Links in a Flash document

[Linda-Vassily]

How do I tell if a link in a Flash document is follow or nofollow? Or doesn't it matter?

(I just found out that my company placed an advertorial in a Flash publication and I want to make sure it doesn't wind up as a paid, followed link.)

Thank you!

[GPainter]

Bots can't crawl Flash so unless you have an alt for them they won't follow links.

This may change in the future but for now they wont follow links in flash.

Also you may find this helpful it will tell you a bit more

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/72746?hl=en

"Note that while Google can index the content of Flash files, other search engines may not be able to. Therefore, we recommend that you use rich-media technologies like Flash primarily for decorative purposes, and instead use HTML for content and navigation. This makes your site more crawler-friendly, and also makes it accessible to a larger audience including, for example, readers with visual impairments that require the use of screen readers, users of old or non-standard browsers, and users with limited or low-bandwidth connections such as a cellphone or mobile device. An added bonus? Using HTML for navigation will allow users to bookmark content and send direct links in email."

[Linda-Vassily]

Thank you for your response!

I had looked at that article before I posted, and it also has this paragraph:

Googlebot can index almost any text a user can see as they interact with any Flash SWF file on your site, and can use that text to generate a snippet or match query terms in Google searches. Additionally, Googlebot can also discover URLs in SWF files (for example, links to other pages on your site) and follow those links.

This makes me think the link might be a problem. It is only one link out of a large link profile, so I am not too worried but it's always good to be prepared...