Optimizing Flash Files For The Search Engines
What is a Flash Movie? A flashmovie, or shock wave file (SWF), is the file format published when a Flash movie isexported.
A SWF file can also beexported by several other Macromedia or Adobe Products.
The SWF is usually ananimation, dynamic menu, or highly interactive web-based application embeddedinto an HTML page.
Flash files, when exported correctly for the best web-basedoptimization, are compressed, thus making their file size lightweight.
The SWFformat is ideal for presenting vector-based, interactive and animated graphicswith sound and video for the web.
Vector images are ideal because they will not"pixilize" if stretched or compressed.
Flash files can also contain text whichcan be animated, static or dynamically populated from external sources, such anXML file or a database.
Text embedded in a Flash file, for many years, couldnot be read by search engines.
However, recent updates by Macromedia are makingthis a possibility.
Problems with Flashand Search Engines Historically, it has been difficult to get Flash content indexed and ranked by searchengines.
In the past, search engines, such as Yahoo andGoogle, did not spider Flash content as they could not read the compressed fileand much of the text inside the SWF appeared as graphics to the searchengines.
Themain page of a web site, if Flash-based, rarely ranked well, unless off-pagefactors such as link popularity or link reputation were sufficient enough tocarry the page.
Flash files that were indexed by Google, Lycos and other searchengines, which did not haveany text or key words associated with them in the search engine results pages(SERP).
Techniques Used in thePast to Make Flash Visible to Search Engines Traditional Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques would help your site get indexed,but not rank for search terms.
Every web site needs at least one HTML page to load into a browser.
For aweb site developed completely in Flash, developers would embed their flashfiles into an HTML document and then create the meta tags in the head section ofthe HTML file.
They would also add descriptive HTML text for the search enginesin the body section of the HTML page, then use CSS positioning and percentagesto load the Flash move in a pixel-perfect location over the top of text.
Thisparticular technique should not be used any longer, as search engines will viewthis technique as an attempt to add hidden text, and hidden text will incur apenalty from the engines.
Another technique which could help your Flash ranking is tonot compress your SWF files.
One of the reasons search engines could not readflash files in the past is that the files are compressed.
If the SWF isuncompressed, search engines can read the static text.
This technique can beaccomplished easily.
Upon exporting a Flash file, you can set the compressionto "not" if you want your text inside the Flash movie to be readableby the search spiders.
However, this is not a good practice, as not compressingyour SWF will increase the file size, consequently negating a major benefit to Flashfile - a lightweight file.
What Macromedia has Doneto Make Flash More Visible to Search Engines In thepast, Google did index Flash files.
Anyone can test this fact out by searchingin Google using the "filetype" operator to restrict your search.
For example, trythe following search: "Casino Games filetype:SWF".
The SERP will includeover 200 Flash files, which are indicated by the "Flash" text to the left ofthe listing.
Some search engines are now using the Macromedia Flash Search Engine SDK (SoftwareDevelopment Kit).
For example, Google, AllTheWeb, Lycos, and other sites can readily display links to Flashcontent.
Flash Search SDK is and open source tool that allows searchengines to modify it to suit their needs.
With this level of customization, itis likely that the major search engines will modify SDK, making it difficultfor website owners to know exactly what information will be pulled out of the SWFfile or how it will impact actual rankings.
The Macromedia Flash Search Engine SDK can be found at http://www.
macromedia.
com/software/flash/download/search_engine.
According to the Macromedia/Adobe web site, The SDK includes an applicationnamed 'swf2HTML'.
Swf2HTML extracts text and links from a Macromedia Flash SWFfile, and returns the datato an HTML document.
Swf2HTML is provided as a compiled application and as astatic library for linked library implementation.
SDK can interoperate anylinks that are in the action script so long as adhere to the followingcriteria:
Forexample, text that is static or is used in a motion tween can be read as asingle instance with SDK.
However,some animation involves converting text into a symbol and then using multiplecopies of that symbol to achieve a desired effect.
This will create duplicateinstances of your text to the SDK output, which may be viewed as duplicatecontent and not given much importance by Google.
Using the SDK tool,any developer can get the text output from the SWF and see how search engines viewthe extractable text of any SWF.
On a Windows operating system, you can go tothe DOS prompt and execute the swf2HTML application very easily.
The followingis an example from the DOS prompt: C:sdkswf2HTML -o test.
HTMLC:sdkcrt_webfilestest.
swf Search EngineOptimization (SEO) Techniques Used Historically for Flash Each Flashfile does not need to be uploaded independently and called as a SWF file;rather a Flash file can be embedded in a standard HTML document.
One of the besttechniques is to create a modular web site, where there are several Flash fileswhich make up the web page combined with standard HTML elements.
A hybrid sitesuch as this, works especially well, if your navigation uses traditional HTMLlinks.
You can use cascading style sheets to give the appearance of flash textlinks.
This type of hybrid site will always rank better than an all Flash site -all other factors being equal.
It's also important to have your HTML page titlecorrect, regardless of anything else.
Several search engines look at metatitles first.
In addition to the page title, you can add meta tags to the headof the file.
Outside of the actual HTML page, off page factors are important.
There has been much written in recent articles thatreciprocal links are not as important any longer, but certainly, one-way linkspointing to your site from highly relevant and high ranking pages will increaseyour page rank.
In addition links from prominent directories, such as Yahoo andBusiness.
com, placed in the most relevant categories will help.
One-way inboundlinks from relevant sites is still the best way to increase your ranking withor without Flash.
There areprogramming techniques which work while in the Flash authoring environment.
Whileyou are in the Flash authoring environment, with your FLA open...
click F12.
It will generate the HTML page for you.
Lookat the code of the page; it creates a place for you to put the text and URL'sused in the Flash.
New SEO Techniques forFlash Today thereare many techniques which can overcome the limitations of the past, where Flashfiles are concerned.
With the inception of the new Macromedia Flash 8, thereare techniques which can be implemented to greatly increase the ability ofsearch engines to index Flash files and even rank for key words.
In thepast, SWF files could not have titles.
This is one importantreason why Flash files didn't rank well.
This title limitation has now changed.
Flash 8 does allow you to input meta data.
Flash 8 defines two fields with metadata for all Flash files.
These two fields are Title and Description.
You canaccess the meta data fields under Document Properties.
To add meta data, fillin the text fields and the search engines will know what info to display aboutyour Flash file.
SDK is fairly intelligentin terms of recognizing text and links that are embedded in the file.
If textis static or dynamically driven by an XML or text file, it can be read.
If yourcontent is dynamically driven it must be done so using the latest version ofActionScript 2.
0.
TheSDK does parse ActionScript 2 byte code looking for links.
It could conceivablyfind the link to the XML file that way and hand it back to a search engine.
As referencedearlier, certain text can be modified into a symbol rather than strait text.
Forexample, a button might have the text output two or three times.
Alternatively, tweened text has motionassociated with the action.
Tweens result in a single occurrence in the outputfrom the extraction process.
You should also notice that the link text in theGoogle results page is identical to the first couple of lines of text at thevery top of the text extracted by swf2HTML.
Armed with the knowledge of how SDKparses your content, you can manipulate text in your Flash Movies morecarefully and make your content key word dense, easily indexable, search enginefriendly and, with a little more skill, even optimized.
A SWF file can also beexported by several other Macromedia or Adobe Products.
The SWF is usually ananimation, dynamic menu, or highly interactive web-based application embeddedinto an HTML page.
Flash files, when exported correctly for the best web-basedoptimization, are compressed, thus making their file size lightweight.
The SWFformat is ideal for presenting vector-based, interactive and animated graphicswith sound and video for the web.
Vector images are ideal because they will not"pixilize" if stretched or compressed.
Flash files can also contain text whichcan be animated, static or dynamically populated from external sources, such anXML file or a database.
Text embedded in a Flash file, for many years, couldnot be read by search engines.
However, recent updates by Macromedia are makingthis a possibility.
Problems with Flashand Search Engines Historically, it has been difficult to get Flash content indexed and ranked by searchengines.
In the past, search engines, such as Yahoo andGoogle, did not spider Flash content as they could not read the compressed fileand much of the text inside the SWF appeared as graphics to the searchengines.
Themain page of a web site, if Flash-based, rarely ranked well, unless off-pagefactors such as link popularity or link reputation were sufficient enough tocarry the page.
Flash files that were indexed by Google, Lycos and other searchengines, which did not haveany text or key words associated with them in the search engine results pages(SERP).
Techniques Used in thePast to Make Flash Visible to Search Engines Traditional Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques would help your site get indexed,but not rank for search terms.
Every web site needs at least one HTML page to load into a browser.
For aweb site developed completely in Flash, developers would embed their flashfiles into an HTML document and then create the meta tags in the head section ofthe HTML file.
They would also add descriptive HTML text for the search enginesin the body section of the HTML page, then use CSS positioning and percentagesto load the Flash move in a pixel-perfect location over the top of text.
Thisparticular technique should not be used any longer, as search engines will viewthis technique as an attempt to add hidden text, and hidden text will incur apenalty from the engines.
Another technique which could help your Flash ranking is tonot compress your SWF files.
One of the reasons search engines could not readflash files in the past is that the files are compressed.
If the SWF isuncompressed, search engines can read the static text.
This technique can beaccomplished easily.
Upon exporting a Flash file, you can set the compressionto "not" if you want your text inside the Flash movie to be readableby the search spiders.
However, this is not a good practice, as not compressingyour SWF will increase the file size, consequently negating a major benefit to Flashfile - a lightweight file.
What Macromedia has Doneto Make Flash More Visible to Search Engines In thepast, Google did index Flash files.
Anyone can test this fact out by searchingin Google using the "filetype" operator to restrict your search.
For example, trythe following search: "Casino Games filetype:SWF".
The SERP will includeover 200 Flash files, which are indicated by the "Flash" text to the left ofthe listing.
Some search engines are now using the Macromedia Flash Search Engine SDK (SoftwareDevelopment Kit).
For example, Google, AllTheWeb, Lycos, and other sites can readily display links to Flashcontent.
Flash Search SDK is and open source tool that allows searchengines to modify it to suit their needs.
With this level of customization, itis likely that the major search engines will modify SDK, making it difficultfor website owners to know exactly what information will be pulled out of the SWFfile or how it will impact actual rankings.
The Macromedia Flash Search Engine SDK can be found at http://www.
macromedia.
com/software/flash/download/search_engine.
According to the Macromedia/Adobe web site, The SDK includes an applicationnamed 'swf2HTML'.
Swf2HTML extracts text and links from a Macromedia Flash SWFfile, and returns the datato an HTML document.
Swf2HTML is provided as a compiled application and as astatic library for linked library implementation.
SDK can interoperate anylinks that are in the action script so long as adhere to the followingcriteria:
- The link is contained within 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
- Text on stage in the current movie (dynamic text, static text, or input text that has an initial value assigned)
- Text on stage in a movie that is called with movieClip.
attachMovie()
Forexample, text that is static or is used in a motion tween can be read as asingle instance with SDK.
However,some animation involves converting text into a symbol and then using multiplecopies of that symbol to achieve a desired effect.
This will create duplicateinstances of your text to the SDK output, which may be viewed as duplicatecontent and not given much importance by Google.
Using the SDK tool,any developer can get the text output from the SWF and see how search engines viewthe extractable text of any SWF.
On a Windows operating system, you can go tothe DOS prompt and execute the swf2HTML application very easily.
The followingis an example from the DOS prompt: C:sdkswf2HTML -o test.
HTMLC:sdkcrt_webfilestest.
swf Search EngineOptimization (SEO) Techniques Used Historically for Flash Each Flashfile does not need to be uploaded independently and called as a SWF file;rather a Flash file can be embedded in a standard HTML document.
One of the besttechniques is to create a modular web site, where there are several Flash fileswhich make up the web page combined with standard HTML elements.
A hybrid sitesuch as this, works especially well, if your navigation uses traditional HTMLlinks.
You can use cascading style sheets to give the appearance of flash textlinks.
This type of hybrid site will always rank better than an all Flash site -all other factors being equal.
It's also important to have your HTML page titlecorrect, regardless of anything else.
Several search engines look at metatitles first.
In addition to the page title, you can add meta tags to the headof the file.
Outside of the actual HTML page, off page factors are important.
There has been much written in recent articles thatreciprocal links are not as important any longer, but certainly, one-way linkspointing to your site from highly relevant and high ranking pages will increaseyour page rank.
In addition links from prominent directories, such as Yahoo andBusiness.
com, placed in the most relevant categories will help.
One-way inboundlinks from relevant sites is still the best way to increase your ranking withor without Flash.
There areprogramming techniques which work while in the Flash authoring environment.
Whileyou are in the Flash authoring environment, with your FLA open...
click F12.
It will generate the HTML page for you.
Lookat the code of the page; it creates a place for you to put the text and URL'sused in the Flash.
New SEO Techniques forFlash Today thereare many techniques which can overcome the limitations of the past, where Flashfiles are concerned.
With the inception of the new Macromedia Flash 8, thereare techniques which can be implemented to greatly increase the ability ofsearch engines to index Flash files and even rank for key words.
In thepast, SWF files could not have titles.
This is one importantreason why Flash files didn't rank well.
This title limitation has now changed.
Flash 8 does allow you to input meta data.
Flash 8 defines two fields with metadata for all Flash files.
These two fields are Title and Description.
You canaccess the meta data fields under Document Properties.
To add meta data, fillin the text fields and the search engines will know what info to display aboutyour Flash file.
SDK is fairly intelligentin terms of recognizing text and links that are embedded in the file.
If textis static or dynamically driven by an XML or text file, it can be read.
If yourcontent is dynamically driven it must be done so using the latest version ofActionScript 2.
0.
TheSDK does parse ActionScript 2 byte code looking for links.
It could conceivablyfind the link to the XML file that way and hand it back to a search engine.
As referencedearlier, certain text can be modified into a symbol rather than strait text.
Forexample, a button might have the text output two or three times.
Alternatively, tweened text has motionassociated with the action.
Tweens result in a single occurrence in the outputfrom the extraction process.
You should also notice that the link text in theGoogle results page is identical to the first couple of lines of text at thevery top of the text extracted by swf2HTML.
Armed with the knowledge of how SDKparses your content, you can manipulate text in your Flash Movies morecarefully and make your content key word dense, easily indexable, search enginefriendly and, with a little more skill, even optimized.
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