BAC Software Consulting

Are you considering a Flash Website? If so, it is important to understand the advantages and disadvantages of Flash Websites. Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity. Flash is a powerful authoring tool, but like any tool some things are best solved with Flash, while others are not.

Advantages: Reasons to Use Flash

Flash use in advertising and online games is increasingly common. Should you use Flash on your Website? Of course, if you think that it can bring extra value to your users. There are several reasons for using Flash as elements of a Website.

1. Cross-browser compatibility

Flash is browser independent. It has no issues with cross browser compatibility. You don´t have to worry about your HTML and CSS code being interpreted differently in different browsers. As long as the Flash player plugin is installed on the user´s computer, s/he will be able to view Flash content with no issues.

2. Image Replacement for Special Fonts

Flash can be used to replace text elements on HTML Web pages with Flash equivalents. This image replacement technique is called Scalable Inman Flash Replacement.

3. Interactivity

Flash supports audio, animation, and advanced video handling and interactivity. Flash is vector-based, but allows incorporation of bitmaps where needed. Flash applications can collect data, online games, feedback forms, photo slide show, audio, movies, charts, shopping carts, and different web applications that server-side scripts can do. Flash technology makes it possible to make your Website more interactive and expressive.

4. Better Expression Through Animation

Flash is vector based and hence a lightweight option for animation with smaller file size as opposed to real movie files that are raster based with much larger file size. With Flash, you can express something to a visitor in a more efficient and attractive way.

Disadvantages: Reasons NOT to Use Flash

Flash is a powerful tool for delivering animation, games, shopping carts, vector graphics, and sound effects. But this does NOT mean you need to create your entire Website in Flash. If you do you will be at a severe disadvantage. An All-Flash Website is not a good idea, it poses challenges for Search Engine rankings, accessibility and usability. Some combination of Flash and HTML work very well in some cases, where Flash is embedded within the Website and not being the Website itself.

Building an All-Flash Website is wrong.  Storing your content in a Flash movie is wrong. Website navigation in Flash is wrong.  All the benefits of the visual appeal are overridden by the disadvantages in SEO and usability.

1. Flash Requires a Plugin

Flash Websites require installing the Flash player plugin. If the player is not installed or if it is not the correct version then the user will be required to download or upgrade the Flash player. Do not expect that everyone will do so just to view your Website. Also many users, including myself, disable Flash by default to avoid animated advertising and to improve page-loading speed.

2. Accessibility and Usability are Impaired

Accessibility is a concern with Flash. Unless properly coded, most Flash Websites lack alternative text and can be difficult for screen readers. Users cannot scale the text font size. The back and forward browser buttons don´t work, unless you add extra code. Bookmarking internal pages is not common in Flash, unless you add the proper code, only the main page is bookmarked. Tab keystroke, an important element in accessibility, is supposed to cycle through links and Enter should activate links.

Flash is included in the Web browser as a stand alone during runtime. This means that all keyboard shortcuts, and contextual menu are lost until you click outside of the Flash area.

3. Most Mobiles Can´t Read Flash

Most mobile devices, especially Apple based devices, such as iPhone and also BlackBerry phones don´t display Flash Websites. With a growing number of people using their mobile devices for Internet browsing, creating your Website in Flash will effectively keep your mobile users out. For example in iPod Touch you will get No Flash. The Internet is slowly becoming more mobile prominent. This is a market that can´t be ignored.

4. Search Engine Optimization

Search engine robots can´t index images. Robots have trouble following links that are not standard HTML links. That´s why an All-Flash Website is always at a disadvantage when it comes to SEO. Search engines have a hard time crawling and properly indexing the content of Flash Websites.
Especially the case of an all-Flash Website as a single file. Search engines are not able to direct users to the proper pages within that file, nor they would be able to read your content and what images and links you have. This may result in a decrease in search engine ranking. The correct way to use a Flash movie in a Web page is to have an alternate HTML fallback, and to use JavaScript to dynamically insert Flash movies. Unfortunately, many Flash developers tend to disregard accessibility and SEO.

5. Longer Loading Time

Despite the High Speed Internet service available nowadays, there are still many users using dial-up Internet access and other limited Internet connections. Flash content takes longer than usual to load compared to standard HTML Websites. The heavier your Flash content is, the slower the Web page will load and this might cause some visitors to leave. Clearly, in this case it does not matter how impressive your Website looks if the visitor does not wait for it to load. It is always better to avoid excessive use of Flash in a Website.

6. Flash does Not Display in Search Engine Previews

Some search engines provide a preview option next to search results. The preview allows a user to get a better idea of what to expect in the target Website before visiting it. For instance, Google has the Instant Previews feature which shows you a visual preview of your search results. The effect of an all-Flash Website can be seen in the following image.

Flow Chart for an All-Flash Website

This FlowChart is about 5 years old. But it still holds somewhat true. My point, think twice before you decide on an all-Flash Website. And if you do, carefully read the best practices that you need to follow in the next section. There are several strategies for mitigating problems inherent with Flash usage.

Best Practices for an All-Flash Website

If you must have an all-Flash Website, remember to follow certain ground rules. One important rule is to create an HTML version of your Flash Website. In this case, you provide mobile users the ability to see and navigate your Website, and also allow search engines to properly crawl and index your content. The content for both Flash and HTML Websites should be pulled from the same XML file. Read more in the following important references.

Hybrid “Flash/HTML” Solution

For many Websites, the best solution to use Flash is a hybrid of both elements: Flash and HTML. Flash should be used for integrating applications, tools, video, audio and other nice experience to the user. However, Flash should not replace HTML for the use of content, menus and links.

Conclusion

This article discussed the pros and cons of a Flash Website. Some Websites benefit from using only Flash (all-Flash Website), other Websites benefit from the hybrid alternative of using Flash in combination with HTML, and many other Websites benefit from No Flash at all. Use Flash where you think it is effective and necessary and always provide alternate content for users without Flash.

DoFollow and NoFollow are important factors for SEO that influence the ranking of a particular Website in search engines. DoFollow is a term that does not exist. It is a term given to Websites that are not using the rel=“nofollow” attribute in links. nofollow is a value that can be assigned to the rel attribute of the HTML link to instruct some search engines not to pass on any influence to an outbound link. NoFollow and DoFollow control how a Website passes its PageRank or link juice to other links.

Although search engines don´t pass along the link juice (or let PageRank flow) they still follow and index these links. The nofollow value is not meant for preventing content from being indexed by search engines.

What Exactly is NoFollow?

NoFollow (rel=“nofollow”) means that PageRank or Link juice will NOT be passed to a link. It tells major Search Engines, especially Googlebot, that this link can be followed, the linked page is crawled and indexed, but the PageRank score will not be taken into account.

The attribute that defines a link as NoFollow is rel=“nofollow”.

A typical NoFollow link is like this:

<a rel="nofollow" href="https://bacsoftwareconsulting.com/" title="">BAC</a>

What Exactly is DoFollow?

DoFollow is the exact opposite of NoFollow. A DoFollow link will let your PageRank flow to all external and internal links. When you remove the rel=“nofollow” attribute from a link, then the link becomes DoFollow. The absence of the nofollow value makes the link a DoFollow. Search Engines robots, especially Googlebot, will crawl the link, index it and the PageRank score will be taken into account.

A typical DoFollow link is like this:

<a href="https://bacsoftwareconsulting.com/" title="">BAC</a>

How Do I Know if a Website is Using NoFollow?

There are 2 ways to check:

1. View the Source code: Highlight the link that you want to check and view the source code of the Webpage. There are several ways to To view the page source depending on the browser you use. You could either select “source” from your browser´s menu or you could right click on the page to view the source from the context menu.
2. Use an Add-On: Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome browsers have add-ons that highlight a NoFollow link on a Webpage without actually looking at the source code.

Advantages of rel=“nofollow” Attribute

1. Minimize Comment Spam: Especially the comment spam that is manually filled by real users once they know that your Website is DoFollow. Automatic spam will not be affected. Robots that submit spam will not check your link status.
2. Not Passing on Your PageRank:You might not want to pass your PageRank to Websites that are completely unrelated to your field, as this, with time, may cause your PageRank score to go down.
3. The overall PageRank of your Website is preserved.

Disadvantages of rel=“nofollow” Attribute

1. You will not attract more visitors to comment on your Website, thus getting less traffic.
2. Without improving popularity, you may not get inbound links to your Website. Thus your PageRank will not improve.
3. Less traffic, means less clicks to any advertisements you have on your Website, and thus less earnings.

Where Should I use rel=“nofollow” Attribute

Use the rel=“nofollow” attribute whenever you don´t want to pass your link juice. Regardless what you read otherwise, never add nofollow to any internal pages of your Website. Here are some scenarios when to use NoFollow:

1. Use NoFollow for single pages that has more than 100 links. For example, a resource page having several hundred links.
2. Use NoFollow for Trust Badges: like the Better Business Bureau and VeriSign, you can add rel=“nofollow” to those links.
3. Use NoFollow for your RSS feed. This ensures that your RSS feed isn´t indexed before your Website.
4. Use NoFollow when linking to any “questionable” and untrusted Websites.
5. Use NoFollow for mega Websites and Social Networks such as: Facebook, Gmail, Adsense, etc.
6. Use NoFollow if you link to Web browsers such as Mozilla and Chrome.
7. Use NoFollow for paid advertising. If you sell advertisement space on your Website, those ads should always have a rel=“nofollow” attribute inserted in the Link.
8. Use NoFollow for affiliate links.

Is NoFollow a Bad Thing?

No not necessarily, consider the following: The NoFollow links might have no effect on PageRank but they still refer real people. As long as “real visitors” can follow the links, that´s great. Eventhough you do not get link juice from the NoFollow links, you still get real visitors.

NoFollow isn´t bad. There´s nothing wrong with getting NoFollow links. While they don´t pass link juice, they do help associate your Website with anchor text.

Advantages of DoFollow

The advantages of adding DoFollow links on your Website are:

1. You will attract more visitors especially for comments, thus getting more traffic, exposure and popularity.
2. With an increase in popularity, you may get more inbound links to your Website, which helps your PageRank to increase.
3. The increase in traffic may also increase your revenue from affiliate programs and other advertisements.

Disadvantages of DoFollow

1. The PageRank of your Webpage will be passed to external links. The overall PageRank can be reduced.
2. However, you can offset the decrease of your PageRank by attracting more inbound links.
3. You get an increase of spam Comments, which require extra time and efforts from your side.

Which Links Should be Set as DoFollow?

To reemphasize, the non-existence of the rel=“nofollow” attribute, means that the link is DoFollow. Links that should be kept DoFollow are:

1. All Internal Links. Internal links will help spiders crawl your pages more deeply and they will get indexed often.
2. For a blog, links pointing to posts should be kept DoFollow.
3. Niche links can be DoFollow. Always give a link to a Website that shares the same content as yours.

Why Blog Owners Abandon DoFollow?

The answer is simple Comment spam. Spam does not have to be automated. A person can leave just as many worthless comments as software just to get link juice. For every person who takes the time to make a genuine comment, there are several who do the following:

1. Leave a trivial comment.
2. Leave a short summary of the Post.
3. Leave a flat out spam comment unrelated to the topic.
4. Leave spam comments on several posts in one session.

Conclusion

1. Ultimately, as long you keep providing great content and services that people want, your Website will grow.
2. Whatever your decision is, just remember that one “authoritative” link can be more effective than several low level links.
3. You can build relationships through commenting. Leaving thoughtful comments is a good way to start a relationship with an influential blogger in your field.
4. Remember that DoFollow blogs are giving you link juice in exchange for your quality comments. So, be considerate. If you post junk comments, blog owners will get tired of moderating and taken advantage of, and will eventually turn NoFollow back on.

So What would I choose? The best approach is to use a mixture of DoFollow AND NoFollow links.