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Optimizing Flash Websites for Search Engines
on December 17, 2008 by Brent Lightner
As you're probably aware, Flash-based websites create some major problems for search engines. While technology is improving to let search engines read Flash content, we're not there yet. For this (and a bunch of other more business-related reasons), Taoti typically does not recommend creating purely flash-based websites (which is not to say that some embedded flash isn't okay.) That said, sometimes Flash is just the right tool for the job and whatever baggage that comes with it is worth the advanced user interfaces and special effects you can create with Flash.
The good news is that you can have your cake and eat it too.
The best way to get a purely Flash-based website fully and properly indexed in search engines is to create a parallel site in non-flash technology (ie, HTML.) You've probably seen sites where you can enter the Flash or Non-Flash version (sometimes referred to as the 'broadband' and 'low-bandwidth' versions.) That's what we're talking about here.
Here's how it works: We bring the user through the 'front door' and show them the Flash site. But we also embed a link that search engines can see. That link goes to the HTML version of the site. The content is pretty much the same. Of course, the effects and animation aren't as slick on the HTML site, but since that's usually only going to be seen by search engines, it's not that big of a deal. The diagram below shows how it works:
This sort of solution is great. But it doesn't come cheap. Optimizing a Flash website by creating a parallel HTML website is basically like building two sites from scratch--at least from a production effort. But it is effective.
As with most technical things, there is a bit more to it than I'm describing here. To chat about the pros and cons and other considerations of SEO, Flash, and everything in between, drop us a line!