http://www.beesandpollen.com/st/u.aspx

DOES GOOGLE INDEX FLASH CONTENT?

Yes, but.

Read what Google says below about its indexing capabilities of Flash and other rich media files at http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=72746#1:

“Googlebot can index almost any text a user can see as they interact with any Flash SWF file on your site, and can use that text to generate a snippet or match query terms in Google searches. Additionally, Googlebot can also discover URLs in SWF files (for example, links to other pages on your site) and follow those links.”

IS FLASH SEARCH-ENGINE FRIENDLY?

No, per se.

Indeed, Google furthermore says in the same document mentioned above “However, we don’t guarantee that we’ll crawl or index all the content, Flash or otherwise.”—the technique not being perfect actually.

I occasionally come across some Flash content that is poorly rendered in search engine results pages (SERP). Sometimes, even unintelligible binary data is extracted and displayed in the snippet.

But Google tells you also that they’re fine with a technique called Scalable Inman Flash Replacement (sIFR) that allows you to replace text elements—including even your website navigation—with Flash equivalents.

So Flash implemented the right way—that is, limited to certain content/cosmetic elements and dynamically replaced using the sIFR technique—doesn’t have any negative SEO impact from a Google standpoint, while keeping graphic designers happy—the best of both worlds.

—Pascal Perry
Online Findability and SEO Strategist
Incidentally, avid listener to what Google itself says about SEO

You may want to consider some simple algorithms which,
when observed and committed in designing of a website
with placement of various critical metatags that can
surely achieve a high search engine presence and
increase Internet traffic to your website. These
metatag strategies work well with published webpages
at Google and Yahoo.

Design: Should you create an extensive Flash-based
website, make sure to fill-in the property entries
such as the Title, Description and Keywords. Failing
to do so, leaves no hard HTML or ALT resource that can
be readily indexed by search robots. Also consider the
Internet audience and their incoming setup. For
example, if they are on analog/dialup, Flash webpages
take too long to load up and therefore analog users
will likely lose interest and discontinue entering the
Flash site. On the other hand, anyone on hi-speed DSL
lines, will welcome Flash pages which load quickly. So
before designing a pure Flash websitge, ask the simple
question, “Who’s my end user – is he on dialup or
DSL?” And if you had to choose between these two users
for maximum marketability, then select analog users
since 80% of most resident users are still analog
Internet subscribers and pure HTML designed webpages
is best for them.

A non-Flash-based website which relies on hard text,
is far easier to be indexed by search robots. Limit
the use of stylized text saved as .gifs since as a
graphic, they are not indexable by search robots.

Avoid use of frames since any number of search robots
are unable to properly classify textual material.

Placement of Metatags:

A ranking or search order does take place with Google
and Yahoo and it begins with the “Title” metag which
should consist of no more than 65 characters separated
by commas. The “Title” should describe in generic
terms, the goods and services, followed by a location
from which the resource is located, i.e., city, state.
The placement of a domain name which is not generic
within the “Title” is not appropriate, unless your
domain name is a major recognizable brand name.

The second metatag is the “Description” which is
usually 25-30 words to form a complete sentence which
best describes one’s goods and services.

And the very last category – “Keywords” are also
somewhat limited to 15-16 words which can be plural
and compound in nature. Again, avoid multiple entries
which could be mistaken as “spamdexed entries” which
is defined as the loading, and submission of
repetitive words into a particular metatag category.
“Spamdexing” when discovered on a webpage and reported
to Google’s spamreport.com can result in the
elimination of your website from their search
directory.

Good luck!

THIS IS COMPLETELY UNTRUE. The great SEO providers are shunned by Google because they are a treat to the natural algorithm results.

Call any seo provider you were reffered and ask them to prove high rankings for certain keywords on other websites and ask them to prove that they made that keyword position successful. The more impressive/competitive the keywords make the choice. http://www.sem.ie look like a good place to start

SEO must be done in conjunction with other internet marketing for the best results, in other words; a search engine marketing consultant is a much more effective tool.