Another of my published articles targets small business commercial website design advice with tips on using multimedia such as audio, music, video, or flash. My core business is custom website design for small business owners, so consider this excerpt from the article quoting a reply to a site owner who was considering flash:

“Why would you want to add a flash scene to your site? In my list of “Don’t do this” for website design, flash is at the top of the list. It has zero SEO value, and the file size is intolerable for people on dialup. With more than 50% of internet users still on dialup you cut off half your potential visitors by having flash. Unlike videos that allow visitors to make a choice of play or not, flash loads automatically and cannot be avoided. People visit commercial websites for information. Flash is “entertainment” and most people want answers to problems, so my advice is stay focused on text content that search engines can index.”

You may want to read the entire article “Multimedia and Search Engine Optimization” here.

The most serious issue for using multimedia other than zero value for SEO is failure to offer visitors an option to play or not play. Any large file that automatically loads or plays will hurt the visitor’s experience. They are on your small business commercial website for information or answers meaning solutions to problems. Text content is usually a better choice for SEO puposes.

One point made in my article illustrates the potential problem of an employee looking for a restaurant on company time. A client wanted music to play automatically on their restaurant website. That employee searching and caught for unauthorized use of their computer could very well be fired because that site owner felt compelled to entertain visitors without giving them that choice.