Can search engines index Flash content?

A brief introduction - Macromedia Flash is a vector based animation application that, once the plugin is installed in the browser, allows website authors to deliver highly interactive animation and content to their visitors.

Search engines have a very difficult time dealing with Flash content. The simple reason being that search engines are interested in text content and links and Flash content cannot easily allow the search engine to have access to the content locked inside the pre-compiled file format (.swf).

In an attempt to address this issue Macromedia have provided a Search Engine SDK that will convert your flash content to html files for search engines to index. Macromedia are working with the major search engines to try and develop a standard for accessing and indexing flash content.

Although the SDK solves the problem to an extent the real solution is simple, use Flash in moderation. If you are publishing a website with information that you want people to find easily, flash should not be the presentation medium. However, if your aim is to develop an online brand, flash content can be the perfect solution, for example creating Flash games to generate interest in a new product.

The best way to look at the problem is this "do we need the content indexed by the search engines?" if the answer to this question is yes flash should not even be an option for delivering the content. The simple fact is that the search engines cannot easily see what is inside flash websites and in-turn they cannot trust it, if they cannot trust a source of information the last thing they will do is send their visitors to it.

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