Can Search Engines Read Flash Files?
By: Gina Hoover © 2008
In webmaster forums I hear this question
asked all the time. There is much debate over this
question. Webmasters want to know because they are
worried that if they build their websites primarily
in Adobe (Macromedia) Flash they think their websites
will not be included in search engine results. If
you can't get your website included in search engine
results, you won't get any website visitors and in
turn you won't make any money.
It was long thought that search engines
were not able to read flash movie files. Well I have
the answer for this frequently asked question. The
answer is a definite YES! Yes, search engines can
read and index flash files. Hmmm...How do I know this?
I know this because I searched for a term in the Google
search engine specifically with a .swf file extension.
Here's an example, in the search box I typed in:
"manager of the company" filetype:swf
This query searches for the text "manager
of the company" only within flash .swf files.
Several search results came up so you see that the
Google Search Engine can read and index flash files.
Now how well you rank for terms, I'm not sure about
that at this writing.
For additional information check out
my blog post on Google reading Flash here:
http://www.hooverwebdesign.com/blog/search-engines/how-do-we-know-google-can-read-and-index-flash-files/
About the Author:
Gina Hoover can be reached for questions about
this article at http://www.hooverwebdesign.com.
Gina's company, Hoover Web Design specializes in
professional web site design, web templates, flash
photo galleries and flash music players for beginning
Webmasters.
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