The Search Marketing Advisor Newsletter Article:
December 2004, Volume 3, Issue 8

Optimizing Flash for Search Engines: The Practicality Beyond the Hype

by John Krochune, Algorithmic Search Manager, iProspect

In September 2004, the search engine marketing industry was abuzz about Google finally having the ability to index Flash content. Macromedia’s Software Development Kit (SDK) had made it possible for search engines to convert Flash files into HTML, thereby enabling crawlers to index the content and links embedded within the files.

But how new was this news? This topic has a history. At the Search Engine Strategies Conference held in Boston in March 2003, the search engine FAST claimed it had the ability to index and follow links embedded in Flash. At that time Google claimed that their spider could also follow such links. Suddenly, a year-and-a-half later, the subject was hotter than ever due to the discovery of a file type indication of [FLASH] in Google’s results.

Less than Ideal

While Macromedia’s SDK makes it possible for a search engine to index a Flash file’s content, the format is less than ideal. The common elements for an HTML file are missing. In Google, the content of an HTML page’s title tag becomes the search engine’s results link. For a Flash file, the first words of the file’s content generate the content of the search engine result’s link, which can look particularly odd if it is a list of unrelated words. Seeing this kind of result, a user may have no idea of the subject/theme/content of your Flash file, and may choose not to access it.

Workable Alternatives

Because of this potentially clumsy user experience, the use of a Flash movie embedded in an HTML page is an excellent alternative. Using this method, one gets the “flashiness” of the animation without giving up the HTML elements that search engines use to rank and display your site in their results. With a keyword-focused title tag, links, and text coded in HTML, the page is better optimized for the search engine result pages.

If, however, a business decision has been made to create a site entirely in Flash, then these recommendations should be kept in mind:

Use keyword rich content. Incorporating keyword phrases into a clear statement describing the file’s theme will help search engines give relevancy to the Flash file. In addition, placing the statement as the first line of text in the file is ideal.
Create separate Flash files for different topics or themes. Having all of your site’s content in one file limits your chance of ranking on a range of keyword phrases.
Implement thorough linking schemes throughout the site.

In tracking this issue diligently since September 2004, we have yet to see a page entirely coded in Flash appear in the top ten results in any search engine on a competitive keyword. It may be too early for this type of site to rank, but given enough time, an optimized .swf file could garner a tremendous number of links and be a true contender for a top search result.

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The Search Marketing Advisor Newsletter Article: December 2004, Volume 3, Issue 8

Optimizing Flash for Search Engines: The Practicality Beyond the Hype

The Search Marketing Advisor Newsletter Article:
December 2004, Volume 3, Issue 8