Flash SEO

Flash SEO is a bit of a contradiction by the definition of SEO.  Starting with a Flash based site, you are at a major disadvantage when it comes to creating an SEO friendly website.  

That's not to say optimization of your flash site isn't possible, just keep in mind that you are starting with, and will always have and are starting with a major disadvantage when all other factors are equal for Flash SEO.  

Some things you can do to optimize a flash site for SEO are to make sure you use what you have.  Label everything where you have a chance to label meta data.  For instance, make sure you fill out the right Meta keywords and description, don't get carried away with 30 keywords, but instead spend that much more time picking just the right keywords to use in your Flash SEO. 

For Flash SEO always try to break up the Flash when possible.  If the whole site is based on flash file for instance, you will only have one html page that you can optimize.  To get around this, try to instead include Flash elements all around your site, but have HTML be the base of you website.

Most importantly when attempting to SEO for Flash, you need to build links, and lots of them.  You have a disadvantage with the on-page factors; you can't get around, so concentrate on link building instead.  You have a beautiful site most likely, that is why you choose flash after all, so show it off.  Get some backlinks anywhere and everywhere you can, spend that much more time link building.

Here are some helpful things you can make sure to do if you are face with optimizing a flash website for SEO:

  • Spend that much more time and create very descriptive page tiles and Meta descriptions.  
  • Whenever possible use HTML based webpages instead of one big flash file.
  • Use normal HTML text links with appropriate anchor text whenever possible.
  • If you can fit it in with your visual design, use HTML based text areas on webpages.
  • Make use of the Flash no embed tags and create descriptive text based descriptions.
  • Separate the flash into multiple flash files by topic on your site using new HTML pages to embed the flash into whenever possible.
  • Make use of the Macromedia search engine SDK, but keep in mind that the descriptive text representations in the no embed section are still much more important.
  • There is also a JavaScript plugin that detects on page flash that is XHTML compliant, and if used in the correct way is actually a better method that use of the No embed tag.

Ok, now let’s get a bit more technical for those that really need to know. Here a list of libraries, and methods to further investigate if you are very serious about Flash SEO.

  • SWFAddress  is an open-source JavaScript library that enables Adobe Flash/Flex and JavaScript/AJAX websites and web applications to support deep linking, a practice that enables users to link to a specific section or page of the content. 
  • SWFObject is an open-source JavaScript library used to embed Adobe Flash content onto Web pages, which is supplied as one small JavaScript file. 
  • SWFFit (formerly known as FitFlash) is a JavaScript library used to resize Adobe Flash movies according to the browser window size, keeping it accessible independent of the screen resolution. It is used together with SWFObject.
  • Scalable Inman Flash Replacement (sIFR) is an open source JavaScript and Adobe Flash dynamic web font’s implementation, enabling the replacement of text elements on HTML web pages with Flash equivalents.
  • The FlashVars parameter of the HTML <OBJECT> tag sends variables into the top level of a SWF file when it loads in a web browser. The <OBJECT> tag is used to add SWF files to HTML pages.