How Does Google Really Handle Flash Content?

Oct 14, 2008 at 12:47pm ET by Matt McGee

Much was made earlier this year of Google’s announcement that they’ve improved the indexing of Flash content. For years, search marketers have warned against building sites in Flash because they weren’t able to be indexed by major search engines; an all-Flash site was a kiss of death where SEO is concerned.

More than three months after Google’s announcement, has anything really changed?

That’s the question Atlanta-based SEO Brian Ussery recently set out to answer. After conducting several case studies, Brian published the results in an article titled 2009 Google Flash SEO.

Here’s a brief summary of Brian’s tests:

Does Google correctly associate Flash content with the right “parent URL”?
Can Flash files accrue PageRank?
How does Googlebot handle #anchors in Flash-based link URLs?
Does Google translate text found in Flash files?

You’ll have to read Brian’s article for the answers to those questions. He also shares some Flash SEO tips at the end.

Matt McGee is the Search Engine Land Assignment Editor, and offers search marketing consulting and training to businesses of all sizes. He blogs at Small Business Search Marketing and HyperlocalBlogger.com.

See more articles by Matt McGee >

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