There has always been a problem with search engines not being able to 'read' flash files. This is a problem especially when we rely on Search Engines so heavily to find content on the web.

 Well, those days are over according to TechCrunch - Adobe has come up with a way for the search engines to read SWF files and index all of the information they contain. That means any text or links in a Flash application can now be indexed.

"Adobe has created a special Flash player for the search engines that acts like a virtual user going through each application. It actually goes through the runtime of each Flash application and translates it into something the search engines can understand. So all of those fancy interactive Flash Websites and other rich Internet applications that have been invisible to search engines, can now be seen by them."

This is great news for everyone developing in Flash. It means that applications and games and websites can now be found as easily (?) as an HTML site using keywords and metatags.