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Friday, May 06, 2011
With
Instant Previews, users can see a snapshot of
a search result before clicking on it. We've made a number of
improvements
to the feature since its introduction last November, and if you own a site, one of the most
relevant changes for you is that Instant Previews now supports Flash.
In most cases, when the preview for a page is generated through our regular crawl, we will now
render a snapshot of any Flash components on the page. This will replace the "puzzle piece" icon
that previously appeared to indicate Flash components, and should improve the accuracy of the
previews.
However, for pages that are fetched on demand by the "Google Web Preview" user-agent, we will
generate a preview without Flash in order to minimize latency. In these cases the preview will
appear as if the page were visited by someone using a browser without Flash enabled, and
"Install Flash" messages may appear in the preview, depending on how your website handles users
without Flash.
To improve your previews for these on-demand renders, here are some guidelines for using Flash on
your site:
Make sure that your site has a reasonable, seamless experience for visitors without Flash.
This may involve creating HTML-only equivalents for your Flash-based content that will
automatically be shown to visitors who can't view Flash. Providing a good experience for this
case will improve your preview and make your visitors happier.
If Flash components are rendering but appear as loading screens instead of actual content,
try reducing the loading time for the component. This makes it more likely we'll render
it properly.
If you have Flash videos on your site, consider
submitting a Video Sitemap
which helps us to generate thumbnails for your videos in Instant Previews.
If most of the page is rendering properly but you still see puzzle pieces appearing for some
smaller components, these may be fixed in future crawls of your page.
If you have additional questions, you can post them in our
Webmaster Help Forum.
As always, we'll keep you updated as we continue to make improvements to Instant Previews.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],[],[[["Google Instant Previews now supports rendering of Flash content for most pages, improving preview accuracy."],["For pages fetched on-demand, previews are generated without Flash to minimize latency, potentially showing an HTML-only experience or \"Install Flash\" messages."],["Website owners are encouraged to provide a seamless experience for users without Flash, reduce Flash component loading times, and submit Video Sitemaps for better previews."],["Google continues to make improvements to Instant Previews and encourages feedback through the Webmaster Help Forum."]]],["Instant Previews, a search feature, now supports Flash. Regular crawls will render Flash components, replacing the previous puzzle piece icon. On-demand previews, however, will omit Flash to reduce loading time. Site owners should ensure a functional experience for users without Flash, reduce Flash component loading times, and submit Video Sitemaps for video content. Puzzle pieces for minor components may be fixed in future crawls. Questions can be asked in the Webmaster Help Forum.\n"]]
