those standards should be.

Kerry Nielson, the director of legal and public affairs with the Periodical Publishers Association, informed the Association of Online Publishers that some advertising platforms cannot be regulated by ASA only because they fall outside its jurisdiction. She appealed to the online advertising sector to take a decision on self regulation or new legislation for SEO.

ASA acknowledges its limitations on issuing edicts on contents which are not in paid-for online space. It is in fact difficult for a regulator to control vast domain of search on the Internet. SEO is mainly meant to shut down the competition. It raises the visibility of one company at the cost of the other. It hardly makes wild claims about the high quality of product or service.

Since Ofcom or ASA do not seem to be in a position to monitor the sector, self regulation will be a better option for the industry to adopt. It will be in the industry’s own interest to hold extensive debate and come out with specific rules at the earliest.