Flash and Findability
For many years I have given up on the idea that flash based web sites could be found through search engines. This is based on the fact that search engine robots cannot read flash based content. So, I am like there is nothing I could do about this right?!
WRONG!!
There is hope!!! There are some ways you can add findability and SEO techniques to flash based web sites. I have done some research and have found a few ways to achieve findability on flash sites.
One way to have a flash site optimized for search engines is to provide alternative content with the flash web site. On SiteProNews.com, Saikat Sengupta says you could use <noembed> and <noscript> tags to show the content of the flash site. The author also says:
“…you can load the Flash file in a <div> and put the Content inside the div so that the text is displayed if Flash file does not load due to any reason.”
Flash, Search Engines and SEO techniques
The only problem with that technique is that it could be easily abused and could be considered a black hat SEO technique and could get you blacklisted.
Another way to add findability to your flash web site is to use SWFObject and SIFR like suggested by Jonathan Hochman’s article, “How to SEO Flash”. Using these open sourced is a safe way to add flash to your site and maintain findability through search engines.
Finally, you could contain the SWF file in a <div> like you would a image on a HTML page and add meta data to the page. This is the most simple way to add findability. And you could use the free, open sourced JavaScript functions to help.
Here are some resources to check out:
“How to SEO Flash” by, Jonathan Hochman
“Flash, Search Engines and SEO techniques” by, Saikat Sengupta
A modern approach to Flash SEO, on deconcept
Tags: findability, flash, flash and findability, search engine optimization, SEO, SEO techniques