PDF Content & SEO

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I just wanted to get some general thoughts on using PDFs for content/articles etc.

We have a client that has a lot of articles and for various reasons they add these to their site as PDFs.
We have recommended these be set up as pages instead (and include a link to the PDF if needed) but this is an issue for their internal processes and the way that the PDFs are created. Basically, making these pages would not be easy for them.

If we are to convince them to make the change, they need a solid reason and I wanted to get your thoughts.
My approach is that 'page content' will always be better in terms of visibility and of course much easier to navigate, especially on mobile devices than PDFs.

Any thoughts? Thanks!
#search engine optimization #content #pdf #seo
  • Well, i've researched something the last few days, and a LOT of PDFs did shop up
    in the search results. So I cannot really say that a website gets more visibility than PDF's.
    Looks like it's just the same.

    Amazingly some good PDF books in the search results...looks like some people promote
    their products download page to spread their paid products. So everybody grins and thinks
    they got something for free - just to get hooked into the product upgrade spiel inside that
    book or product - such a clever way doing things in the area of free promotion.
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  • It is good to have PDF contents in your website but not all of the contents in this format.
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  • In my point of view, PDF is okey and can optimize them for better rank like build strond url structure of those PDF urls.
    One more thing might be helpful that install a blog and write a small amout of content related to every individual topic with one image and post it on blog section and in read more place the link of PDF by hyperlinking to the mail PDF title.
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  • PDF's can still show up in the search results, but pages are probably more accessible from mobile and tablet devices. We're in a day in age where lots of people are mobile, your site needs to be able to handle those visitors properly, and PDF content isn't really "proper"..
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    PDF Content & SEO

    I just wanted to get some general thoughts on using PDFs for content/articles etc. We have a client that has a lot of articles and for various reasons they add these to their site as PDFs.