Embed or Iframe?

sharing content

[StoutFiles]

If I have content I want to share with smaller websites with the main goal to get some name placement down and a link back to my site, what would be the more efficient way?

Assume it's a video.

If I give them the code to embed it on...say, their MySpace...they would be able to change the code to remove accompanying links. If I give them the code to iframe it, they won't be able to change anything but I've heard having parts of your site iframed by other sites can hurt you in rankings.

Which one would be the optimal solution?

[too much information]

I use iframes, but I also give the other site owner some control over the appearance of the frame because it needs to blend into their site or it won't look very good.

The good thing about an iFrame is that you can control the content entirely with html, php or any language you want. So if you want a link below the video, or you want to be able to put a line of text up saying, "Video being updated, please come back later", or even a image instead of the video it's easy.

The embed feature is just going to pull the video and that's all you have control over. So you have to have the video content available when it is called for and any extra stuff you want to add you need to modify your video.

I guess it's a matter of giving up some control to get some control, but you will have to decide if your customers are willing to do that. With Google Adsense I am willing to give up that control (they use the iframe via JavaScript) and with YouTube I want content control (they use embed).

Try asking your customers to see what they are interested in, you could probably get enough feedback from a site poll, or quick mass email.