As you know, a Flash movie as the index page of a site has always been a major problem with search engine optimization. There’s simply no content for the search engines to index.So when I learned that Google can index the contents of Flash movies, I was amazed. It seemed this important discovery had gone almost unnoticed in the SEO world.
But as you probably know, Google has always been the first to index different types of content: PDF files, .doc files, etc. Google has also made amazing inroads in being able to index dynamic content.
And now they’re the first major search engine to index Flash – another significant step forward in the SEO industry. So why has Flash presented such problems in the past?
Flash and SEO
With a Flash movie as the main page of a site, the Web site owner is giving up the crucial text necessary to prove to the search engines that the main page is about a particular topic. Without that text, the search engines have nothing to index. Therefore, the main page rarely does well in the rankings, unless off-page factors such as link popularity or link reputation are sufficient to carry the page on their own.
In the past, legitimate work arounds were hard to implement. This made things extremely difficult for businesses who wanted to create a rich user experience with a Flash home page, such as Web design firms, photography studios, graphic design firms, and so forth. So, these businesses often sacrificed rankings for the user experience, since they could rarely have both while still following all of the guidelines set forth by the search engines.
The guy who Knows It All
While exploring the Net searching for ways to improve our customers’ ranks in search engines I came across an interview with Greg Drezner, a SEO expert who made some amazing discoveries in this subject while trying to promote a replica watches website. Here is a part of the interview, I’m sure you will find it as exciting as I did.
Question:
Greg, how do we know that Google is now indexing the contents of Flash files? Is there a way that we can search the index just for Flash?
Greg Drezner:
Yes. You can enter your search term in Google, and along with that search term, use the filetype operator and restrict your search to the file extension ג€.swfג€. This will search for your search term only in Flash files. You should see [FLASH] just before each listing in the results page that is a Flash document.
Question:
How much of your Flash movie does Google see? In other words, how deep into the Flash file does the spider go?
Greg Drezner:
In my experience testing the Macromedia tool, I have found that Google sees all the text that the tool can extract including all links . . . everything from top to bottom.
Question:
What about Flash banners? Will Google also index the contents of Flash banners?
Greg Drezner:
Yes. Any Flash presentation, whether full-page or banner size, can be indexed by Google.
I know more than a few people who are now relieved that their flash site is indexed.
However there are even more powerful ways to SEO your Flash websites.
Ask us what we can do for your Flash website via our contact page.
