Optimizing Flash Files For The Search Engines

What’s a Flash Movie?

A flash movie, or shock wave file (SWF), is that the file format revealed when a Flash movie is exported. A SWF file will conjointly be exported by several alternative Macromedia or Adobe Products. The SWF is typically an animation, dynamic menu, or highly interactive internet-based application embedded into an HTML page. Flash files, when exported correctly for the best net-based optimization, are compressed, thus creating their file size lightweight. The SWF format is good for presenting vector-based mostly, interactive and animated graphics with sound and video for the web. Vector pictures are ideal as a result of they will not “pixilize” if stretched or compressed. Flash files will also contain text which will be animated, static or dynamically populated from external sources, such an XML file or a database. Text embedded in a very Flash file, for several years, might not be read by search engines. But, recent updates by Macromedia are making this a possibility.

Problems with Flash and Search Engines

Historically, it has been tough to induce Flash content indexed and ranked by search engines. In the past, search engines, such as Yahoo and Google, didn’t spider Flash content as they might not read the compressed file and much of the text inside the SWF appeared as graphics to the search engines.

The most page of a net website, if Flash-based mostly, rarely ranked well, unless off-page factors like link popularity or link reputation were sufficient enough to carry the page. Flash files that were indexed by Google, Lycos and alternative search engines, that failed to have any text or key words related to them within the search engine results pages (SERP).

Techniques Used in the Past to Create Flash Visible to Search Engines

Ancient Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques would help your site get indexed, however not rank for search terms. Each web site wants a minimum of one HTML page to load into a browser. For a internet site developed utterly in Flash, developers would embed their flash files into an HTML document and then create the meta tags in the head section of the HTML file. They would additionally add descriptive HTML text for the search engines within the body section of the HTML page, then use CSS positioning and percentages to load the Flash move in an exceedingly pixel-perfect location over the top of text. This explicit technique should not be used any further, as search engines can view this method as an try to add hidden text, and hidden text will incur a penalty from the engines.

Another technique that might facilitate your Flash ranking is to not compress your SWF files. One in all the reasons search engines may not browse flash files within the past is {that the} files are compressed. If the SWF is uncompressed, search engines can browse the static text. This method will be accomplished easily. Upon exporting a Flash file, you’ll be able to set the compression to “not” if you wish your text within the Flash movie to be readable by the search spiders. But, this is often not a smart observe, as not compressing your SWF can increase the file size, consequently negating a major profit to Flash file – a light-weight file.

What Macromedia has Done to Create Flash A lot of Visible to Search Engines

Within the past, Google did index Flash files. Anyone will test this reality out by searching in Google using the “filetype” operator to restrict your search. For example, try the following search: “Casino Games filetype:SWF”. The SERP will embrace over two hundred Flash files, which are indicated by the “Flash” text to the left of the listing.

Some search engines are now using the Macromedia Flash Search Engine SDK (Software Development Kit). For instance, Google, AllTheWeb, Lycos, and different sites will readily show links to Flash content. Flash Search SDK is and open supply tool that enables search engines to modify it to suit their needs. With this level of customization, it’s seemingly that the key search engines can modify SDK, making it troublesome for web site owners to understand specifically what info can be pulled out of the SWF file or how it can impact actual rankings.

The Macromedia Flash Search Engine SDK can be found at

http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/download/search_engine. Consistent with the Macromedia/Adobe net site, The SDK includes an application named ’swf2HTML’. Swf2HTML extracts text and links from a Macromedia Flash SWF file, and returns the information to an HTML document. Swf2HTML is provided as a compiled application and as a static library for linked library implementation. SDK can interoperate any links that are in the action script therefore long as adhere to the following criteria:

• The link is contained among single quotes (’ ‘) or double quotes (” “), and
• The link prefix is HTTP, and
• The link suffix is HTM, HTML, CFM, SWF, JPG, JPEG, MP3, or WAV

By default SDK extracts the following text from your flash file:

• Text on stage in the present movie (dynamic text, static text, or input text that has an initial worth assigned)

• Text on stage during a movie that is referred to as with movieClip.attachMovie()

Google can see certain text in Flash files currently, however how and where sure text gets extracted depends on what you do with that text in the Flash presentation. For example, text that’s static or is used in a motion tween can be read as a single instance with SDK. But, some animation involves changing text into a symbol and then using multiple copies of that image to achieve a desired effect. This can create duplicate instances of your text to the SDK output, that might be viewed as duplicate content and not given abundant importance by Google.

Using the SDK tool, any developer can get the text output from the SWF and see how search engines view the extractable text of any SWF. On a Windows operating system, you can move to the DOS prompt and execute the swf2HTML application terribly easily. The following is an example from the DOS prompt: C:sdkswf2HTML -o test.HTML C:sdkcrt_webfilestest.swf

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Techniques Used Historically for Flash
Every Flash file does not want to be uploaded independently and called as a SWF file; rather a Flash file can be embedded in a standard HTML document. One in all the most effective techniques is to make a modular net web site, where there are several Flash files that create up the web page combined with normal HTML elements. A hybrid web site like this, works especially well, if your navigation uses ancient HTML links. You can use cascading vogue sheets to administer the looks of flash text links. This sort of hybrid site can continuously rank better than an all Flash web site – all alternative factors being equal. It’s also necessary to own your HTML page title correct, no matter something else. Several search engines study meta titles first. In addition to the page title, you can add meta tags to the top of the file. Outside of the particular HTML page, off page factors are important. There has been abundant written in recent articles that reciprocal links don’t seem to be as necessary any longer, but definitely, one-method links pointing to your website from highly relevant and high ranking pages can increase your page rank. In addition links from prominent directories, like Yahoo and Business.com, placed in the most relevant classes will help. One-way inbound links from relevant sites remains the best method to extend your ranking with or while not Flash.

There are programming techniques that work whereas in the Flash authoring environment. While you are in the Flash authoring atmosphere, with your FLA open…click F12. It will generate the HTML page for you. Have a look at the code of the page; it creates an area for you to place the text and URL’s employed in the Flash.

New SEO Techniques for Flash
These days there are many techniques which can overcome the limitations of the past, where Flash files are concerned. With the inception of the new Macromedia Flash eight, there are techniques which will be implemented to greatly increase the power of search engines to index Flash files and even rank for key words.

Within the past, SWF files might not have titles. This is often one vital reason why Flash files did not rank well. This title limitation has now changed. Flash 8 does allow you to input meta data. Flash 8 defines 2 fields with meta information for all Flash files. These two fields are Title and Description. You’ll be able to access the meta knowledge fields under Document Properties. To feature meta knowledge, fill in the text fields and the search engines can know what information to show concerning your Flash file.

SDK is fairly intelligent in terms of recognizing text and links that are embedded within the file. If text is static or dynamically driven by an XML or text file, it can be read. If your content is dynamically driven it should be done therefore using the newest version of ActionScript 2.0. The SDK does parse ActionScript 2 byte code trying for links. It might conceivably find the link to the XML file that means and hand it back to a hunt engine.

As referenced earlier, bound text can be changed into a symbol instead of strait text. For example, a button might have the text output 2 or three times. Alternatively, tweened text has motion related to the action. Tweens lead to a single incidence within the output from the extraction process. You must also notice {that the} link text within the Google results page is the image of the first couple of lines of text at the very high of the text extracted by swf2HTML. Armed with the data of how SDK parses your content, you can manipulate text in your Flash Movies a lot of carefully and create your content key word dense, easily indexable, search engine friendly and, with a very little more talent, even optimized.

What’s the gist of all this? Flash remains not the best solution for a pure SEO-based project, however their are large leaps forward by both the search engines and Macromedia in permitting your flash files to be indexed and even rank for the key word phrases you covet.

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