AM Design

Blowing some of the misconceptions about Flash and SEO out of the water.

We can design a Flash website for you whose content is indexable by Google and can be viewed with all portable devices (including the iPhone) and browsers without the Flash plugin. YES… You heard me right. We can do it. (Go ahead… check out our site on your iPhone).

There seems to still be a hard-core group of misguided developers out there that insist that “all Flash websites are bad”. That is simply not true. Just like javascript, JQuery, AJAX, or any other trendy, Web 2.0 tool, Flash is a very valuable and important Web technology, when used correctly.  If you want bad, look to animated GIF’s.  They really are ALL bad!

A poorly designed website is a poorly designed website, whether it uses Flash or not.  A good web designer will use the tools at hand to produce the best web experience possible for the client.  Because the designer used Flash when he/she should’ve used HTML or AJAX doesn’t mean that it’s Flash’s fault.  The responsibilty is on the designer/developer to use the proper technology.

At AM Design, we love the “empty canvas” that Flash offers.  Within the Flash window, you have unlimited possibilities for layout and design, no matter what browser the user views it with.  BUT, we also realize that some projects are best served by old school HTML and javascript.  We do our best to help our clients choose the best path for them, and since we keep up with current trends in Web tech, we are able to utilize all our tools, including Flash, and keep with the current web standards.

Since this is a post about Flash and SEO, though, let’s go over some of the key reasons why Flash is safe for your project:

1. Flash Content Can Be Accessible to Search Engines

The common knock on Flash is that search engines can’t read the content inside the Flash window.  Even though that’s no longer true (see section 4 below), there are other simple ways we can make the content used by Flash accessible. We use a common method called SWFObject to embed Flash into the webpage.  The genius of SWFObject is that is allows us to use what is referred to as “alternative content“.  Most of the content used in our Flash websites/files is held in a database or XML files, so when you load the Flash window, it is dynamically pulling its content from a remote source.  When we build a page, we can pull the same content into the page itself (the “alternative content) along with the Flash file.  When a Flash-capable user views the page, they will see the Flash window in all its glory.  When a plugin-challenged user (Google’s “Googlebot”, for example) views the page, the Flash window will be replaced by the HTML representation of the content.  Search engines will never know the difference.

2. Flash Content Can Be Accessible to Mobile Devices

Keeping with the theory in the previous section, all mobile devices, even the iPhone, are capable of viewing the “alternative content” that we supply in the web page.  We can even “sniff” for iPhone-equipped visitors and show them your content in an iPhone-optimized layout.

3. Flash Player is the World’s Most Pervasive Software Platform

As of June 2009, 99% of Internet viewers are equipped with the Adobe Flash Player.  Also, with the current plugin technology, keeping users updated with the latest Flash Player version is quicker and easier than ever.  In most cases, a player update will take a few seconds, without taking the user away from your site.

4. Google (and soon Yahoo! Search) Can Read Content INSIDE Flash

Yep… That’s the game changer.  In 2008, Adobe announced that they were working directly with Google and Yahoo! Search to make Flash Content (the SWF Format) searchable by their search engines.  That includes ALL previously published Flash content. Then earlier this year, Google announced that they can now index the dynamically accessed content that Flash uses.  Google’s “Googlebot” can now interact with a Flash window just as a human user would, reading all the hard-coded and and dynamically accessed content.  It’s still in the early stages and they are still working to improve indexing, but in the coming months and years, Flash content should be as accessible as anything else on the Web.

5. You Can “Deep Link” Into A Flash Website

Another common knock on Flash websites is that you can’t link directly to a page within a Flash website.  Well, that’s simply NOT true.  At AM Design, we have started using a wonderful new Flash development tool called the Gaia Flash Framework. Gaia (which utilizes another amazing method called SWFAddress) not only streamlines our site development, but it also enhances the user experience by allowing the user to navigate the site using the browser history (“Back” and “Forward” buttons) and save direct links to pages deep inside a Flash website.  Pretty cool, huh?

6. Users Have Grown Accustomed to Flash Interactivity

Flash has been a steady part of Web browsing for over ten years now… since the Internet was an incorrigible adolescent.  Users have come to accept the unique ways Flash can interact with them.  Our goal is to blend Flash seamlessly into the user experience.

When Flash is used properly, it can be awe-inspiring.  No other current technology can offer the immersive experience that Flash can.  Period.  Sure, it can take a little effort on our part to overcome some of the challenges that Flash websites offer, but when it’s done right, it’s so worth it.  So, go ahead.  Don’t be afraid.  We’re professionals.  We know what we’re doing.