While Google's inclusion of Flash files in their index is not new, their ability to read the binary in the files themselves appears to be.
To see the flash file content in the search results, search for "
help filetype:swf".
The snippets from the results appear to have been taken from within Flash files:
0% LOADING 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% ...
Loading. Please wait. SKIP BACK Intuitive Intuitive Friendly ...
If you're still not convinced try this search: "
Kingdom Ceramics enter" and look at the 5th listing (as of 4-27). Now compare the text from the Google snippet:
0% LOADING 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% 55% 60% 65% 70% ... Enter Virtual Tour Enter Exhibition (Exit Virtual Tour) "Welcome to the Kingdom Ceramics Virtual Tour!" "How may I help you today?" "Please show me the...
...to the text in the site's Flash file.
I've contacted Google to find out when this went into place and see if there are any official announcements regarding the reading of Flash files.
So, for all you Flash designers out there, it's time to
start learning some SEO.
This news comes from the
Cre8asite forum by way of
SEORoundTable.