Flash to HTML and a Google ranking

[candleman]

i recently bought an HTML add-on (and Iphone/iPad Compatible add-ons) for my website.
I also switched my SEO to index my HTML site instead of my Flash site.

well, drastic results.
in less than 24 hours i'm on Google page 5, whereas before it wasn't even ranking in the first 20 pages (i checked)

SO,
big differences.... I hope over time i'll get bumbed a bit further up the list.


Question:does a splash page (HTML) hurt the SEO in any way?

[LMAshton]

It irritates a lot of people coming to your site, who'll end up abandoning your site before going further. SEO itself, I'm not sure.

[Niresangwa]

Originally Posted by LMAshton

It irritates a lot of people coming to your site, who'll end up abandoning your site before going further. SEO itself, I'm not sure.

Why would a splash page offering a couple of direction options (assuming they're all related to the overall goal of the page) make someone "abandon going further"?

[LMAshton]

Because it's a waste of time, one more step. People, generally speaking, want to access the meat of the site *now*. Any links or directions or menu options you can provide on a splash page can go on the main site.

Part of that is that the world does not have high speed Internet. Many still are on dial up or otherwise slow speeds. If you have high speed and can load a page in less than a second, good for you, but for many others, it's a long process and any extra steps are frustrating.

[Niresangwa]

Originally Posted by LMAshton

Because it's a waste of time, one more step. People, generally speaking, want to access the meat of the site *now*. Any links or directions or menu options you can provide on a splash page can go on the main site.

Part of that is that the world does not have high speed Internet. Many still are on dial up or otherwise slow speeds. If you have high speed and can load a page in less than a second, good for you, but for many others, it's a long process and any extra steps are frustrating.

Oh, ok. Thought there might be a legitimate reason...

[OsmosisStudios]

Google "Osmosis Studios". Go ahead. I'll wait.

That's why HTML will always be better than Flash, especially considering HTML5 can/will be able to do most of the same things.

[sk66]

In general, a Splash page's main advantage is SEO.... (best use is an HTML page for a flash heavy site)
Flash is difficult to SEO (but possible), HTML is inherently simpler for SEO, especially depending upon the crawler used.

If you have a flash splash page...then you are just annoying people...As mentioned, it's another pointless step, and in general "cool for the sake of cool" becomes tired and worn out quickly.

[Jim Poor]

Originally Posted by OsmosisStudios

Google "Osmosis Studios". Go ahead. I'll wait.

That's why HTML will always be better than Flash, especially considering HTML5 can/will be able to do most of the same things.

Actually, to Google the exact name of one's studio as a test of SEO is pure folly.

Google, [insert location] photographer and see where you fall, or [insert location], [insert specialty] and see where you fall.

Nobody is going to Google "Osmosis Studios" if they don't know you exist yet.

[BuddhaPi]

Good point Jim! as for splash pages, rememebr google and the likes are looking for content, content is king, without relevant content, theres no content for google to index....did i mention content??? So if it's a splash page with just a slide show, no it will not help..I would also strongly suggest adding links to your other pages within this content to help goole find it way and drill down thru your pages....

[Biomech]

Originally Posted by Jim Poor

Actually, to Google the exact name of one's studio as a test of SEO is pure folly.
Google, [insert location] photographer and see where you fall, or [insert location], [insert specialty] and see where you fall.

I'll +1 that

I'd have to say that splash pages aren't a pointless step. But that really does depend on what you are using it for. If it's purely aesthetics /advertising - you don't need it, the client is already there. However, if you're an international company or you host adult content then a splash page serves the purpose of warning or filtering viewers to the most appropriate content.

I'd be inclined to think about using a splash page if your company name is similar to someone elses. For example: Theres a financial advisory called Shawcross.com, if you happen to be Shawcross the Solicitors it might be worth considering using a splash page just to reduce your bandwidth consumption of people who aren'tlooking for you. PCworld.com/.co.uk is another.

As far as SEO is concerned, because people were packing the pages Google pretty much ignores splash pages now as they have little content value.