Optimize Your PDF Files!

I should say at the outset that I am not a fan of having web site content in PDF files. Opening such a file always takes longer, and that is pretty much always bad for search performance. Having said that, "... many businesses have a lot of PDF assets. These may include sell sheets, brochures, white papers, technical briefs, etc. The purist simply says why not convert these to html? In the real world, not everyone has the time, budget, and expertise to do that."

I just came across this article that provides some real insight to making PDF files work better for your site. There are a number of good tips (11, to be precise!) included in this article, but there are three that stood out in my mind while reading through it:

1. PDF files have titles! These are set within the document properties, and are the most important improvement one can make to making these files perform.
2. Copy should be optimized just as any web page should be. In other words, pay attention to the keywords in the documents when you are drafting them. Many times, companies are simply posting documents written for other environments onto the web to make them available to their readers. If it is possible to modify these documents to incorporate keyword phrases, that can make a lot of difference. It may also be possible to write a short summary introduction to append to the pre-existing document. Think about your alternatives!
3. Build links into the PDF files wherever possible. These files may get forwarded to others out of the context of your web site, and these links can travel with the document!

If you have PDF files on your site, this article is well worth your time to read and understand. The more such files you are working with, the more important this article can be to you.

Notwithstanding all this good advice, I still recommend creating HTML pages to summarize the content of PDF files as the most effective technique for optimizing your content for search. This gives you faster load times, the ability to really focus your content on the phrases you want to emphasize, while still having the PDF available for your users to create documents that they can print and carry around for their convenience.