Adobe to help reveal 'invisible' Flash Web content

Adobe Systems is helping Google and Yahoo to uncover Web content that was previously "invisible" to Web searches.

Both companies have been given optimized Adobe Flash Player technology to help them better index dynamic Web content and rich Internet applications that include the Flash file format, or Shockwave Flash, Adobe said in a statement. Search engines already index static text and links within Shockwave Flash files, but rich Internet applications and dynamic Web content are elusive to search engines because of their changing states, Adobe noted.

Adobe's technology means that millions of pre-existing RIAs that use Flash technology, including content that loads at runtime, are immediately searchable without alteration by companies or developers, Adobe said. Google has already added the optimized Flash Player to its search engine, while Yahoo plans to add the technology to a future update of Yahoo Search.

"Designers and Web developers have long been frustrated that search engines couldn't better access the information within their content created with Flash technology. It's great to see Adobe and the search engines working directly together to improve the situation," Danny Sullivan, editor in chief of SearchEngineLand.com, said in a statement. "The changes should help unlock information that's previously been 'invisible' and will likely result in a better experience for searchers."

[extrasupermario]

Nice, but there are a number of ways that flash gets added to a page. This was via object/embed tags but since the Eolas vs Microsoft battle most get Flash loaded with javascript.

Will Google and Yahoo parse everyone's different javascript technique to reveal where the .swf file? Will the embedded textual content be index-able? What if the textual content presented in Flash is externally loaded in an xml file?

Sounds like a mess to me.

[someguy999]

I was excited about to comment on the need for MS to update Silverlight in the same way... but then I read the previous commenter and I completely forgot about that... they're completely right. Unless Adobe is expecting people to use the illegal Eolas violating practices .

[bathyscaaf]

I am certain that will be taken into account. Why? Adobe has been using their own javascript method to embed flash for some time now.
The clincher is Adobe has announced they will officially be using SWFObject 2 as their embed method during "publish" -- which is a collaboration between the guys who made SWFObject and UFO (Unobtrusive Flash Object) embed methods.
So they are very aware that the majority of flash/flex devs embedded using one of those methods (I liked UFO myself, now SWFObject2).

Just as an addendum: MS paid Eolas -- click to activate this control is no longer an issue on IE7 if you've updated in the last several months. It is still a problem in Opera -- they have not paid -- and have not been approached to pay either, but are still playing it safe.

[inachu]

I'm downgrading my flash so I do not have to see inline advertisements in the videos I see.
I am so sick and tired of those.

[benjaminstraight]

Informative article.

[Farthing Haypenny]

If this helps Flashblock do ts job, then I'm all for it.

[citizencontact]

That Flash content is invisible to the web searches should give people pause about the technology as a whole. The open standards of HTML, XHTML, SVG ( a human readable, accessible alternative to Flash-now that Adobe merged with Macromedia wondering about how SVG can compete), SMIL, and ECMAscript provide a real opportunity for a better designed, easier to search, more open World Wide Web. On the other hand, competition is good for open source and open standards.

[mark_anders]

Actually a number of the issues mentioned in previous comments get to the heart of the real problem being solved. If all one had to do was to use "open standards" like XHTML and ECMAScript as citizencontact proposes, then there wouldn't be the issue brought up by extrasupermario and others which is: How can Google and Yahoo even figure out how to load the SWF when there's all of this JavaScript code used to do so?

The real issue is that a lot of today's web, whether XHTML/SVG and JavaScript (i.e. AJAX) or Flash can't be analyzed simply by looking at the code -- you have to run it. This is what Adobe is allowing Google and Yahoo to do more effectively for Flash based code. They undoubtedly are also having to do something similar for complex JavaScript powered HTML too, which is how they'll figure out what the SWF is, regardless of the technique used.

Mark Anders
Adobe