Aside from the obvious “cool factor” when working with Flash on your site, you will need to understand some very important reasons to use Flash with discretion on your site.
A very good post about this is available from Search Engine Journal, where they highlight 5 reasons. I will expand on two of them that are specifically related to SEO.
Flash ignores users needs
Users are what we are looking for, isn’t it? Flash does not lend itself to user control (like the back button) limiting functionality. This is important, in some respects, when you are trying to provide a structured user experience. But if the user feels limited (usually by means of limiting navigation) they may not respond in a manner that is conducive to completion. So, it comes down to a simple question:
“If they don’t convert, what good did it do to get them there?”
Search engines do not like Flash
More specifically, search engines do not understand (yet and that is an extremely large YET) how to convert this into information that they can index and rank. So, this also comes down to a simple question:
“If they don’t know you are there, how will they find you?”
Building a better website means supplying the user with what they want, how they want it and when they want it.
Flash is just that, flash in the pan, get their attention. But, all in all, the user needs more than a great looking site, but a user friendly one that is accessible from the engines.
If you want a positive user experience, use flash to highlight banners and additional information. With everything, you have to use it to balance your site. If you devote an extreme amount of time on one area, whether it be link building, content writing or others, if you focus on any area too much you will not be doing your site justice and the engines will rank you accordingly.
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