Flash pieces on web sites have traditionally been invisible to search engines. However, Adobe announced today that they are working with the search industry to change that and make Flash pieces – and Flash web sites – visible again.
Adobe has created a special Flash player, currently distributed to Yahoo! and Google. This special player allows the search engine to crawl through Flash content and get to any text or hyperlinks within the rich content. From what I read on TechCrunch, the special player acts as a virtual human, viewing the Flash content and translating it into the right information for the search engine.
This is great news for web designers and agencies who love to create Flash sites but are often dinged because of a lack of SEO. According to the Adobe press release,
…millions of pre-existing RIAs [rich Internet applications] and dynamic Web experiences that utilize Adobe Flash technology, including content that loads at runtime, are immediately searchable without the need for companies and developers to alter them.
Google has already begun indexing Flash sites, while Yahoo! plans to release the technology in an future update. Adobe has plans to roll out the technology to additional search engines as well.
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