Personal Development for Smart People^TM Forums

Rebecca800 · 03-25-2010, 08:57 AM

Last week I added a Flash Animation to my homepage (above my intro para, so it's the first thing you see) and since then my Alexa Rank has dropped from 112,000 to 117,000. What's worse is I've slipped from the 2nd page on Google for my main search term "lucid dreaming" ...to the 5th page.

I'm told by a fellow SBIer that unlike .FLV which is useful, .FLA does nothing for your SEO - but can it actually harm it? The text on my page hasn't changed, so I just don't see how this animation is the cause... but still, I see no other reason for the Google downgrade. And if this is the cause, what the best solution?

I'm not a tecchie so please spell it out for me

Thanks

ellie · 03-25-2010, 09:48 AM

Well actually you wouldn't have a .FLA file embedded into your html page, it would be what the FLash file publishes out as, which is a .swf file

The FLV. though is a flash video file, which is similar to a .mov file. I doubt that would be effecting your page ranking, unless somehow the flash embedding is taking over the main part of your HMTL page and so your keywords are getting read last.

.FLV will actually do nothing for your page ranking...it's a video so it has no content to read (well technically if it's a real video file, but you can also have flash text over the top of it) a swf file though has embedded text, so that will in fact be read by google..as long as you have text on your site. The order it reads the text in which it is read though is a bit shakey, but it is getting better. So the SBI'er was not really correct.

This might help Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Flash indexing with external resource loading

What extension is the video on your page? .swf or video? ok it's a swf file, so yes google could be trying to read the text in the swf file and because that is almost the first element in the page, it might in fact be effecting it...I haven't heard of it before but I guess that could happen. If you put it towards the bottom of the page, the html text would be read first.

Ask someone on a flash forum Flash Kit Community Forums - Powered by vBulletin

SatvikBeri · 03-25-2010, 05:05 PM

In theory, the video should have zero impact on your search rankings.

I haven't heard anything suggesting otherwise either way.

ellie · 03-26-2010, 01:25 AM

It's not a video though, it's a swf file so google would read it's text within the file.

Rebecca800 · 03-26-2010, 01:47 AM

Hi Ellie, thanks so much for the info. Yes it's a .swf file and it's the first thing to be read in the HTML after my menu file.

So if I understand right, it's the positioning on the page (if anything) that has affected my ranking, rather than the file type.

ellie · 03-26-2010, 02:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rebecca800

Hi Ellie, thanks so much for the info. Yes it's a .swf file and it's the first thing to be read in the HTML after my menu file.

So if I understand right, it's the positioning on the page (if anything) that has affected my ranking, rather than the file type.

Yeah pretty much, I have not heard of it though, but I don't embed Flash into HTML with lots of written content ( I just develop pure flash sites mainly), but I am assuming that's what is happening, if you're having issues with your page ranking. The rule is usually whatever is first on the page will get read first and then down the page.

Always can ask on a flash forum as well, someone will offer you advice.

sirkinm · 03-26-2010, 04:09 PM

I was asked by a friend to help optimize his site because it was ranking poorly in Google. I took off the flash intro page that was his site's homepage, fixed up his meta-tags and did a bit of social-bookmarking/linkbuilding. His site flew to the top of Google in a week. I know that sounds exagerated, but it's true.

seeker5 · 03-26-2010, 04:21 PM

I don't know about that, but I know all those iphones can't see the flash video!

Rebecca800 · 03-26-2010, 11:32 PM

Thanks everyone. I searched "lucid dreaming" on Google and found my site had been upgraded to page 3, so the issue is kinda correcting itself.... Nonetheless I've moved the video to after the first para, so Google has a bit of text to look at first. We'll see! I don't think it makes a huge difference from a visitor perspective and the iPhone people will be happy too. Thanks again for all your input.

03-25-2010, 08:57 AM	#1 (permalink)
Rebecca800 Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Auckland, New Zealand Posts: 636	Does Flash Animation Hurt Your Google Rank? Last week I added a Flash Animation to my homepage (above my intro para, so it's the first thing you see) and since then my Alexa Rank has dropped from 112,000 to 117,000. What's worse is I've slipped from the 2nd page on Google for my main search term "lucid dreaming" ...to the 5th page. I'm told by a fellow SBIer that unlike .FLV which is useful, .FLA does nothing for your SEO - but can it actually harm it? The text on my page hasn't changed, so I just don't see how this animation is the cause... but still, I see no other reason for the Google downgrade. And if this is the cause, what the best solution? I'm not a tecchie so please spell it out for me Thanks

03-25-2010, 09:48 AM	#2 (permalink)
ellie Family Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 2,432	Well actually you wouldn't have a .FLA file embedded into your html page, it would be what the FLash file publishes out as, which is a .swf file The FLV. though is a flash video file, which is similar to a .mov file. I doubt that would be effecting your page ranking, unless somehow the flash embedding is taking over the main part of your HMTL page and so your keywords are getting read last. .FLV will actually do nothing for your page ranking...it's a video so it has no content to read (well technically if it's a real video file, but you can also have flash text over the top of it) a swf file though has embedded text, so that will in fact be read by google..as long as you have text on your site. The order it reads the text in which it is read though is a bit shakey, but it is getting better. So the SBI'er was not really correct. This might help Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Flash indexing with external resource loading What extension is the video on your page? .swf or video? ok it's a swf file, so yes google could be trying to read the text in the swf file and because that is almost the first element in the page, it might in fact be effecting it...I haven't heard of it before but I guess that could happen. If you put it towards the bottom of the page, the html text would be read first. Ask someone on a flash forum Flash Kit Community Forums - Powered by vBulletin Last edited by ellie; 03-25-2010 at 09:57 AM.

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03-25-2010, 05:05 PM	#3 (permalink)
SatvikBeri Family Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Manhattan, NY Posts: 1,370	In theory, the video should have zero impact on your search rankings. I haven't heard anything suggesting otherwise either way.

03-26-2010, 01:25 AM	#4 (permalink)
ellie Family Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 2,432	It's not a video though, it's a swf file so google would read it's text within the file.

03-26-2010, 01:47 AM	#5 (permalink)
Rebecca800 Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Auckland, New Zealand Posts: 636	Hi Ellie, thanks so much for the info. Yes it's a .swf file and it's the first thing to be read in the HTML after my menu file. So if I understand right, it's the positioning on the page (if anything) that has affected my ranking, rather than the file type.

03-26-2010, 04:09 PM	#7 (permalink)
sirkinm Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 585	I was asked by a friend to help optimize his site because it was ranking poorly in Google. I took off the flash intro page that was his site's homepage, fixed up his meta-tags and did a bit of social-bookmarking/linkbuilding. His site flew to the top of Google in a week. I know that sounds exagerated, but it's true.

03-26-2010, 04:21 PM	#8 (permalink)
seeker5 Family Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 3,606	I don't know about that, but I know all those iphones can't see the flash video!

03-26-2010, 11:32 PM	#9 (permalink)
Rebecca800 Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Auckland, New Zealand Posts: 636	Thanks everyone. I searched "lucid dreaming" on Google and found my site had been upgraded to page 3, so the issue is kinda correcting itself.... Nonetheless I've moved the video to after the first para, so Google has a bit of text to look at first. We'll see! I don't think it makes a huge difference from a visitor perspective and the iPhone people will be happy too. Thanks again for all your input.

Personal Development for Smart PeopleTM Forums

Personal Development for Smart People^TM Forums