SEO for PDFs

Owned by Faith Bakewell (Deactivated)
Apr 10, 2023
4 min read

Google can crawl, index, and rank PDFs. However, SEO for PDFs requires a different set of tactics.

Optimizing PDF files:

  • Choose an SEO friendly filename

    • The filename of the PDF file will often be shown in the search results. It has to be meaningful for visitors, which usually means it includes relevant keywords, and it shouldn't be too long.

    • Treat your file name like you would a URL. That means making your file name keyword relevant and search-friendly.

    • Best Practices:

      • Shorter is better. The ideal file name length is between 50-60 characters.

      • Match the URL to the title of the PDF when possible.

      • As a best practice, remove punctuation, hashes, and stop words (and, or, but, of, the, a, etc.).

      • Use lowercase.

      • When separating words, use hyphens if possible.

 

  • Define a good title and description.

    • Similar to pages, PDF files have a title and meta description too. Define these to make sure your PDF file is well-optimized for both search engines and visitors.

    • Steps:

      • Go to File

      • Click the Document Properties

      • Fill in the title in the Title field

        • Aim for 55-70 characters (it’s OK to exceed this when necessary, but avoid excessive length).

        • When included, the brand or site name should come at the end of the title tag.

      • Fill in the meta description element in the Subject field

        • Max of 170 characters, 1-3 sentences.

        • Begin with action words: Get, Find, Explore, Discover, Shop, Browse, Research, Compare…

    • Remember, titles and meta descriptions should be unique across your entire website. That means a PDF file's meta description can't be the same as a page's meta description.

 

  • Use headings

    • Again, similar to pages: use headings to structure your PDF files. They're essential for visitors and search engines to understand the hierarchy and content of the document quickly.

    • The same rules apply: you should only use one H1 heading per PDF file, and it has to be unique. You can use multiple H2-H6 headings as you see fit, but keep the hierarchy of the PDF file in mind.

 

  • Include relevant links

    • Search engines treat PDF files similarly to pages. This means PDF files carry page authority too, and the links included in the PDF files pass link authority just like regular links would. Include links to relevant sections in the website, and if it makes sense to link out to external websites, feel free to do so too.

    • Your anchor text should be:

      • Unique.

      • Succinct.

      • Relevant to the linked-to content.

      • Keyword-rich, but not keyword-stuffed.

 

  • Use Alt Text for Images

    • Alt text is the text that appears in place of an image on a website in the event that the image doesn't load. Alt text is important because it helps screen-reading tools describe images for the visually impaired and let’s search engines better crawl and rank your website.

    • Best Practices:

      • Succinct

      • Descriptive

      • Keyword-rich, but not keyword-stuffed

    • Steps:

      • Select the Tools menu.

      • Select Action Wizard.

      • Select Make Accessible.

      • Click Set Alternative Text.

 

  • Integrate PDF Files into the website.

    • Part of optimizing your PDF files is making them an integral part of your website. This means they have to be linked to from within your website, too, just like regular pages. These internal links will pass on link authority to the PDF file, enabling it to rank for relevant keywords.

 

  • Prevent duplicate content: canonicalize PDF files.

    • Remember, PDF files are treated as regular pages, which can cause duplicate content too. A page and a PDF file can compete with one another, just like two pages. In case the PDF file is a copy of content that's available elsewhere, be sure to apply the canonical URL via the HTTP header to signal search engines about this.

 

  • Don't save PDF files as images.

    • Often applications that allow you to create PDFs offer you to save the PDF as an image. While this allows visitors to read the content still, it will prevent them from selecting text. For search engines, it's much more limited: they'll have a hard time understanding the content of the PDF file. That's why it's essential to save the PDF file with textual content, not with image content.

 

  • Optimize PDF files for Mobile.

    • At this point, there's no such thing as a responsive PDF file. You can left align the content of the PDF file as much as possible, thereby decreasing horizontal scrolling on mobile. Imagine having an image on the left-hand side and text on the right-hand side. On a desktop, this may look just fine, but on mobile, it would be better to have the image above the text so visitors can just scroll vertically.

 

  • Optimize PDF file size.

    • Be mindful of the size of your PDF files. Not just for mobile visitors, this is an essential best practice in general. Be mindful about using high-quality images first, and compress images if you find your PDF file to be larger than 5 MB.

    • Steps:

      • Open your PDF in Adobe Acrobat.

      • Select File.

      • Select Properties.

      • Go to the Descriptions tab.

      • Find the “Fast Web View” at the bottom of the window. If it says “No”, the PDF file needs to be optimized.