DISQUS

Mashable - The Social Media Guide: 2008/07/01/google-adobe-flash-search/

  • Patrick Altoft · 1 year ago
    Stan your post is ridiculous, just because search engines can now index flash files doesn't mean they will rank them highly.

    Being indexed and being ranked highly are two very different things.
  • Nataliya Yakushev · 1 year ago
    I still avoid flash at all costs. From my experience its a waste of space.
  • William · 1 year ago
    Obviously, you don't know jack. You can do things in Flash/Flex 10 times faster than in AJAX
  • Anrkist · 1 year ago
    I fail to see where he mentions anything being ranked higher...

    Good news though, it's been a long time coming.

    Now we just need to fill our banner ads with hundreds of keywords and we are set!
  • HelenKovalyova · 1 year ago
    Let's see what will it be and how it will work.
    I still believe in "text" :)
  • Matt · 1 year ago
    OK, this somewhat helps with ONE of the myriad reasons not to use Flash for important content. Now they've just got to address things like:

    a) The fact that Flash breaks in-browser searching (ctrl-F)
    b) The inability to resize text for the visually impaired
    c) Screenreader issues
    d) Issues on mobile devices
    e) Copy/paste

    So, yeah... I can't say this changes anything about how I'll treat Flash in my websites. Still just there to spruce up eye-candy elements, if I use it at all.
  • Andrew · 1 year ago
    This is bad news. It takes away one of the disincentives to using Flash. There's too much Flash on the web already.
  • houseofdixon · 1 year ago
    I suppose there are many reasons that this could be a bad development in SEO methodology, but it seems to me that this falls under the "it's about time" category. I've never like full Flash sites because they get too bulky, but there are some very useful tools that will certainly benefit by having this indexing capability.
  • Fred Hopkins · 1 year ago
    There is an even larger question. Does using flash increase the profitability of your site? If it doesn't, who cares if it will get indexed?
  • Danny Sullivan · 1 year ago
    "This change, however, alters one of the fundamental SEO rules - the one that says that text is king."

    Doesn't change that at all. It's the textual information in Flash files that will be read. Don't got text; don't have anything to rank for.
  • ontokyotime · 1 year ago
    How does this address the issues with deep linking in flash?

    "This Flash file contains the word(s) you've searched for. Good luck finding it!"

    Maybe they can enhance it by adding hints? "Your keyword appears about 2:13 minutes into the animation. Keep your eyes open."

    PDF files have a similar issue. They've been indexed for a while now and are included in search results. The link points to the file not the matching page though. At least Acrobat provides a search within file once it's open.
  • Paul Baranda · 1 year ago
    I agree with Danny Sullivan, text is still important because you can input a paragraph or two of quality, relevant content which the page will be ranked for; while with Flash, you can only put so much textual information which won't help the page rank higher than a page with solid text content. Flash sites may start to get indexed or rank better but not against text-filled sites.

    I've heard this news before, but haven't heard any solid confirmation or timeline.
  • Facey Spacey Technologies · 1 year ago
    I think it's an absolutely fabulous thing!!!!!!! The real question is how do smaller companies get access to the API that let's you see into flash files and analyze their content????

    James
    from
    FaceySpacey.com - "The Startup Incubator"
  • ifoyer.com · 1 year ago
    Hopefully this doesn't mean that it will now take even longer to recache websites with the inclusion of the crawling/ranking requirements of this additional format... Or, no shirt, no shoes, no flash, no ranking? ;)
  • Don M · 1 year ago
    Bravo. Pure linkbait. I loved it. All bulsh*t, but definitely a model of great linkbait.
  • andrew · 1 year ago
    i completely believe now search engine will crawl flash sites also but i don't thin so they will get higher placement in rankings
    Higher placements depends upon links and keywords
    and many other factors
    http://www.paydaycashloansinfo.co.uk
  • live & share · 1 year ago
    flash is just what the name signifies. its only a flash. i think html will still rule.
  • David · 1 year ago
    instead to solve the cases of flash, google should to solve before the cases with JAVASCRIPT and AJAX, flash is shit. I agree with Matt:

    a) The fact that Flash breaks in-browser searching (ctrl-F)
    b) The inability to resize text for the visually impaired
    c) Screenreader issues
    d) Issues on mobile devices
    e) Copy/paste
  • Rich World Ingatlan · 1 year ago
    Hmm it might be a big challange against Microsoft because this is the first result of the Google-Yahoo agreement. And what about Silverlight contents?
  • Fireant · 1 year ago
    This is bad news
  • xersmith · 1 year ago
    Nice article, but having a flash in your site is still a big question. Rank wise? I This text based application is the priority. That's my opinion and what i have noticed.
  • seo_guy · 7 months ago
    I never liked flash sites anyways. The traditional way feel alot better, less bugger, faster load times, and I think looks better. Flash is too flashy I say. Some of the best sites don't even have images!
  • Flash Scope · 3 months ago
    well actually there should be additional feature to be implemented named an alternative content in HTML. Our flash component developers have developed a way to do that so Google can index your website properly.
  • Seo Firm · 3 months ago
    i haven't heard any solid confirmation......