Flash now indexed by Google

[firstpixel]

Google is now able to index Flash files.
For example, try a search on "firstpixel filetype:swf".

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&l...filetype%3Aswf

Some files only get an URL without a description, but many do have a snippet clearly taken from the Flash itself.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&l...iletype%3Aswf+

Gilb
http://www.firstpixel.com

[subnet_rx]

this is nice to know. I wonder now if Flash is bad for a site's ranking or good. From what I read, it's bad, but things may be changed now.

[cbp]

IMHO, Flash sites, generally have no content, bore me, waste my time, etc and are not deserving of being indexed by Google - so if Google are now doing this, I disappointed :-)

CBP

[hawkwind dave]

Originally Posted by cbp

if Google are now doing this, I disappointed :-)

you don't look very dissapointed cbp ;-{D

I'm not sure why you'd consider this to be a bad thing, I've had several clients in the past with flash intros on their web site and the first thing i've said to them is "ditch the flash!" Which doesn't go down well as they often respond "my best mate/son spent weeks doing that!"

It would be nice just to not have the flash hurdle to get over, and at the end of the day, proper hard content will always be seen as more relevant by any search engine (IMHO)

[buddhu]

Originally Posted by cbp

IMHO, Flash sites, generally have no content, bore me, waste my time, etc and are not deserving of being indexed by Google - so if Google are now doing this, I disappointed :-)

CBP

Yup. Flash is often a bad sign.

I spent months learning Flash and Actionscript... then abandoned it.

Splash/intro pages are a plague. Flash nav is unnecessary, and IMHO any site that *requires* a browser plugin for visitors to view it is fundamentally flawed.

There is a proper place for Flash... unfortunately, few of the Flash sites I've seen appear to be that place.

Gimme XHTML and CSS any day.

[acidutzu]

Flash is good for your rankin if you know how to us it.

Look at this:
http://www.google.com/search?sourcei...=o+cale+sigura

in first place is my website with a flash header.
Too bad because i don't put the important keywords when i made it :).

Whe could know at that time that will happen.
So personally i think if you know how to put your principal keywords in your flash movie you could get a good position in google.

I'm curios about your oppinion about this.

[buddhu]

Originally Posted by acidutzu

Flash is good for your rankin if you know how to us it.

I doubt that Flash is actually good for your rankings. IMHO if you have the same content executed in Flash and in xhtml/css I would expect (all off-page factors being equal) that the non-Flash version would outperform the Flash. I've written Flash sites, but never had spectacular SE performance out of them.

Originally Posted by acidutzu

So personally i think if you know how to put your principal keywords in your flash movie you could get a good position in google.

Quite possibly, but that isn't the same as Flash being good for your rankings. I'd see that as ranking well *despite* the SEO limitations of Flash.

[Chris]

if you know how to use it correctly, it isn't a bad thing at all, and it does amazing things for your site. see 2advanced.com. however, most flash sites don't even come close to what these guys have done.

although, i'm not sure how they rank SE-wise for whatever keywords they target...

[google junky]

If no one had dialup connections then it might be a little more interesting to see flash. It's more of a way to turn someone away from your site if they have a dialup connection. The site mentioned http://2advanced.com/flashindex.htm takes between 147 and 170 seconds to load on a 56k modem. Waiting 1 and a half minutes or longer isn't going to work and especially without a "Skip Intro" option. Google indexing it won't matter much to me if my competition wants to make people wait that long.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by google junky

If no one had dialup connections then it might be a little more interesting to see flash. It's more of a way to turn someone away from your site if they have a dialup connection. The site mentioned http://2advanced.com/flashindex.htm takes between 147 and 170 seconds to load on a 56k modem. Waiting 1 and a half minutes or longer isn't going to work and especially without a "Skip Intro" option. Google indexing it won't matter much to me if my competition wants to make people wait that long.

no, 2advanced was NOT designed with the dial-up crowd in mind. :)

[buddhu]

Originally Posted by CRich

if you know how to use it correctly, it isn't a bad thing at all, and it does amazing things for your site. see 2advanced.com. however, most flash sites don't even come close to what these guys have done.

although, i'm not sure how they rank SE-wise for whatever keywords they target...

Stunning work. Very clever dudes.

But in most situations I think clever and stunning isn't a substitute for usability and fast download. I still acknowledge that there *is* a place for Flash.

My link in response would (predictably) be to the guys at: http://www.csszengarden.com/ ... Some of those stylesheets just defy gravity...

[mtheory]

This development is a good indicator of where web presentation is heading.

Search engines like content rich sites because even their complex algorithms are far from the comprehension of the human brain.

"Man cannot live on content alone"

If he could, we would all be scrolling written scripts on our televisions.

The spatial existense of the web is multi-dimensional.
As designers and search engines begin to realize this, we are all surely in store of a wonderful ride.

[wednesday]

I want to see top 10 flash site on competitive keywords, before I make myself one. Like pdf... It could be a new golden era for the gg empire. And surely can change the www.

[wednesday]

Well, they can do this with PR, +/- some shits, and some inovative technology :)). They are cool you know ;)

[jacobwissler]

I have PR 5 on two Flash sites, and Google does read the text inside the flash, but the sites only seem to place well if they have one keyword, and that keyword is the URL and title.

[wednesday]

Well, we should expect evolution ;) Anyway you can't put much information in an animation. Except google count it as a title or h1,h2.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by jacobwissler

I have PR 5 on two Flash sites, and Google does read the text inside the flash, but the sites only seem to place well if they have one keyword, and that keyword is the URL and title.

reading these responses, it sounds as if flash sites should concentrate on PPC promotion instead of organic. especially if the URL and title are the only on-page attributes given any weight.

[salomon741]

Indexing Flash Interview and technical review Google SEO and Flash

Here's an article I just found about Google indexing flash. It's just an interview with an employee non-affiliated with Google, but it does answer some questions.

This should be a giant leap for Macromedia, too. Now designers are going to start choosing Flash for its now-compatibility with Google. They should see a leap in sales for Flash.

Now that Google has introduced a new type of content to their index, this also worries me. Could we possibly start seeing a new way to spam the SE's?

Could this be one of the explanations for that new Googlebot that appeared a few weeks ago? If I remember correctly, it was starting to examine more data types that the old bot didn't even go near.

[squir_rel]

Check out:

http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php?t=29193

for more info about the bots and the flash indexing. Google has been indexing flash for some time. I first noticed it pop up late summer this year.

[lutenegger]

I don't care for the way it indexes Flash, it separates the flash movie and the web page as 2 distinct objects. Not good if you have content in both the movie and the code.

[Firwefly]

squir_rel is right: this is old news. However, I'm not sure how successful Google has been at indexing flash so far - maybe this is an improved method. I hope so, anyway.

[nelsonhomer]

wow this is great

how is google able to do this?

thanks

[ByteDreams]

Yup. Flash is often a bad sign.

I spent months learning Flash and Actionscript... then abandoned it.

sounds like a Freudian slip to me! lol

[greeneagle]

Google announced many months ago that they were indexing "Flash" now! It still requires the basics though, including the "title tag" and content depth!, and most "Flash" designers just don't have that "gripped" very firmly yet!.

Ken

[alienzhavelanded]

I think Flash is best used to enhance a site, not be an entire site. On the other hand, certain types of websites will just benefit from lots of it, such as a car company, rock band, or shoe manufacturer...where alot of the product comes from the look. It allows for some nice visual presentation. I think an all Flash site is a bit of overkill although I've seen some that are mindblowing. In the end though, I'm with the "loads fast, looks good" crowd and would rather use something other than Flash.

On the subject at hand, it is a bit of old news about Google indexing...but we can only expect them to refine it, because I don't think I've ever seen a time when Google wasn't doing something LOL

[buddhu]

Originally Posted by Mtheory

"Man cannot live on content alone"

If he could, we would all be scrolling written scripts on our televisions.

Which is almost the same as reading a book, and that's what I do when I get p*ssed off at the lack of real content on TV.

Content remains king. This tendency to be attracted to glitter is symptomatic of a prevailing shallow, short attention-span culture.

[jacobwissler]

Google does not appear to index changes in Flash text, at least not very quickly. I have a Flash page PR5 and Google still uses the text it read in the Flash in June. On an html page with a PR 5, Google will pick up on changes in a week or less.

The primary value of Flash is that impresses people. Every time I look at M-Theory's site, I go, wow. As for providing a large amount of text data, I will stick to html.

[pipeten]

Google has been able to index flash for about 6 months now. But I am still yet to do a search on Google and see a flash page come up higher than html pages or even on the front page.

[BobbyLocksville]

I am a little confused as to what exactly is indexed...

Google has been able to "get in to" swf files for quite a while now, for example if you have links etc in your flash files, they will be noted and followed.

With regards the text within SWF files, are you lot saying the text is now indexable?

I am aware that if you pull text from XML files, in your flash movies, it helps with indexability...

Bish Bash Bosh!

[cryptblade]

Has anyone even looked at the links of Google's flash indexing?

I mean, when you look at what Google has indexed, as amazing as it is for them to do that, look at the results.

There are no titles, no descriptions, etc. How can you get rankings with Flash? Furthermore, if titles (those listed in the index) aren't properly worded along with marketing-oriented description language, how can this be effective?

I think Google indexing Flash is a positive new dynamic to SEM/SEO, but from what I can see, there is a LOT of room for SEO work. If Google indexes the text in the flash file, it still needs to be written well to have relevant keywords and relevant content within context to 1) attract visitors and 2) be ranked.

I think that is good for those in the SEO/SEM business, adding another service to their product offering.

But so far, it the results dont tell me that marketing can particularly benefit from this indexing. If and when website thumbnails become a regular part of search ranking/indexing, then I think flash sites will benefit more. But that will be a new dynamic in SEM/SEO when it becomes fairly standard for search engines.

[nickleus]

Originally Posted by nelsonhomer

wow this is great

how is google able to do this?

thanks

just open an swf in notepad and you'll see the clear text here and there...
i have a customer that has a site (almost) entirely composed of flash. you gotta take advantage of your tags and attributes, title, etc. they use frames so there you can also take advantage of noframes...they rank well on some key words. google has indexed all of the text in almost every flash file. again, this is old news. don't shy at new technology, don't worry google will work it out. flash rocks! remember that a site can also rank well on inbound links rich with relevant keywords...