This is big news for flash developers and companies with flash websites.  Adobe has created a product for search engines that will not only allow them to index flash, but will also allow them to crawl content within SWF files.  Google has already applied this technology to their algorithm, and Yahoo! is expected to follow as updates are made to their search product.

What does this mean for flash websites currently in existence?  They now have an opportunity to get search engine visibility and can optimize their content to rank for target keywords.  Adobe has announced that all versions of SWF files will be readable, so there is no need for webmasters to modify the Flash elements within their current websites.

There are still some questions left unanswered in terms of search engine preference.  Will HTML content still rank better than Flash?  How will search engines determine the importance of text within a SWF file if style sheets aren’t being utilized?  Some broader questions are also looming. How long will it take for Yahoo! to incorporate the technology to read SWF files?  When will other engines get the opportunity to adapt this technology?

As search experts begin testing over the coming months, we should begin to gain a better understanding of how this Adobe ranking technology will affect SEOs, webmasters and businesses everywhere.  Regardless of the uncertainties, this is a significant landmark for search engines and their ability to give consumers a more comprehensive way to search for information.

For more information about Flash indexing, visit the SWF searchability FAQ by Adobe.

This panel including participants Kevin Ryan (Vice President, Global Content Director, Search Engine Strategies and Search Engine Watch), Mike Grehan (Global KDM Officer, Acronym MediaSpeakers), John Battelle (CEO, Federated Media),  James Lamberti (Senior Vice President, Search and Media, comScore, Inc),  Lyndsay Menzies (Managing Director, Big Mouth Media), and Jack Menzel (PM for Universal Search, Google) was fiery at times as it felt like a Google interrogation led by Jack Battelle posing the question: Is Google becoming a media company? (more…)