SEO and Flash
Jonathan Hochman
www.HochmanConsultants.com

Progressive Enhancement
• Core content and functionality must be
available to all users
• Browsers with additional capabilities can enjoy
enhanced formatting (CSS), content (Flash),
and functionality (JavaScript)
• Enhanced features are loaded from external
files, if needed. This conserves bandwidth.
• Sites that use PE are better prepared for SEO
because of excellent accessibility.

Tool: NoScript for Firefox
• Blocks all client side scripts:
JavaScript/AJAX, Flash, Silverlight.
• Safely view pages with malicious code.
• See pages the way
bots do.
• Find out if
content is accessible.

Modern Coding Methods
Replace HTML content with rich media
Via the Document Object Model (DOM)
Open source solutions for Flash:
– SWFobject() 2.0 is general purpose
– sIFR (scalable Inman Flash
Replacement) is for creating fancy
fonts and headings.

SWFobject() 2.0

SWFobject()
• Detects if browser supports Flash
• Replaces a specified container, such as
<div id=“MyMovie”>
<!-- HTML content goes here -->
</div>
with Flash content.
• Apply usual SEO tactics to the HTML.
• Make sure the HTML text = the Flash Text

A site using SWFobject()

Scripts Disabled
Good: Flash deployed via
swfobject() with plain HTML
content available for spiders and
users who lack Flash support.
Bad: Needs images and CSS
styles.

SWFobject() is effective

www.gillette.com – Cache at Google
Check the cache to uncover
potential indexing issues.
If content is in the cache,
Google has seen it.

A risk: Cloaking
Do not stuff keywords into the text!
Do not add HTML content that is not visible in the Flash!

Tips for Flash Applications
• HTML content generated by server
side scripts (PHP, ASP.NET, Cold
Fusion) can use the same data source
as Flash.
• Using same data source reduces risks
and maintenance costs.
• swfAddress() can provide deep linking
within a Flash application.

WATCH OUT for search problems
when Flash files get indexed
• Flash files are indexed separately from their host
page.
• They can be dead ends if they lack navigation
links.
• Could be a poor user experience to see just the
Flash part of a page.
• Use robots.txt to block spiders from indexing
Flash files.

Flash simplifies coding
Use Flash to create menus, navigation elements and
slide shows.
Examples:
•http://www.namedevelopment.com/blog/
•http://www.jdfdistribution.com
•http://ts.jehochman.com
pre-launch test site destined for http://www.metfin.com

Millions of users, no Flash
Make sure your site works for them too.

Progressive Enhancement (II)
• Mobile web is gaining market share.
• Savvy users block scripts for security, and
to avoid ads.
• Search ‘bots have limited Flash ability.
Better to feed them easy-to-digest HTML.

Questions?
Jonathan Hochman
www.HochmanConsultants.com
@Jehochman