Search Engine Optimization for Flash

For those that heard me talk in the Seattle Flash User Group tonight, I thought I’d post some links to the things I was talking about.

For search engine optimization and Flash, there is SWFObject. This is great because it nabs a few birds at once, by getting rid of that annoying "click here to activate" thing that happens in the current version of Internet Explorer, and also detects if the person has Flash and displays the appropriate content. This embed script is very widely used, and is even rumored to be in the next offical Flash release from Adobe.

Another thing I mentioned was SWFAddress, which is a great script to enabled deep linking inside of Flash, and it also works well with SWFObject. This allows your users to click their back button, and it actually works in Flash! Also it allows someone to save a link in their favorites and go back to the same spot where they were, or copy and paste the link to send to someone else.

If you’re interested in using both of these, and powering the back end with a database, so that you don’t have to input the same content twice, then you might want to take a look at Druplash (Flash powered by the content managment system Drupal), or Druplex (Flex powered with Drupal). Some exciting new technology! I just love the idea of having an HTML site, and a Flash site, both powered by the same CMS so that you only have to update things once!

By the way, this site you’re reading right now is using the Drupal Content Management System. If you’re looking for a good Drupal host, I’d recomend checking out AccelerHosting. We’ve got auto-installers for the latest version of Drupal.