Search engine visibility
The
idea of building a website completely in Flash may appeal but first consider that Flash (a .swf file embedded
into a web page) is invisible to search engines. A .swf is a complied application that search engines only see as an object. So, what is seen with the human eye is not the same that seen by search engines.
Some sites use complete Flash on their landing pages as intro's to the rest of the site. This is also a bad idea as the landing page is perhaps
the most significant first page of entry to your site and a key page that would be indexed by search engines. If you
choose to use Flash in your website, use elements of it in your pages as opposed to an entire Flash website. Flash can be great for building applications, advertising banners, site marquees, carousels, etc., but using it to build entire websites or pages would hide
away your rich keyword content and other search engine crucial elements.
Recent Google improvements
Google has made improvements to index Flash files by recognizing text content within Flash. This does not include image text, for example vector graphics.
Limitations:
- Google won't detect text within a SWF that has been loaded into an embedded SWF (embedded SWF = the Flash file that corresponds with the HTML page).
- FLV: Flash Video files cannot be indexed as though don't contain text
- Cannot categorize text into meaningful or prioritized components, for example H1 tags or correct linked text
- Google can crawl a URL link wihin a Flash file, but dangers are strange processing could occur, and he URL would carry less wieght compared to a HTML page
- Google ignores Flash URLs with #anchors
- Breaking text into individual letters for animated effects would render the text useless
What Google supports:
- SWFObject and SWFObject2.
Best practices when using Flash
- Text and content kept in HTML
- CSS for design
- Flash for animation, video or games, etc.
Useful links