Google can crawl flash sites

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Google can crawl flash sites

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vwebworld

posts: 1237

Jul 01, 2008 2:44 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Adobe announced today that it has teamed up with Google and Yahoo to make Flash files indexable by search engines.

This announcement has been a long time coming, as Flash developers have been wishing for ways to make their content searchable for close to a decade. Adobe acknowledges this in its announcement, saying that although search engines are able to index static text and links within Flash SWF files, "[Rich Internet Applications] and dynamic Web content have been generally difficult to fully expose to search engines because of their changing states—a problem also inherent in other RIA technologies." article

From Google: Improved flash indexing

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sddreamweavers

posts: 260

Jul 01, 2008 8:42 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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LOL

You beat me to the punch!

Here`s a link to the Google Search Blog:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/google-learns-to-crawl-flash.html

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Subhash

posts: 6

Jul 16, 2008 12:33 AM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Great News, thanks a lot. It was much needed.

India Designers

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Web Designers India
SEO India

MTCreations

posts: 28

Aug 15, 2008 10:21 AM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Well, not really.

Google may see the content in a flash website, but it`s like a huge block of text - no tags or structure to define the content and give parts weight.

Would you, gentle readers, post a text file as a web page? (ok, technically HTML is a text file - what I mean is a raw block of text without any HTML to give it definition) and expect google to understand and rank it?

Now imagine ALL your web-pages mushed into one huge text file. See the ugly?

Flash is still not an SE-friendly solution. I am NOT anti-flash, but it needs to be used, as always, in moderation, as a spice (widget) not as the main website (entirely in flash)

vwebworld

posts: 1237

Aug 15, 2008 1:57 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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From Google:
Q: What content can Google better index from these Flash files?
All of the text that users can see as they interact with your Flash file. If your website contains Flash, the textual content in your Flash files can be used when Google generates a snippet for your website. Also, the words that appear in your Flash files can be used to match query terms in Google searches.

In addition to finding and indexing the textual content in Flash files, we`re also discovering URLs that appear in Flash files, and feeding them into our crawling pipeline—just like we do with URLs that appear in non-Flash webpages. For example, if your Flash application contains links to pages inside your website, Google may now be better able to discover and crawl more of your website.

So, (1) flash text is treated similarly to other web page text (absent the tags) amd (2) URL (links) are also found - which can help search results if the links are keyword related.

~Roland

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MTCreations

posts: 28

Aug 15, 2008 2:57 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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well, duh, minus the (HTML) tags - isn`t that a bit crucial for context?

I still stand by my comment that it`s like posting a txt file. You just confirmed that for me.

vwebworld

posts: 1237

Aug 15, 2008 3:55 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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well, duh, minus the (HTML) tags - isn`t that a bit crucial for context?
I still stand by my comment that it`s like posting a txt file. You just confirmed that for me.

HTML text and the flash file text Google sees is the same. A difference would be text (in HTML) that has h1, h2, h3, bold styles those would be treated (weighted) differently (by Google) than flash text or other HTML text on a web page.

A search engine sees text in the code... not necessarily formated paragraphs like the viewer sees when looking at a web page. So an HTML page is read like a txt file (except for that text that has styles or links specified.

~Roland

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vwebworld

posts: 1237

Aug 15, 2008 3:59 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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For example, your site looks like this to search engines:

Page Title:	great website design, development and programming solutions (Jersey City, New Jersey) - 1.888.948.4467
Meta Description:	Great website design, development, programming solutions since 1999 provided by Mike Truese Creations of Jersey City, New Jersey: 1.888.948.4467" /
Meta Keywords:	None
Page Size:	12524

TEXT:
great website design development and programming solutions (Jersey City New Jersey) - 1 888 948 4467 > > > > see also: Welcome / Home So What? Why Me? Let`s Talk Fun Stuff Creating great website solutions since 1999 Call today for a FREE CONSULT on a GREAT WEBSITE 1 888 948 4467 Congratulations! You can stop searching We design and develop great websites Really! Of the eleventy-billion so-called `web development firms` out there you`ve found one of the very few that actually delivers quality website design and programming We`ve been designing professional websites for small- and medium-sized businesses since 1999 and have grown to become a premier New Jersey website design firm serving clients across the U S Your search for a quality website development firm is over at last—our firm provides comprehensive solutions for all of your web development needs We’re friendly our services are affordable and the results are beyond effective See for yourself—check out our portfolio! Stick around and see why you should hire us for your website project — you’ll be glad you stopped by! YOU HAVE A WEBSITE But there are issues: It`s really ugly! (you need a website redesign) Your webmaster "disappeared" (you need a reliable source for updates) It`s boring & needs something "extra" (you need a website makeover) Updates and changes take forever (you need rapid next-day website maintenance) You want more interactive features (you need a user-friendly database-driven website) You can`t understand (or can`t stand!) the current web developer (you need Mike Truese!) We offer you a 100% money back guarantee on our website design and development services If you do not like the custom design we create for your website you do not have to pay! We remove the worry and risk out of selecting a website development firm for our clients >> Are you ready for a great website? Give us a call at 1 888 948 4467 - let`s get started today with a free no-obligation consultation about your website design website makeover or database-driven website project We can provide a risk-free website analysis for a small refundable fee Ask about our NO-HASSLE next-day website maintenance! Kevin Costner heard "If you build it they will come " Not so for websites GREAT WEBSITE CLIENT Personal Counseling of Jersey City NJ For a non-technical person who knew nothing about websites I relied on Mike Truese`s website design expertise to help me create a website that was professionally appropriate proportionate and effective for my business needs The creative process was at times daunting but Mike made the overall experience quick and painless > see more great websites Hudson County Chamber of Commerce Member / Website Developer since 2003 HOME Welcome So What? Why Me? Clients / Portfolio FAQS Let`s Talk SOLUTIONS Website Design Website Makeovers/Redesign Database Driven Websites Website Maintenance Intranets ABOUT Let Us Help! Step By Step Process The Company Director of Creation Helpful Articles CONTACT Contact Us HELP / Support! © 1999-2008 Mike Truese Creations Inc all rights reserved We`re in Jersey City NJ but serve clients all over the United States For a FREE no-obligation website development consultation please call 1 888 948 4467

Total Word Count=552
Distinct Words: 219
Common words like the, this, that, from have been excluded.

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Renker

posts: 6

Aug 19, 2008 1:08 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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This is definitely progress! We`ve shied away from complete flash sites for this reason. Need to do some testing with this for sure.

lbbmike

posts: 6

Aug 20, 2008 1:32 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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It`s about time!

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