How to make your PDF files visible on Google? It may sound extreme: does everything really have to revolve around visibility on Google? Let’s be realistic: the answer is yes. Being read by human readers is not enough, because to be read... you first need to appear in a good position on the search results pages... and therefore have previously been well indexed by Google.
PDF files, favored for example as B2B lead magnets, mainly contain in-depth text content — if not expert material — with high added value. It would therefore be a shame to miss out on them at crawling time, that is when Google’s bots explore and index your site’s content.
We often forget that PDF documents can be optimized to achieve a good ranking on search engines.
Indeed, Google is perfectly capable ofindexing , analyzing, or even suggesting the content of your PDF files for certain queries.
Here is a checklist to boost your organic SEO thanks to your PDF files.
But you still have to invite it to do so... There are indeed a number of tricks to encourage Google to index PDFs. That is the whole point of this article: here is a checklist to boost your organic SEO thanks to your PDF files.
1. Write quality content
Embedding a PDF on your site allows your customers to access additional information about your services — technical manuals, marketing brochures, reports or white papers — to download and keep offline.
For it to be a real added value for your site, the PDF file must be “visible.” And quality content is content indexed on Google even for a PDF. To achieve this, optimize it:
- Be relevant and explicit about the topic addressed.
- Structure your text with different headings.
- From the first lines, provide high-quality content.
Keep in mind that substance is as important as style. “What is well conceived is clearly stated,” said Boileau, a 17th-century grammarian: your core idea must be supported by clear language that immediately highlights your logical approach. Also consider readers who are interested but pressed for time, who will skim your PDF or scan it at a glance before deciding whether to file it away or add it to their “to read soon” pile.
How to capture the attention of people who don't have time? By isolating clear, meaningful headings and subheadings, explicitly connected to each other with logical connectors. The best part? After a contextual introduction, state a strong, curiosity-piquing problem that you then revisit in the conclusion to answer using the arguments developed throughout your document.
If you don't have the time, the skills, or the inspiration needed to write the text content for your PDFs to be indexed by Google, don't hesitate to hire a professional copywriter.
Small tip: use the right software for your PDF documents: PDF Pro, PDF Architect, or Adobe Acrobat.
2. Avoid saving your PDFs as images
The content of your PDF must be readable by search engines. That's the condition sine qua non for the indexing of your PDF content to indirectly benefit your entire site.
If the document is saved as an image, Google will not understand it. Indeed, the only way to push Google to index images is to add an HTML alt tag. But that tag is just a caption and cannot possibly contain the full text content of a PDF.
Rather save your PDF with textual content. You can perform this conversion with Adobe's own Creative Suite for example.
3. Use a clear filename for your PDF
The PDF's title must be understandable to an average reader to be effectively ranked in the SERPs.
Optimize your PDF filename when you save it by including the main keywords separated by "-" (hyphen).
It may seem minor, but using the typographic standard implicit in the business environment of the clients you're addressing is a polished detail that can immediately create a good impression — the start of a rapport thanks to shared codes.
Far from the appeal to subjectivity and emotions often promoted in marketing strategies, this is an objective, neutral language: the more your title resembles a bibliographic reference or an intelligently abbreviated title, the more effective it will be both for being found by users and for Google indexing your PDF.
4. Choose an optimized title for your PDF document
The very title of the PDF is equivalent to the Title of an HTML page. Know that it can be optimized with evocative keywords.
Be judicious in choosing these words: they should be explicit and unique across the site, both for the PDF title — without exceeding 60 characters — and for its own meta description. This meta description is therefore different from the meta description of the website page.
This step clearly shows how editorial quality must be combined with a real SEO vision to get the most out of your PDF content. Giving your PDF its own meta description further increases your chances of ranking well on the search results page, so this is an aspect to pay particular attention to. Don’t hesitate to take the time to consult Google Search Console data to study the best keywords to use based on user queries. Another important point: if you plan to expand your business internationally and therefore translate your site and PDF files, remember to reassess the effective keywords, which are not always the same from one country to another.
5. To help Google index your PDF, optimize its embedded images
It’s clear that photos play a role in your content: it is therefore recommended to optimize them by adding an alternative text for the image tag. In HTML terms, this is the Alt tag. By using this tag, you leave nothing to chance: everything will be indexed. Moreover, some images (in particular infographics) can be an integral part of the argument you develop in your PDF file to be indexed by Google: do not neglect them. And for human readers, it goes without saying that texts illustrated with relevant images not only catch the eye but also hold attention more than text alone. This is all the more true today, when images and even video dominate the Internet, at least as an effective “hook” to attract visitors: therefore, even a long-form article may struggle to do without adding one or several relevant images to energize its content.
6. Include your PDF in a link-building strategy
- Thanks to a internal linking and external links, make your PDF files an added value for your site. This document – often a survey, a white paper or a report – should be highlighted through contextual internal links. This way, you will multiply the channels likely to bring your prospect to download your PDF. And you will show both Google’s crawlers and your human readers how coherent and well-built your site is, since the different sections offer relevant cross-references to each other thanks to internal linking.
- You can also create useful backlinks – external links that lead to your page – which will generate organic traffic to the target PDF file.
- Hyperlinks and backlinks – so-called anchor links – will signal to Google that your PDFs are quality content to index and rank. But beware of toxic links that can harm your site! Favor authentic backlinks from authoritative sites in your field. They are the ones that can lend some of their authority to your PDF to be indexed.
7. Create internal and external links from the content of your PDF
The content of a PDF document should contain backlinks to direct future clients’ traffic to your site. Your PDF is like another web page on your site; it should be part of your link-building strategy and not be a standalone document.
So you should include it in your site architecture as soon as possible. Why such interest in the PDF format, which, because of its lack of dynamism and the actions required to download it, can seem austere or even outdated in an era of immediately accessible and shareable digital content? Because it is precisely its “offline” nature that is interesting for you: it gives you the chance to land in a prospect’s USB stick, bookmarks, or desktop files. A definite advantage over your competitors in the future.
The objective? That your future client, while reading your PDF, goes further into visiting your site. To achieve this, include targeted links in your PDF content that lead to your homepage or to related pages on your website.
8. Compress your PDF document
For good SEO, file size and loading speed are genuine ranking factors. Your file must not take too long to load!
Indeed, this is one of the deal-breakers that could make you lose a prospect before they even open the PDF file…
- Optimize images by compressing them with JPEGmini or Soda PDF.
- Compress your file with online tools.
- Be concise: not too many pages.
9. Improve the user experience
- Make content smooth and easy to read on all devices by using subheadings.
- Accumulating detailed information discourages users.
- Our tip: Do not write more than 3 or 4 sentences per paragraph.
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Bonus tip: how to search for a PDF on Google?
Whether it's for your own interest or your company's when searching for PDF files published by competitors, here's a bonus tip on how to search for a PDF file on Google. In fact, it's very simple: right next to your query in the search bar, just add filetype:PDF. And that's it!
