how to design flash pages for google?

Flash is a fantastic tool for web design. It gives you the tools to create attractive sites, with creative animation, rich multimedia and interactivity without the need to write much code. The general problem with using only flash for your website design is that, until now it has not been indexed by google, and is more complex to optimise for search engines. Here at SEO Junkies however, we are pleased to inform you that flash is now indexed by google, and can be optimised!

Firstly it's important to understand how google indexes the content in google. If you use googles filetype operator you can actually search for .swf files, the file extension of flash files. For examples, if you search on "web design" filetype:SWF (don't leave off the quotes), Google will return listings that are exclusively Flash files. You will notice that Google can extract much (but not all) the content in the published in the SWF file, but not necessarily in the order and in the same way you originally authored the file.

To help you know, ahead of time how google will actually index the content of your own flash website design, Adobe have created a development kit called Flash Search Engine SDK. The SDK includes a handy application named swf2html that extracts text and links from a Flash SWF file and outputs it to an HTML document. By understanding what actually gets indexed by google you can make changes to your flash file to improve search engine optimisation. For example, if you know a rollover button is being indexed, and is just called 'contact us' then change the name of this file to something more related such as 'contact retail fashion'. Simple changes like these will improve your search rankings.

One problem with flash content however is that you can have the issue of content being repeated if you use movieclips, causing your website to be penalised and your web rankings dropping significantly. Avoid placing your content within movie clips to get away from any potential problems.

So if you want your flash website optimised for google, contact the SEO experts at SEO Junkies to ensure you get the best possible results.