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Flash and AJAX

Unfortunately, both Flash and AJAX technologies can pose major problems for search engines when

used pervasively. Sites that are entirely Flash or AJAX based will not be indexed very well, if it all.

The rationale is fairly simple. Search engines are designed to index pages, not applications.

Furthermore, even if a search engine could figure out how to interpret a Flash file or AJAX application

adequately, parsing and indexing its pertinent content, there would be no way to navigate to that par-

ticular part of the application using a URL. Therefore, because the primary goal of a search engine is

to provide relevant results to a user, a search engine will be hesitant to rank content in those media

well. Lastly, both Flash and AJAX would invite several more innovative and harder-to-detect forms

of spam.

The Blended Approach

But before you assume that we vilify Flash and AJAX completely, there is somewhat of a solution. A site

designer should only use Flash and AJAX for the areas of the site that require it. This is called

the blended

approach

. He or she should design an HTML-based site, and employ Flash and AJAX technologies where

they will provide a tangible benefit to the user. He or she should attempt to keep as much of the textual

content HTML-based as possible.

Frequently, a mix of HTML and JavaScript (DHTML) can also approximate most of the interactivity of

these technologies. For example, clicking a button could hide or unhide an HTML

div

element. This will

involve employing the use of smaller Flash or AJAX elements placed inside a traditional HTML layout.

In other words, you should use Flash and AJAX as elements on a page, not as the page itself.

Some SEM authorities also recommend providing a non-Flash or AJAX version of content using

<noembed>

or

<noscript>

, respectively. Unfortunately, because those tags are invisible (and have

been used so pervasively for spam), their efficacy is questionable. Search engines may choose to ignore

the content therein completely. They may, however, enhance usability for users with disabilities, so it is

not unwise to employ them for that purpose.

This solution also misses the mark for another reason — a typical Flash or AJAX site exists on a single

“page,” therefore further limiting the utility of the tag, because all content would presumably have to

exist on that one page!

Figure 6-15 shows an image of a site that looks like a full Flash application, but was changed to HTML

with DHTML and hidden layers. The presented link is

http://www.xactcommunication.com/

WristLinx-9/X33XIF-WristLinx-TwoWay-Wristwatch-Radio-35.html

.

Sites built entirely with Flash or entirely with AJAX involve a huge paradigm shift.

They do not employ pages for the various elements of a site; rather, they are, more or

less, an application embedded on a single page.

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Chapter 6: SE-Friendly HTML and JavaScript

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