Flash - SEO Optimisation

Its common knowledge that flash and SEO are not very compatible, although search engines are currently experimenting with regards to indexing content found within flash files, don’t hold your breath as this is not expected to be happening anytime soon.

In my opinion its imperative to be proactive and supply search engines with friendly indexable code, and not wait or rely on search engines doing your job for you, if you still insist on using flash we advise to use it sparingly and keep it to a bare minimum level, to see the benefits of greater search engine visibility.

Flash Usage Guidelines:

1) Avoid using “splash screen” landing pages for you homepage, although it may look aesthetically pleasing to the eye, the all seeing and knowing google cant.
2) Avoid using flash based navigation systems on your homepage, web crawlers cant determine links, text or images on an embedded flash file.
3) Ensure Flash code validates using the W3C Validator, web crawlers may decide to leave and stop indexing upon detected invalid code.
4) Ensure non-Flash text Version is available for compatibility, provide with an opportunity to supply search engine and visitors alike viable text alternative if flash is not enabled.

In conclusion seldom use of flash is acceptable, however if you insist on adding flash to your website to give it a more dynamic look and feel, we recommend that flash usage is kept to a bare minimum, and used appropriately for example to deliver media rich content, so long as you adhere to the above guidelines inserting a small flash object onto your websites will not hinder your rankings.

Vipul
SEO Programmer

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