Flash v. HTML - Ranking

[East Coast King]

Hello,

Hoping I can find an answer to my question.

I know that typically, flash takes longer for SEO to take hold than an HTML/static site. However, I'm curious to know: if I have an HTML website that is #1 for specific key terms, and then I change the format of the site to splash, will that affect the overall ranking?

Basic question, I'm sure, but hoping you guys/girls can help me out! Thanks in advance!

 

[GoQuickly]

Yes, most definitely will.

Google will show your updated index page lacking the content of your original site. Unless you can manage all doing all the seo your doing now on a splash page.

I had it happen to my photography site. I strongly recommend using flash elements in HTML and staying away from flash layouts.

 

[enlytend]

Almost certainly will. See my answer in this thread.

You CAN do things to serve all/most of the content from your flash site to search engines with swfobject or noscript but it's a pain and if you have a well indexed html site there's very little chance of making that kind of change without losing rankings.

 

[East Coast King]

Thanks for the responses guys! Enly - that thread really helped describe your answer. Appreciate it!

 

[espis147]

Definitely it will affect your ranking in google. Your no.1 position will be put down when your page is indexed by google.

 

[East Coast King]

Thanks again, guys. To be clear, I never went to Flash on a site - just curious about the affects were I to. Appreciate all the responses!

 

[amywilson]

It is true that flash is not too good in terms of SEO. The developer staff at Adobe have developed various video discussions and tutorials to make your Flash content more SEO friendly !
You can visit the website for further details.

 

[espis147]

If you are already at No.1 then you should not do this experiment.