Oilman's 'Post of the Day' (22-09-2000)

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[oilman]

wow - Thursday's are quiet on the net. Slimmer pickins than usual :)

Today's post is related to the always questioned (but never answered) HTML to FLASH conumdrum.

cre8pc (Kim to her friends :)) asked this very impotant question [webmasterworld.com]:
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"Does anyone have or know where I can find stats on engine traffic for FLASH sites?
I need to compare the difference in engine driven traffic between a straight HTML/javascript driven site and a FLASH built site. Hard stats, not conjecture as to why FLASH sites may suffer...

(Example: Converting an HTML site to FLASH - how did this effect traffic? How did it effect engine indexing?)"
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We all know FLASH is SE death but nobody has yet to find any hard data.

I especially like the question about converting from FLASH to HTML. Is it really as simple as launching a new site or will previous dismal rankings work against the rebuilt site?

[tedster]

It's a great question. I wonder how many companies that are into "Flash" even have a clue about SEO. Sometimes I think there are two basic approaches to the web. One is the "gizmo" approach, and the other is the marketer's approach

Here are two exceptional cases I researched on IXQuick -- somehow some these companies got good ranking with a Flash site.

The LCD projector company, InFocus [infocus.com] has a very tastefully done site -- the Flash really enhances their message and the navigation experience.

Their index page is number 2 on Fast and number 4 on Excite for the kw "projectors". I can see no evidence of any attempt to optimize the page at all -- no meta tags, no text at all-- but there are the positions.

A second case is MacroMedia (the creators of Flash) who have a number 5 page [macromedia.com] on MSN for "vector graphics". The phrase is nowhere on the page or in the code! What's more, URL is both Flash and frames.

I think that Flash is too good visually and too economic in file-size just to go away. When used judiciously, and not for a bombastic epic movie, I'll bet that SEO can be done successfully. I will probably be trying such an effort in a few months.

[engine]

Flash, if done well, can provide good visual impact. Most of the problem is with design firms wanting to show their skill in flash.
SEO after design completion becomes a challenge.

I can't think i've seen any figures on this.

I too think flash will be around for a while.