How can we make a Flash website SEO friendly?

Bristol web design Using Flash as a web design tool is a great way to deliver innovative and immersive content, but any SEO expert will tell you that even though the main search engines claim to be able to read Flash text and index it, in practice this should not be relied upon if your site is to be properly indexed.

So can we have a fully Flash home page which is SEO friendly? how can we have the best of both worlds?

Simple. Start with a keyword rich static HTML page, design this for SEO factors such as keyword rich text etc. Click here to read another article on optimising your site for search engines.

When the user loads the page in their browser, if they have Flash and JavaScript enabled, then the static SEO friendly content will be replaced by the Flash home page. In this way the search engine gets nice easy to spider content and it is possible that your search terms can get to the top of Google, and your user gets the full Flash experience.

SWFObject detects whether the user has Flash enabled. This JavaScript object enables you to embed your Flash content in your page in a W3C valid way. If the user has JavaScript enabled in their browser (95% of browsers - Jan 2008 source W3C) the SWFObject will replace the content of your HTML with a Flash object, otherwise the HTML SEO friendly text will be displayed. This is how Google will read your page.

The code example below originally from here, shows you how to do implement the Flash and SEO friendly HTML together.

Example of integrating Flash and SEO friendly HTML

The sample code below is derived from the home page of TrueVector Technologies which includes two Flash objects. The content of that page can now be indexed because search engines can read the HTML-coded content, while visitors with Javascript and Flash can view enhanced visual content.

<html>
<head>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/js/swfobject.js">
</script>    
<script type="text/javascript">        
  var flashvars = {};      
  var params = {        
    wmode: "transparent"      
  };      
  var attributes = {};  
    
  var flashvars2 = {};      
  var params2 = {        
    wmode: "transparent"      
  };      
  var attributes2 = {};
        

  swfobject.embedSWF("/flash/map_test.swf", 
        "myContent", "760", "350", "9.0.0", 
        "/flash/expressInstall.swf", 
        flashvars, params, attributes);    

  swfobject.embedSWF("/flash/homepage2.swf", 
        "headerbanner2", "760", "220", "9.0.0", 
        "/flash/expressInstall.swf", 
        flashvars2, params2, attributes2);    </script> 
          
</head>
<body>

<!--primary content, for non-Flash visitors--> 
<div id="myContent">
  <img src="/images/home-top.jpg" border="0" 
    alt="TrueVector Technologies" height="350" width="760">
</div> 

<div id="headerbanner2">        
  <h1>TrueVector <em>noun</em></h1>
  <p>1) a tool designed to enhance web site navigation. 
    2) by eliminating clumsy dropdown boxes and checklists. 
    3) giving users easier access to data or inventory. 
    4) leading to an enjoyable surfing experience. 
    5) resulting in higher click-through rates and longer 
    site visits. 6) which lead to more return visits and 
    site referrals. 7) ultimately ending in trueVector's 
    customers suffering <strong>higher profits</strong>.</p>
    <p><strong>Syn:</strong> 
    Interactive Map/ Flash Map/ Zip Code Map/ 
    Rate Center Map/ Store Locator Map/ Real Estate Map/ 
    TrueVector Flash Map/ US Interactive Map</p>             
</div>

Flash accessibility programming will not magically cause a site to rise to the top of the rankings, but this Flash SEO method will eliminate any ranking disadvantages associated with Flash.

We've used this Flash SEO method on many high traffic sites. The code has been served hundreds of thousands of times. Sites using this Flash SEO method have achieved top rankings for keywords found only in the Flash content.

Mentor Digital is a Bristol web design and corporate video production company