In November of last year, search engine pioneer Google added a new feature to its search engine page results (SERPS). Christened the Instant Preview (IP), it was introduced in cyberworld to make the lives of users a little easier. Able to provide a miniature view of a website’s home page, it eliminated the need to click on the actual site link. This enabled people to cover more territory and made searching for the right information a lot faster.
Over the months that followed, IP expanded its reach to accommodate mobile users so they can make use of the feature. It was incorporated into other Google products such as Place Search. Along the way, it also encountered a pitfall or two as issues arose from using it. Through it all, Google has made tweaks to make this preview option more agreeable to the general palate. Their most recent efforts consist of providing support for an online resource’s flash-based components. No longer will we see the “puzzle piece” icon that previously marked this type of content. See the screenshot below.
As a dedicated site owner, here are some things that Raj Krishnan suggests to make this new tool work for you. I summarised it into the following points.
a. Make sure your site runs well even without flash by creating HTML equivalents of flash-based text and photos. This way, your content can be enjoyed even by users who do not have access to a flash add-on.
b. Submit a Video Sitemap for flash-based media such as promotional movie clips.
c. For components that appear as loading screens instead and not actual content, reduce the load time to ensure that Google will render it properly.
