Tag: swf

Google, RSLs and indexing

Google, RSLs and indexing

A while back I posted an article on Google giving errors with indexing SWF files that used the RSL framework feature to reduce the overall size of your SWF. It seemed to me very odd that you have Adobe trying to push the use of RSL’s as well as bumming up the great work that they’ve done with Google to index SWFs but not mentioning that fact that Google couldn’t index a SWF with an RSL. This lead people to see errors when they tried to find their app in a Google search.  See this for details http://kennethsutherland.com/2009/04/27/google-and-swfs/

Anyway good news, finally Google can index SWF files with external resources.  This news came out a few days back, but due to my blog needing fixed (it was breaking FF – wordpresses fault:( ) and other things going on blah blah…

Well here is the annoucement from Google – http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/06/flash-indexing-with-external-resource.html I have yet to try this out, but if it works as it say it does then great. another bonus for using Flex.

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Google and SWFs

Google and SWFs

I recently checked out a page that was created using flexbuilder to see if it was indexed by Google and every time I checked it Googles results came up with

Error #2032. RSL Error 1 of 1.

I found virtually nothing out on the internet about this apart from a recent email or two on the flexcoders mail list. It turns out that Google will NOT index your SWF if you use an RSL to reduce the file size!

Now I try to keep up to date on as much flex as possible but I’ve never heard/read anyone say this before. All I’ve heard about it was great Google can now index SWFs, any SWFs and no mention of any exceptions.

I think this is a bit of a big thing, I always use the RSL feature to make my SWFs smaller with the one time hit of getting the framework RSL SWF so every SWF I’ve done will not be getting indexed by Google. As it happens the majority of the stuff I do is inside other pages that do get indexed or its not for public consumtion anyway, but that’s not the point. All info out there suggests Google will index any SWF, it will NOT.

So should you get an ‘Error #2032. RSL Error 1 of 1.’ when Google returns a search on your SWF then turn of the RSL feature. Google better sort this out before flex 4, as I think they’re going to turn on the RSL feature by default for flex 4.

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