Links in PDFs: Do They Pass Value?

Discussion in 'Link Development' started by Willy921, Nov 6, 2008.

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  1. #1
    Hello Everyone,

    I've done a bit of research on this question and I've come up empty-handed...

    Can you tell me whether the content of a PDF document is read by Google? If so, are links within the PDF indexed and do they pass any value?

    Thanks for your help.
     
    Willy921, Nov 6, 2008 IP
  2. levikay

    levikay Active Member

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    #2
    Yes i think they are because I see PDF files in search results.
     
    levikay, Nov 6, 2008 IP
  3. linkbuildr

    linkbuildr Active Member

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    #3
    I don't they they are because the pdf content is not indexed usually, unless a HTML option is presented.
     
    linkbuildr, Nov 6, 2008 IP
  4. mauik

    mauik Peon

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    #4
    My thoughts exactly, if it was indexed, I'm sure it would be, but I can't recall ever seeing an indexed PDF file.
     
    mauik, Nov 6, 2008 IP
  5. linkbuildr

    linkbuildr Active Member

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    #5

    I know it might if it gets picked up on scribd.com?
     
    linkbuildr, Nov 6, 2008 IP
  6. mauik

    mauik Peon

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    #6
    Good point... I've had limited experience with scribd, so maybe that's true. What little I have, though, I can't remember seeing a page with a PDF being indexed.

    Now that I think about it... those files aren't text, and they're in a frame, so maybe the links wouldn't get indexed.

    Let me know if I'm wrong, I'm now very curious about this.
     
    mauik, Nov 6, 2008 IP
  7. Nigel Lew

    Nigel Lew Notable Member

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    #7
    I say yes for various reasons. In attempts to qualify that statement I dug up the following which is actually a fairly interesting read.

    http://wiep.net/link-value-factors/LinkValueFactors.pdf note its in pdf but I am guessing its in the archive or a cached page on the site.

    This does not really take into consideration that there is a mime type html equivalent of the page(I would assume)

    hope that helps,
    Nigel
     
    Nigel Lew, Nov 6, 2008 IP
  8. rainmist

    rainmist Peon

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    #8
    Of course, PDF files pass value too.
     
    rainmist, Nov 6, 2008 IP
  9. twelfty

    twelfty Active Member

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    #9
    Yes, a PDF will be indexed and the links will appear in search results. I noticed one of mine a few days ago.
     
    twelfty, Nov 6, 2008 IP
  10. Willy921

    Willy921 Peon

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    #10
    Thanks for your input. I suppose the answer is "we don't know."

    I tried an experiment which seems to indicate that links within a PDF are not indexed & therefore don't pass value. Here's what I did:

    #1 I picked a subject (Search Engine Optimization) and found 3 random PDFs using Google
    #2 Opened each document and found a hyperlinked URL (Note: not just text, but an active link)
    #3 Identified each link's destination URL
    #4 Ran a "linkdomain:" query on the destination URL using Yahoo Site Explorer
    #5 Found no reference to the page on which the PDF resides.

    Does anyone have any comments? Does this make sense?

    Thanks.
     
    Willy921, Nov 7, 2008 IP