Flash, SEO, and Usability: Redux

Posted by Laura Bergells

January 16, 2007

Peculiar coincidence: I wrote about Flash being bad for search engine optimization yesterday.

Today, I talk to a prospect on the phone who has built a Flash site and wants it optimized.

Uh-oh. There’s a disconnect!

It’s 2007. People are on the internet looking for information (search engines).
It’s 2007. People want to connect with new ideas and thought leaders (social media).
It’s 2007. It’s no coincidence that search engines reward blog sites with good ranking (written content + lots of links = Great Search Ranking)

Now, they don’t call it “Flash” for nothing. Remember the saying “it’s all Flash, no substance?”

A superficial Flash treatment of a profoundly deep topic is a sure-fire conversation killer. If you have an idea worth spreading, use a social media platform like blogging. Learn to lead an online conversation that has both depth and breadth. Give your audience an opportunity to EASILY expand and spread your ideas.

Let me reference a prophetic quote from the YEAR 2000 from the King of Usability, Jakob Nielsen, Ph.d:

Nielsen’s UseIt.com website – the undisputed Bible of online usability — describes why designing an entire site in Flash is a very bad idea, indeed. The longish quote is this:

Distracts from a Site’s Core Values

Perhaps the worst problem with Flash is that its use consumes resources that would be better spent enhancing the website’s core value by:

Frequently updating content (Flash content tends to be created once and then left alone).

Providing informative content that answers users’ key questions at all depth levels (Flash content is typically superficial).

Identifying better ways to support customers by task analyzing their real problems (Flash is typically created by outside agents who don’t understand the business).

If Flash was cheap to produce and if all content creators could make a Flash object as easily as they write a standard Web page, then perhaps many of these problems would be alleviated. For now, they remain serious issues. I thus recommend that Web designers interested in enhancing usability and their site’s overall business presence use Flash sparingly.

OK, now that’s a seriously big quote, but the three bullet points capture the bare essence of why developing in Flash is a huge NO-NO in the year 2007. What is particularly remarkable is that Dr. Nielsen’s web 2000 usability notations on Flash are still relevant in 2007.

It’s 2007. Give up the notion that you control your ideas. Build your ideas on a platform where they can thrive and spread infectiously. And remember, an idea can only spread if you make it easy for people to spread them.

Regrettably, my would-be client likely blew a bundle in time & money developing his brand-new Flash website, and he will not give it up. He also said he strongly disagreed with my analysis, and that his site was designed to engage his audience.

Fair enough — so I encouraged him watch his marketing metrics very closely — time spent on site, posts to the message board, email subscribers, etc. — to see how effectively his Flash site was meeting his marketing goals.

I suppose it’s one thing for me to say, “Bag the Flash” — as far as he knows, I could be wrong/crazy. (I’m not — but he’s probably too invested in his world view to believe me.)

But his numbers won’t lie.

The Laura Prophecy: I predict his metrics will reveal limited engagement with the site’s content.

Why wouldn’t it? It’s 2007!

But tell me: what do you think? Know of any Flash-driven sites that profoundly engage and spread ideas? And other than looking at the metrics, is there anything I could say or do to convince a prospect otherwise?

Is there a support group for former Flash-addicts that could give testimony?