How to Optimize Flash Sites For Search Engines (SEO of Flash Web Sites)

Following are some tips on how to optimize Flash on your web site: ·
One of the best methods to optimize your Flash pages is to use the NOEMBED tag, the same way the NOFRAMES tag is used to index the sites built on frames. It's between the noembed and noembed tags that text content must be inserted after you have defined a clear search engine optimization strategy for Flash.

·
Another Flash SEO method is the use of a CSS element, .div (which incorporates search engine accessible content), associated with a JavaScript function called SWFObject . This will allow detecting when browsers can display and view Flash. Search engine spiders that cannot handle Flash will choose to view the primary content, which contains links, headings, text, etc. in this case, Flash will not create any problems. It may not cause your site to rise spectacularly in the SERPs, but it will eliminate most of the ranking disadvantages that come with Flash sites.

·
If you're going for the "all-Flash" approach (although most SEO practitioners strongly advise against this), there is also the possibility to create a HTML version of the Flash site and to offer that one for the spiders to index. You can create distinct HTML pages for each Flash page, and install the Flash movie on each page. If the visitor can handle Flash, they will see it. Otherwise, there will still be the HTML version, also accessible to search engine spider for indexing. You might lose the seamless effect that comes with Flash, but you will gain visibility and, possibly, some good ranking.

·
Use the Flash Search Engine SDK tool called swf2html. It will extract the text from the Flash file and transfer it into a simple HTML document, so you don't have to do it manually. You will thus be able to see what the search engine spiders see.Also, it would be useful to take into account some other aspects that might make a difference in your endeavor to make your Flash site compatible (and readable) with search engines.


Seriously consider the following suggestions:
·Avoid creating all-Flash-sites. They lack page structure, content and internal linking, while page titles cannot be well organized.

·Create descriptive page titles and META descriptions (use the title and meta tags).

·Check that your Flash links point to HTML pages and not to other Flash pages.

·Make sure you use a clean design for your pages and your site.

·Allow web users to choose if they want to skip or turn off animations and sounds.

·Go through all the possible solutions for Flash search engine optimization.

·Make sure your site is accessible for a variety of browsers (don't leave out WAP compatible mobile phones).

·Check that your code is valid and that it complies with standards. (read also: "Does your Website Need W3C Validation?") · Make sure that your Flash web site functions correctly in Internet Explorer.