Flash

Riverisland.com review: an SEO failure.

October 14, 2009 in All posts, review

After reading the rather good eConsultancy review of the recently relaunched M&S site, it got me in the mood for taking a look at what else was around in terms of online clothing retailers. I spotted an opportunity to review the website of high-street brand name River Island.

Now, I’m no fashionista (updating my blog as often as I do generally precludes me from that particular gang), so this could work one of two ways:

  • I’ll have no preconceived ideas about what works as a fashion site and therefore be open to persuasion, or
  • I’ll be even more rigorous in my critique and will show absolutely no mercy or hesitation in being mean about their online offering

Which will it be? Do you even have to ask? Read on!

Read more →

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Google to index Flash content

July 4, 2008 in All posts

So, a recent update by Google announced that they’re to start indexing Flash content. This is good right?

Well, at first glance yes – since generally speaking, it’s better to index content than not. But there are other more worrying ramifications.

That’s a good word, that: “ramification“. RAM-ification. Sounds like a vetinary term.

The problems I foresee are thus:

  • This Flash content will show up in the SERPs, but Flash sites are usually built in one giant file – making deep-linking impossible. So a user will search for a phrase, see a match, click it – and then be dumped at the entry point of the Flash site – nowhere near the information they wanted to find. Great user journey there.
  • It could encourage more online design agencies to build more Flash sites. Expensive Flash sites…
  • …which will have content that is still inaccessible to screenreaders and similar.

I just hope this doesn’t signal the start of a deluge of agencies recommending to their clients that Flash content is suddenly fine to use. The only way it’ll work is if Google works out a way to deep link into this content – or site developers build start building Flash sites differently to allow it.

Don’t get me wrong: when used properly, well-executed Flash content is invaluable…just don’t build an ENTIRE site in it.

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