Yesterday (July 1) Google announced that it had teamed up with Adobe to make Flash files indexable by search engines. Up until now, any text appearing within Flash sites has been invisible to search engines.
In a post to its Webmaster Central Blog, Google says that it can now index textual content in SWF files, such as that included in Flash gadgets, buttons, menus, entirely self-contained Flash web sites, "and everything in between."
VP and head of natural search at iCrossing, Nilhan Jayasinghe, has welcomed the move but has urged web developers to exercise caution voicing concerns that the move will send the wrong message to' Flash happy' web-developers.
He has warned traditional creative agencies off using this development as a blank cheque book to continue building expensive Flash sites.
Although they may be search friendlier, Jayasinghe added that they have no real chance of competing with a regular website in terms of search.
“If they think this opens the door for flash in search, then they need to think again,” he said.
“Deep links contribute heavily to Google rankings in regular sites. But most Flash sites are contained in a single file, and people generally link to the file and not to deeper pages, other sites will therefore be unable to link to Flash files, as only one url appears.
Jayasinghe continued, “Clicking on Flash listings in Google is unlikely to take you to the place returned in the search results, unless the file is broken into lots of unique URL sections – providing a very poor user experience”
"It is great that search engines are trying to keep up with web technologies, but until they can provide the same opportunity for Flash files to rank as regular sites and provide a similar user experience, they must send the right message to the web development and creative community.”
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