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How to Get .PDF Indexed?

by AidanKay
7 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Is it possible, and if so how to get a .pdf's contents indexed on a web site?

By that I mean have the contents be found by searches on search engines like Google etc.

Cheers,

-Aidan.
#indexed #pdf
  • Profile picture of the author Terry Kyle
    Hi Aidan,

    You could backlink it just like the normal inner page of a site.

    I do see PDFs indexed and in the SERPs so in theory it should be possible.

    However, can you not put the PDF content on a blog post (or several) on your site which is proven Google bait?
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  • Profile picture of the author TycoonRob
    Scribd is pretty good at getting documents indexed. Not sure if my last submission was a Word doc or PDF. Worth checking out.
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    • Profile picture of the author AidanKay
      Originally Posted by Terry Kyle View Post

      Hi Aidan,

      You could backlink it just like the normal inner page of a site.

      I do see PDFs indexed and in the SERPs so in theory it should be possible.

      However, can you not put the PDF content on a blog post (or several) on your site which is proven Google bait?
      Do you mean link to the PDF on the server? Like; www.my-server.com/test-file.pdf?

      And will that get the contents indexed? Because I've seen PDF's turn up in the SERP's, but I was wondering if that was just for the title or the actual contents inside.

      Cheers,

      -Aidan.

      Originally Posted by razztek View Post

      Scribd is pretty good at getting documents indexed. Not sure if my last submission was a Word doc or PDF. Worth checking out.
      Yeah I do submit some .pdf's there, but I'm looking to get them indexed on my site, not someone elses.

      Cheers,

      -Aidan.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kul
    If you want to get your PDF indexed, you need to make sure that it is not password protected/copy protected and that it is accessible to the SE crawlers (the second part is like any other webpage)
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  • Profile picture of the author Lucid
    Google will index the following types of files it finds on your site:

    .pdf
    .doc (MS Word)
    .rtf (rich text format)
    .ps (Postscript)
    .xls (Excel spreadsheet)

    There may be other lesser-used formats but these are the main ones. As Kul says, if these files are password protected, they cannot be read and indexed.

    I also recall reading that only part of the file (first x number of words) will be indexed. I don't know for sure if that is indeed the case or what the magic number is. A test on a pdf I know Google has read suggests they don't index the whole file.
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    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
      I'm not sure if the pdf file gets indexed per se, but I do a lot of searches
      for professional stuff and get pdf files listed at the top from
      journals. I believe the trick is to use the write text to link it, as
      well as put the link in context. In other words, let's say you have
      a pdf file on dog food. Do a paragraph on dog food and link the
      pdf with whatever words fits. That would seem the easy way.

      But the professional journal thing is a mystery that maybe someone
      can clear. The link that shows up is the actual pdf file link, with
      options to turn it into html. Obviously professional journals are
      highly regarded, maybe even ranking-wise. Perhaps google
      puts a lot of trust in pdf files from journals, etc. Or maybe,
      just maybe, google does indeed have ways of reading the pdf
      file. Makes sense, as they can magically turn it into an html
      file for you.

      Very interesting question!

      Paul
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      • Profile picture of the author AidanKay
        Originally Posted by Lucid View Post

        Google will index the following types of files it finds on your site:

        .pdf
        .doc (MS Word)
        .rtf (rich text format)
        .ps (Postscript)
        .xls (Excel spreadsheet)

        There may be other lesser-used formats but these are the main ones. As Kul says, if these files are password protected, they cannot be read and indexed.

        I also recall reading that only part of the file (first x number of words) will be indexed. I don't know for sure if that is indeed the case or what the magic number is. A test on a pdf I know Google has read suggests they don't index the whole file.
        Ah thank you, that's very helpful.

        I'll just post up some test pdfs with some keywords within the first 500 words or so and just see what happens.

        Cheers,

        -Aidan.


        Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

        I'm not sure if the pdf file gets indexed per se, but I do a lot of searches
        for professional stuff and get pdf files listed at the top from
        journals. I believe the trick is to use the write text to link it, as
        well as put the link in context. In other words, let's say you have
        a pdf file on dog food. Do a paragraph on dog food and link the
        pdf with whatever words fits. That would seem the easy way.

        But the professional journal thing is a mystery that maybe someone
        can clear. The link that shows up is the actual pdf file link, with
        options to turn it into html. Obviously professional journals are
        highly regarded, maybe even ranking-wise. Perhaps google
        puts a lot of trust in pdf files from journals, etc. Or maybe,
        just maybe, google does indeed have ways of reading the pdf
        file. Makes sense, as they can magically turn it into an html
        file for you.

        Very interesting question!

        Paul
        Yeah I've seen the pdf links turn up in the serps, so I was wondering how it is they actually get indexed in the first place. I don't know if it's just trusted sites, or sites with enough links linking to the pdf file.

        Cheers,

        -Aidan.
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