Standards

• Black Hat SEO - Worst practices, software and gimmicks to avoid.
• The Classification of Search Engine Spam - Offers a guide to search engine spam that allows search engine marketers to objectively evaluate actions to see whether those actions equate to spamming a search engine. Aims to provide the basis of an industry standard.
• CommercialAlert Complaint to the FTC - Details CommercialAlert's 2001 complaint of deceptive advertising in search results, and the FTC's ruling from 2002.
• The Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations 1988 - UK Act of Parliament that covers misleading advertising on the Internet.
• The Curse of Cloaking - Describes the action of cloaking and explains why you should not do it.
• Customer's Guide to Ethical Search Engine Optimisation - A series of articles that help discern ethical search engine optimisation services from unethical ones. Advice on how to deal with unethical providers and how to reduce the risk of investing in such services is also included.
• Email Marketing Ethics and Spam Reporting - Guide to avoiding being spammed and sending e-mail without spamming.
• FTC Halts Internet Pagejacking Scam - Documents how the FTC stopped a scheme to mislead consumers to porn sites via search engines. First time a government agency asserted regulatory authority over search engine listings.
• Nigritude Ultramarine FAQ - Originally created for an SEO contest, this FAQ answers a wide range of questions about search engine optimization with a focus on the ethics of various SEO techniques.
• Search Engine Optimization Standards Discussion - Examines the issues surrounding SEO standards of conduct.
• Search Engines: Economics & Ethics - Talks about the difficulties in getting listed in a search engine and search engine ethics implications.

• Search Engine Disclosure Ratings: May 2003 - Reviews major search engines to see if disclosures of paid content are clear and conspicuous. (May 30, 2003)
• Desperately Seeking Search Engine Marketing Standards - Reviews efforts to create standards for SEO industry and search engine marketing professionals. (November 5, 2001)