Optimizing Flash Sites

1. Optimizing Flash Sites InnovativeSearch Strategiesfor Superior Companies… Optimizing Flash SitesFor Search Engines The inherent challenge of Flash basedweb sites and search engine positioning. Presented by Gregory Markel & Infuse Creative12.06.046 www.infusecreative.com

2. Types of Flash Sites InnovativeSearch Strategiesfor Superior Companies… Flash is the definitive rich media program used by designers and developers to create entertainment, corporate, personal and a growing number of dynamically driven & reporting sites. Entertainment.www.irobotmovie.com Corporate.www.citrusglobal.com Dynamically Driven Flash Reporting.www.positiontech.com www.infusecreative.com

3. Percentage of Flash ready users InnovativeSearch Strategiesfor Superior Companies… • 98% of Internet Users are “Flash Ready” Both Windows XP and Mac OS X are “Flash ready.” Flash is here to stay. www.infusecreative.com

4. Why can Flash be a problem for SE’s? InnovativeSearch Strategiesfor Superior Companies… Why are Flash sites that don’taddress SEO concerns a problem for search engine marketing? • Flash sites are often 1-2 html pages deep…lack of keyword opportunity, a serious blow against an ecommerce or business site • Multiple virtual pages/Flash movies within one .html page…difficult for users to book mark directly or build specific external links to • Images will not be indexed by image search engines, another source of traffic www.infusecreative.com

5. Why can Flash be a problem for SE’s? InnovativeSearch Strategiesfor Superior Companies… Why are Flash sites that don’taddress SEO concerns a problem for search engine marketing? • They do not render on mobile browsers • While Google crawls Flash, its content is not generally weighted as heavily as .hmtl content • Can be a problem with PPC engine editorial requirements if one cannot display Flash movie content directly relevant to the keyword • Longer load time, death to ecommerce and lead generation www.infusecreative.com

6. Why can Flash be a problem for SE’s? InnovativeSearch Strategiesfor Superior Companies… Next…. “Workaround” Solutions(All within “best practices” guidelines!) www.infusecreative.com

7. Optimizing Flash: Design around your keywords InnovativeSearch Strategiesfor Superior Companies… First, a Powerful FUNDEMENTAL PRE-DESIGN TIP Counter to Traditional Flash Site Design Approaches… KEYWORD targets should dictate design/content direction. • Define your target keywords and search engine marketing goals BEFORE the design phase begins. • Lay out these target keywords in a flow chart or Visio style hierarchy with root keywords at the top, secondary below, and so on. Assign 1 to 4 primary keyword targets per page. • Use this keyword marketing flow chart comprised of your established target keywords and marketing goals to then dictate the content and design direction necessary to support them… www.infusecreative.com

8. Why can Flash be a problem for SE’s? InnovativeSearch Strategiesfor Superior Companies… What are the most common Flash site problems and some solutions? Problem #1 Problem: Only 1 or 2 pages in the entire site and one of those may be a “skip intro” splash page!Designers often choose to call multiple Flash files or “movies” from within the SAME one or two .html pages. • Solution: Drop the splash “skip intro” page and either build an SEO friendly .html version of your content and link it from the index.html page, OR……break out your Flash movies into their own interlinked pages. EACH, with its own keyword focus. www.infusecreative.com

9. Optimizing Flash: Break out Flash .swf Movies into multiple pages InnovativeSearch Strategiesfor Superior Companies… Common Flash Problem: Not Enough Pages… Targeting LOTS of keywords? You need LOTS of pages.Separate/breakout Flash movies to interlinked pages… BEFORE AFTER… One page. Limited keywords. Multiple pages=Multiple keywords! Each page with its own keyword focus….title/description and .html body text/links where possible… www.infusecreative.com

10. Why can Flash be a problem for SE’s? InnovativeSearch Strategiesfor Superior Companies… What are the most common Flash site problems and some solutions? Problem #2 Problem: Using the index.html page as a Flash detect/redirect page ONLY.Designers often choose to fill the index.html page with Flash/browser version javascript that detects & redirects…and NOTHING else! Solution: The index.html page tells SE spiders what your site is about and is heavily weighted by search engines…It MUST contain standard SEO elements:* Keyword infused Title/Description, headings, body text, navigation & links, etc..* Link to sitemap. (Simple .html sitemap.) www.infusecreative.com

11. Why can Flash be a problem for SE’s? InnovativeSearch Strategiesfor Superior Companies… What are the most common Flash site problems and some solutions? Problem #3 Problem: There actually ARE a fair amount of pages….BUT….They were NOT linked to each other or sitemap. Solution: Create .html/simple sitemap page and include .html sitemap link on ALL pages. www.infusecreative.com

12. Why can Flash be a problem for SE’s? InnovativeSearch Strategiesfor Superior Companies… What are the most common Flash site problems and some solutions? Problem #4 Problem: No Title, Keyword, and Description Tags Solution: Create keyword infused Title, Keyword, and Description tags that are UNIQUE for each page. www.infusecreative.com

13. Why can Flash be a problem for SE’s? InnovativeSearch Strategiesfor Superior Companies… What are the most common Flash site problems and some solutions? Problem #5 Problem: Little or NO .html OR Flash embedded text, navigation, links on pages…pages are image biased design heavy… Solution: Do not create full browser Flash based designs, but rather, use Flash sparingly , and instead surrounded by KEYWORD infused .html based title, navigation, body text, image, & link elements. www.infusecreative.com

14. Optimizing Flash: Avoid Full Browser/Embedded Flash Text InnovativeSearch Strategiesfor Superior Companies… Flash/.html integration example… Flash and .html CAN co-exist when keyword marketing is important! Flash .HTML text, links Example site that nicely integrates Flash AND .html SEO realities: www.imaginecup.com www.infusecreative.com

15. Why can Flash be a problem for SE’s? InnovativeSearch Strategiesfor Superior Companies… What are the most common Flash site problems and some solutions? Problem #6 Problem: Main Flash site page pops up or spawns window which houses main site Solution: Don’t get me started! There are SO many reasons not to do this anymore…”newbies” can send them to “back of desktop” for example, but worse, the SE spiders won’t find your content…unless you’ve linked to it….even then, if that page gets indexed and clicked on from a search engine, the user will have an “on page” experience you didn’t intend…etc., etc… www.infusecreative.com

16. Why can Flash be a problem for SE’s? InnovativeSearch Strategiesfor Superior Companies… What are the most common Flash site problems and some solutions? Problem #7 Problem: Framesets Solution:Search Engines don’t like them, web analytic/user tracking programs don’t like them…it’s single, clearly themed and focused pages that rule with search engines. IF you MUST use framesets, create .html page content equivalents within <noframes> tags, however, don’t expect ranking equal to single page approaches. www.infusecreative.com

17. Why can Flash be a problem for SE’s? InnovativeSearch Strategiesfor Superior Companies… What are the most common Flash site problems and some solutions? Problem #8 Problem: You don’t KNOW if SE spiders can find follow your content/pages… Solution: Run a search engine spider “simulator” on your site to confirm that ALL of your pages can be crawled or “found” by search engine spiders. You may be surprised. If the sim doesn’t link all of your pages, you haven’t linked them properly!Here’s a great FREE tool: http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html www.infusecreative.com

18. Why can Flash be a problem for SE’s? InnovativeSearch Strategiesfor Superior Companies… What are the most common Flash site problems and some solutions? Problem #9 Problem: No “robots.txt” file or Google/Yahoo Sitemap Solution: This is simple required/”best practices” SE protocol at the least, something the SE spiders look for, and helpful to keep spiders out of content you do not want indexed. The SE site map keeps your content updated in the enginesMore info: http://www.searchengineworld.com/robots/robots_tutorial.htmhttps://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/siteoverview?hl=en www.infusecreative.com

19. Why can Flash be a problem for SE’s? InnovativeSearch Strategiesfor Superior Companies… What are the most common Flash site problems and some solutions? Problem #10 Problem: No sitemap in your root linked from your index.html page Solution: Include a website site map linked from all internal pages. Here’s a great FREE sitemap creation tool: http://www.likno.com/sitemap.html www.infusecreative.com

20. Why can Flash be a problem for SE’s? InnovativeSearch Strategiesfor Superior Companies… What are the most common Flash site problems and some solutions? Problem #11 Problem: No, low, or poor quality inbound links…poor “page rank” Solution: Once your site has launched, don’t forget the importance of high quality and content relevant sites pointing to your site/page(s) also known as “inbound links.” This helps with Google “Page Rank.” Google Page Rank Info: 12www.SearchEngineWatch.com linking tips: http://searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/article.php/2168021More linking information: http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3100291Link analysis tool, “Optilink”: http://www.optilinksoftware.com www.infusecreative.com

21. Optimizing Flash after the fact: Creative Ideas InnovativeSearch Strategiesfor Superior Companies… Flash Sites: Additional Creative Ideas What if I already have an ALL Flash site? Help! Additional creative ideas that can help drive visitor traffic… • Create an .html version of your Flash site and link from the index.html page, Designers can use the Flash SDK tool to aid in the quick conversion of a Flash site to .html version • Include a SE “spider friendly” message board, or blog linked from the index.html page, Users will fill it up with keywords relevant to your site and when indexed by SE spiders, deliver traffic. • If appropriate for your content, include a glossary, with each word given it’s own focused page. • Create RSS feed XML pages: Offer RSS delivered NEWS to interested visitors to get them to come back to your site! Yahoo is now spidering RSS feeds. www.infusecreative.com

22. InnovativeSearch Strategiesfor Superior Companies… Flash Sites: Optimizing into the Grey… Risky tactics….or, “fair” site design limitation fixes? • Invisible Text: Whether <noscript> tags, etc., or CSS/hidden Z layer positioning. www.infusecreative.com

23. Macromedia Flash Resources Optimizing Flash Sites Macromedia Home: http://www.macromedia.com Flash MX Software Developer Main Page Macromedia Flash: http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/ Flash MX Home Page Macromedia Flash Support: http://www.macromedia.com/support/flash/ Flash MX Support Page Macromedia Flash Forums: http://www.macromedia.com/cfusion/webforums/forum/index.cfm?forumid=15 Flash MX User/Developer Forums Macromedia Search Engine Page: http://www.macromedia.com/support/flash/ts/documents/search_engines.htm Flash MX Search Engine Support and Information Macromedia User Groups: http://www.macromedia.com/cfusion/usergroups/ Flash MX User Groups/Meeting Places Macromedia Flash Player Detection Kit: http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/download/detection_kit/ Flash MX Player Type/Version Detection Script Information InnovativeSearch Strategiesfor Superior Companies… • Macromedia Provided Flash MX Resources www.infusecreative.com

24. Thank you InnovativeSearch Strategiesfor Superior Companies… SEARCH 10 Keep searching… …and may you always, be found. Thank you. www.infusecreative.com