Search Engine Optimization Blog

Flash search engine optimization is certainly not as easy as optimizing static HTML web sites but is Flash really the end of the road with your search engine optimization effort?

Search engine optimization is all about relevant content, fresh content, and relevant web sites linking to you. So, what is content? When it comes to search engine optimization, content means “text that search engines can read”. A picture is content but a search engine can not see “rabbit” when looking at a picture of a rabbit. Therefore, you include an image tag on the photo that tells the search engine what is in the picture.

Unfortunately, Flash files do not utilize image tags and even if they did, that wouldn’t be enough. Flash files are seen by the search engines as movies. However, search engines do not have eyes and ears, only the ability to see and identify words, links, and textual content. If a Flash web site is completely written in Flash and the Flash file has 100 pages in it, the search engine only sees one Flash file and not the text in those 100 pages (or frames).

Now you have just completed a Flash web site that has a lot of energy, color, and is exciting to watch by your web visitors. You submit a couple proposal requests from search engine optimization specialist and they all write back with “we need to rebuild your web site in HTML”. Before you start crying and thinking about all the time and money spent on your Flash web site, take comfort in knowing there is a solution.

The solution is simple. You create a web site that is entirely written in HTML and hosted in a directory of your domain name. On your home page, you place a link to the HTML web site which will not only give the search engines something to read but will also make your users on slow internet connections much more interested in seeing your web site. Just as visitors on your Flash web site can click to the HTML section, your HTML users will be able to see your high flying Flash site if they so choose.

“Wait a minute…if I create a mirror web site on my domain name, will Google delist my web site for duplicating content?” The answer is a clear “No.” Google’s policy on keypages and duplicated content is targeted at web sites to use the same content found on another HTML web site but has different keywords and keyphrases throughout the wordage. An HTML version of a Flash web site is just that, an HTML version. You are adding useful content to the search engines while adding a benefit to your web site.

If possible, the best way to avoid such a problem is to not build a web site entirely in Flash. Flash elements like video and audio will enhance your web site but be sure that content is the main character of your web site.