Sites that use Macromedia Flash are often beautiful, animated works, but when it comes to the search engine game, these graphic elements do not enhance the site's visibility. The spiders are blind to the content in that beautiful Flash image. This problem is particularly significant when the Flash content is on the index page of the site.

The time to determine the impact of a dynamic platform for content creation on your site's SEO program is before you get locked into the platform and before you design the database. If you don't do it now, you will find yourself looking for "workarounds" and other rescues to keep your site from sinking into the quicksand of search engine oblivion.

Search engine visibility begins with your site design. The time to bring in an a SEP specialist is during this phrase...before decisions are made regarding platform and templates are prepared. Unfortunately, the SEP professional is often brought in too late, after the site is ready for use or when the site owners are perplexed by its lack of traffic from search engines. We are all familiar with the traditional usability issues that are constantly thrown around: Is it easy to read? Is the branding consistent from section to section? Does the site load so slowly that the user leaves, frustrated by a long wait? A key usability issue for a commerce site might be whether it is easy to make a purchase on the site or the process is confusing. These issues that impact "stickiness" and overall performance. While they are important to the success of a site, they are not, by themselves, central to its search engine visibility. The impact of site design on visibility goes way beyond these considerations.

It's a simple as this: The secret to increasing search engine visibility is to focus on interaction with the search engine. What I mean is that our "customer," for all practical purposes, is a spider or other robot that must find, navigate, and read the site.

Search engines spiders are a very old, primitive technology. In recent years, spiders have evolved that crawl the Web faster and can capture more data, but they are still the same basic technology. Today, Google displays and index dynamic content pages, but only when the pages are submitted.

Your workaround for creating search-engine-friendly Flash alternative pages is to use a keyword text and phrase-rich entrance page that offsets the copy that is buried in the Flash. Another solution is to create a two-frame frameset where one frame is only one pixel in height. In this mini-frame, you can use the tag to create an area where you can put your content. Still another, less visible pleasing, option is to alternate your use of Flash with static content. Remember: Search engines don't read Flash or text in graphics, and you must include an alternative source.

It's a simple as this: The secret to increasing search engine visibility is to focus on interaction with the search engine. What I mean is that our "customer," for all practical purposes, is a spider or other robot that must find, navigate, and read the site.