Optimization is really something you should always have in your mind. The second you are lax on optimizing is the second your website starts to fall apart. Optimize, optimize, optimize. PDFs are of course no exception to this rule!

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Adding a PDF (Portable Document Format, also known as Whitepaper) to your website is almost always a step in the right direction. People like to be able to download large bits of information at a time so they can hug it and squeeze it and call it George. Generally, people like having information at their fingertips (that’s why the internet is so popular), and eliminating a step in the middle makes it even better for the user. A PDF allows them to open it off of their desktop, instead of having to re-locate it on the internet because they didn’t bookmark the page. PDFs are seen as a positive, but like anything else with a website, it is possible to mess this up too.

To avoid an SEO fiasco, there are some simple things you can do to your PDF to make it a website enhancement instead of a flop.

First off, I’d like to say that search engines (Google, Yahoo and Microsoft) can read PDFs, and will rank them. The ranking of a PDF is really still up in the air. It’s questionable how well PDFs will do, but like with anything, if it’s optimized well enough, it’ll work its way into the SERPs.

When beginning the optimization process for a PDF, think about the SEO for your content pages on your website. What we’re going to do is nearly identical.

  • Do not use an image program like Photoshop or Illustrator to make a PDF, because during the creation process it flattens it, making it one massive image, therefore invisible to search engines. Use Adobe Pagemaker/InDesign or something like MS Word. When using Word, be sure to use the H1, H2, H3 etc. tags to help optimize the text. You want it to be text/html-based to those spiders can crawl all over it.
  • Use at least Adobe Acrobat 6 or higher to create your PDF files. Anything less is too primitive.
  • Fill in the information for your PDF. Title, Author, Subject, Keywords, Descriptions and Copyright information are important for the processing of a PDF. You can adjust these settings in Adobe Acrobat, under File>Document Properties.
  • When using headlines, sub-headlines, keywords and phrases appropriate to your document, be careful not to kill your file. Too much specification can make it appear spammy to the engines.
  • Don’t use too many or too large of images in your PDF. Images will make it nicer to look at, but it will also increase the file size and it slow down the load/download time. Like a webpage, if you put too many images (especially un-optimized) on it, it takes a long time to load. If it takes too long, you’ll get people canceling, and refusing to look at it.
  • Make the PDF obvious on your website. Link to it from the homepage and don’t bury it too deeply in the website. Search engines have difficulty crawling things that are ‘hiding’ within a website’s infrastructure.
  • Don’t name your file something complicated. Make it simple, and if it is multiple words, separate them with dashes (-). Example: document-name.pdf

Once you’ve done all of this, make it live! Put it up on your site, and let the spiders take over. It sounds a bit Arachnophobia, but this is where spiders crawling everywhere is a good thing.

Once the search engines get a hold of your PDF, it’s all about self-promotion with building backlinks, and getting people genuinely interested in what you have to offer. Try making a small banner or something and put it on your website to draw attention to it. Link to it in a few different ways on your site as well, and watch the magic happen. Remember, it’s not overnight magic, but it will take off soon enough (and surely sooner than if you didn’t optimize in the slightest).