Undici Rumson New Jersey  

Undici Restaurant's Flash Website Blocks Search Indexing

Undici Rumson

 

A new Italian Restaurant open in Rumson New Jersey, just minutes from my home.  When I tried to locate some information on Undici Restaurant I was convinced that they DID NOT have a website.  Why?  Because Google or Yahoo did not list a restaurant owned website when I typed in Google:

  • Undici Restaurant NJ
  • Undici Restaurant Rumson
  • Undici Italian Restaurant NJ

Luckily I don't give up easily and for the last few weeks I have been searching to see if they had created a website that did not make the opening launch of the restaurant in November of 2007.

Finally I found a third party article that posted a press release for Undici Restaurant that had a link to their company owned website.   When I visited their site it all became very clear why I could not find the site on Google and Yahoo. 

The owners of Undici hired a web design firm that created a beautiful website...BUT...they forget to mention to the owners of Undici that the design they created would be invisible to Google and Yahoo search. 

 

100% Flash Websites Have No Text To Index

 

You see, the Undici website is designed 100% in FLASH programming and currently, Google and Yahoo, have stated publically that they can not index the text content shown flash websites.  Why?  Because flash website are basically a slideshow of pictures so ANY TEXT on the pages is invisible.  The major search engines need text to index websites and there is NO text on the Undici website.   

To the Flash purest I will say that you can add META tags on flash pages as well as well formatted page titles, but with no text that is readable on the site, Yahoo and Google have no way of knowing if those keywords apply to your site.  Also, since internal links and anchor text of links are important for SEO, a flash site can not offer any additional validation of what the content on the website is all about.

That's why a flash site is basically invisible to search.  Unless you have a multi-million dollars budget to make your URL a household name like www.apple.com or www.bmw.com, you will have to rely on generating outside traffic to your website and direct marketing to help get your site ranked which is expensive and impractical for most small business owners.

In the case of Undici Restaurants new website, the website designers did not implement the basics of Search Engine Optimization to assist the site to be found by the major search engines.  The website page titles for the site all the same repetitive and weak in structure.  Ooops, someone was asleep at the web marketing wheel.

Here is  a case study of another local Italian restaurant that implemented an HTML website with completely different results.

Read the 2 Senza Internet Marketing Case Study.

Flash Websites Hurt Search Traffic

 

How does 100% Flash Websites effect business?  It means that anyone going to Google or Yahoo looking for a good Italian restaurant in Monmouth County or in Rumson will probably type :

  • Monmouth County Italian Restaurants
  • Italian Restaurants Monmouth County
  • Rumson Restaurants
  • Rumson Italian Restaurants
  • Italian Restaurants Rumson

As of December 21, 2007, consumers will never see the Undici Restaurant's flash website listed on page 1 or Page 2 of Google or Yahoo.  Now, there may be articles written about their restaurants shown on Page 1 or 2 from restaurant review websites but in the current design of the website, the website that they own and control will continue to be invisible to consumers looking for their website. 

A 100% Flash website is just bad for business since with a name like Undici, their website should be #1 on page 1 of Google.  If their website is not on Google page 1 or 2, consumers will look elsewhere to eat.  More importantly, if restaurant review websites dominate page 1, what if they write negative reviews about the food?  Any business needs to control Internet publicity and having your own website at the top of the search list is one way to control consumer eyeballs.

 

Flash Websites vs. HTML Websites

 

The lesson here is that flash elements in a website can be very effective but a 100% flash website is terrible for search marketing.  At the Pasch Consulting Group, we have helped many businesses that have 100% flash websites change their search destiny.  We have helped them by creating HTML versions of their website that can be found by the major search engines.

Here is an example of how we have innovated web marketing for our clients. 

In New York City, Luxury Attaché offers concierge services to commercial, corporate and high net worth individuals.  Their first website located at www.luxuryattache.com is 100% flash and is invisible to search.  We built for them an HTML website that combines the best practices in search marketing with some flash and placed the site at www.nyconciergeservice.com .  The site looks the same but that is where the similarity ends.

The HTML website located at www.nyconciergeservice.com  is found in Google and Yahoo search very easily and generates 500% more hits  organically then their flash website.  Why?  Consumers search for everything on the web, including NY concierge services.  If your site is not coming up on Google Page 1 or 2, your business leads and calls from the web will be few to non-existent.

 

If you want to be found on Google and Yahoo searches...give us a call.   732-842-4720