Can you optimize Flash content?

While it is not currently realistic to optimize Flash content itself for search engines, it is possible to optimize the web page it is contained on. Such optimization can also make your web site more accessible for people who are visually impaired or don’t have Flash Player installed.

One option you can use to optimize your Flash content for search engines is to put a script (JavaScript or PHP are two languages which can be used to create such a script) on your web site which detects if the proper version of Flash Player is installed on the user’s computer. If it is, the script should allow the Fl. content to be displayed. Otherwise, alternate text should appear, providing search engine optimized information similar to what the Fl. content would display. Like computers without FlashPlayer or with text-based web browsers, search engine spiders can’t view Flash, so they will also see this information. The text can include instructions to download the correct Fl. Player version if the user wants to view the page in that format. If you would rather not use scripts, an alternative option is to have two separate, linked pages (one with Flash, the other in HTML) to serve the same purpose, and only take measures to search engine optimize the HTML version.

If you don’t have enough time or feel that you cannot provide a text equivalent of the Flash content, be sure that the page at least has good title and description META tags. The keyword META tag is not considered very important any more, but might be worth using in this situation. If pages within your web site are linked via Flash-based content, make sure there are HTML links or a Site Map (linked via an HTML link from the home page) so that search spiders are able to index the different pages. When using either set of techniques to optimize your site, consider downloading and using a text based web browser such as Lynx to see what your web site looks like to search engine spiders and people using such browsers.

Basically, it is possible to optimize the web pages Flash content is located on, but not the actual content. Even if search engines eventually become able to spider Flash, it is beneficial to make your web site easy to access for people who do not possess the necessary software or have slow internet connections.