Does Google "Like" PDF Content?

I am building a fairly large niche site at the moment.

I've been thinking about having optional "PDF Downloads" for every article on the site (with URL headers and links to squeeze pages of course), as a way of making the content seem more "important", as well as adding a viral element to content that would have just been static otherwise.

(People will pass around PDF's, etc.)

Also, I have heard that search engines will actually "prioritize" PDF content in some cases.

Has anyone experienced better rankings if they link to PDF content?

I'd be thrilled to know...

-Chris

 

As you know PDF's get indexed, so in essence you are adding LINKS ( if live in your PDF). As far as PDF's ranking higher than other sources, the same alogorthm applies. So to answer the question, if your PDF reports have proper SEO and have accumulated backlinks than they can out-rank sites that don't utilize SEO and have keyword rich backlinks.

 

There may be a duplicate content filter that filters out pdf files if they are just copies of a html page on your site though.

 

Chris - I've never heard of a "priority" for PDF; if you find a reference for that it would be great to see and interest to read.

To expound on mad4's good point, if you're going to do that, put the pdf's in a separate folder/directory and exclude it from being indexed by the bots via your robots.txt file maybe.

 

It doesnt seem logical to me that PDFs would get a priority. In fact it seems more logical that a PDF would be handicapped.

SEs want to give the most relevant & useful content to their visitors. Since not all people have the ability to open PDFs, a PDF would be less desirable.

I know that i personally prefer not to open PDFs if i have the choice to open an HTML page. Mainly because a PDF takes longer to load.

If you provide a PDF in addition to the HTML page, i dont see why that would hurt. But, for the most part i think it is a waste of time.

 

Thanks for all the advice.

I'm implementing PDF downloads because they'll get passed around, posted on forums, wtc.

Viral marketing, plain and simple (sort of like "tell a friend", except more useful and likely better).

And I just wanted to either confirm or debunk some of the rumours I'd heard about PDF content...

Anyway, thanks again.

-Chris Rempel

 

I hate PDF files, I can never imagine me putting one of them on my sites. I doubt there is a bonus at all. And plus, since google includes the "view pdf as html" link - you may not actually get a visitor from the serp anyways.

 

I really think it is going to depend on the nature of the content that is being put into the PDF. If it is makes logical sense to have the content in a PDF than it may be useful and become viral.

Otherwise, it wont be useful. If it were useful, every site would make their content available in PDF.

 

Can you use google adsense on a PDF file? newbie here..

 

No, you can't.