Search Engine Optimisation Web Log (BLOG)
Editor: Matt Paines

| This News Blog is dedicated to bringing news, information and innovations targeting the Search Engine Optimisation industry.

Government considering cinema-style website ratings

The government is looking into the idea of introducing a cinema-style rating system to classify websites in a bid to provide a child-safe surfing environment.
 
Culture Secretary, Andy Burnham, has said that the government was considering a range of options to protect children from harmful online content, such as giving age ratings to websites or forcing ISPs to offer services that only allow access to websites suitable for children.
 
Burnham also said that he intended to seek discussions with the new US administration with the view to establishing a system of international rules covering English-language websites.
 
If Mr Burnham's plans get the green light, then such a system could have significant implications for search engine optimisation, with the emphasis of SEO moving ever more towards content.
 
Search marketers and regulators will also need to be aware of the side effects created by film certification, with many questioning the usefulness of the system.
 
Websites rated as unsuitable may benefit from the forbidden fruit phenomenon experienced in the film industry, whereby both children and people in general are attracted to content with an adult rating.

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