Flash is the common term for Adobe Flash formerly known as Macromedia Flash. This refers to both the player (free to download) and the authoring software used to create the high impact multimedia animations that are viewed using the player.
Flash supports both vector based and raster graphics and the scripting language Actions Script. Flash is used to increase interactivity in websites through animations and also as a platform for developing entire websites. In the past most websites had to conform to strict restrictions forced onto the designer by HTML. With the advent of Flash this went out the window and the designer can create truly unique web interfaces as well as animated graphics for websites. Sounds like a magical new invention that will revolutionize the web? Well it’s not that clear cut. There is an ongoing debate on the effectiveness of Flash and how it might even be detrimental to your online success.
There is no standard set of rules that dictate a universal solution for every website that will be built. If there were, all the websites would look the same and would get rather boring very quickly. Be clear on your reasons for building a site and once you have identified all your needs and wants from your website then you can decide how much flash, if any, you would like to implement onto your new site.
First of all, Flash authoring software known as Adobe Flash 8 (the latest version at the time this article was written) is proprietary software. Flash lets the designer implement multimedia content (audio/visual) on websites. The advantage of using flash content is that usually the file sizes are very small and the plug-in can easily be downloaded and initialized by most users.
You may have heard several myths about Flash getting in the way of many SEOs and even suggesting to avoid Flash at all cost. The belief was that Flash tends to get in the way of functionality and unless implemented by a knowledgeable developer, Flash is extremely search engine bot Unfriendly. This translates into your site being completely skipped by search engine bots who visit your site in order to index you.
Contrary to the opinions of those who think you should stay away from Flash. We take the opposite view on the topic because if done right, Flash can be just as SEO friendly as anything else.
Flash has come a long way not only in becoming a more powerful tool in the web design process but also in its ability to be recognized by many SEO's. For more detailed information regarding flash and its relation to SEOs we suggest reading Making Flash websites searchable written by Jeff Kamerer who is a computer scientist for Adobe Systems.
A.B. Productions, Inc. developed a 'Six Point-6- Flash SEO' service which has gained extreme popularity within the Flash community.
Why? Because we have taken the worry out of using Flash for our customers by offering a 6 month free support period for most all our Flash projects. It takes time for the average website owner to become familiar and comfortable in working with their Flash files. We've got their back when help is needed.
Flash can also be difficult to read for search engine bots who visit your site in order to index it and make you searchable. Rest assured you can still get good search results from Flash, but unlike regular html website coding, it requires special attention to help you achieve search engine visibility.
Therefore we optimize all of our Flash projects with great detail to the following 6 points. Each being equally important to the success of a Flash SEO campaign.
- Put text in HTML
- Put links in HTML
- Separate SWF files onto different web pages
- Use the Title and Description fields in Flash 8
- Creating a site map
- Maintaining a robots.txt file
Implementing flash components on your site improves the all around experience for your visitors and is that not the very reason for the site to begin with? There are many knowledgeable Flash developers that can assist you with your Flash needs. A.B. Productions, Inc. is among them.
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