Adobe Flash is one way to add media and rich Internet applications to a website. Done right flash is visually appealing and encourages a high level of interactivity with visitors making a website "sticky".

The problem with flash is that search engines like Google and Yahoo choke on understanding what content and links are contained within it. Because of this limitation, when incorporating flash into a design my recommendation is to do so sparingly to enhance an already search engine friendly website. Websites designed entirely of flash and not optimized correctly are completely invisible to the search engine robots whose job it is to determine what a website is about (To get a better idea of how search engine robots "see" a page try the Search Engine Robot Simulator). Being invisible to search engine robots will have a negative impact on a websites search rankings.

Optimizing Flash Websites
So we know that search engines cannot easily understand website content and links contained in flash. To optimize around this problem, code specifically for search engines to read must be embedded on all pages containing flash. This requires a bit more work and some technical skill or a designer/SEO professional with some JavaScript knowledge. Embedded content should contain identical information to what is already contained - hidden - in the flash. I won't get too specific on the technical details of doing this but more information can be found on the Google Code website under SWFObject as a standards-friendly method to embed and optimize Flash content.

Labels: Google, SEO Strategies, Website Design