Google Says: Get Rid of Your Flash Only Video Player Now

Last week Google announced that it will be making some “changes” to the way it ranks websites. While this news was overshadowed by Apple’s iOS7 announcement, this is, hands down, the most important thing that happened last week in the tech world. Let’s look at the changes and how it will impact how websites are built and how video is used as well.

First, Google really, really wants you to get your mobile site straight. There are many websites that either have a bad mobile experience, or none at all. Sites that want to stay in search results need to get this fixed, stat.

The other change relates to Google’s mandate about flash-only video on a site. Even though Google put its weight and muscle behind Adobe’s Flash standard, it wasn’t enough for it to survive. Steve Jobs was the category killer here: his reluctance to use Flash on Apple’s mobile devices was, in large part, the culprit behind this change. (Steve Jobs skewered Flash for a variety of reasons in 2010, a prescient view of the format.) And because iPhones (and, really, all iDevices) have a large share of the market, surfing videos in Flash Only is, overall, a bad mobile browsing experience for a lot of people.

Google’s change of heart here will improve that situation, and we think it’s a smart move. It will force site owners to rectify rudimentary issues with mobile browsing if they want to stay relevant. And they’ll have no excuse not to because the technology to resolve both of these issues is readily available.

A few years ago, when flash video was the de facto format, it wasn’t easy finding a non-flash alternative. Now, because of Jobs’ die-hardism, online videos from major resources (YouTube, Vimeo, news sites, etc.) can all serve non-flash videos using the HTML5 standard. (Note: HTML5 is superior to flash in many ways, including quality and stability of playback.) Those who hesitate in upgrading their video players will suffer.

Google likes to announce these changes without a firm timeline. If your website videos can be viewed on an iDevice, you’re good. If not, you’ll want to upgrade from your Flash-only player before the change–whenever that is.

At uStudio, this was on our radar in early 2010 – around the time Jobs made his decree. One of the first players that allowed for playback on all major smartphones, browsers, tablets, etc. was built in-house here. In fact, our player now delivers HTML5 video first–sending along the flash video only if it’s absolutely necessary.

We’ve been waiting for this announcement for over three years, so we’re ready. Are you?