SEO & PDF files

DarrenC · 05-14-2006, 04:40 PM

If you had a PDF page indexed in Google, is the PDF page treated differently than a HTML page?

I've just noticed that a PDF file that I created ages ago is ranking quite well for a competitive keyword.

What are your experiences with PDF files and SEO?

DarrenC · 05-15-2006, 02:24 PM

Ohh come on is this a SEO forum ffs

Can anyone answer my question??

John Scott · 05-15-2006, 02:44 PM

PDF's get indexed just like regular web pages. In fact, I think they tend to rank really well. I had one on another site that always brought in a bunch of traffic.

Ferre · 05-15-2006, 03:44 PM

I have a few, and they do well in the searches, and even have some PR.

DarrenC · 05-15-2006, 04:02 PM

Thanks guys

John, like you I'm surprised how well they rank - which moves me on to another question.

If you have an HTML file and has a duplicate file which is a PDF file would Google treat this as duplicate content? Not seen this before, and whilst I wouldn't bother wasting my time having a duplicate file it did make me think how they deal with such a occurance.

BingoBalls · 05-15-2006, 04:22 PM

I am sure I have read somewhere that Google tends to rank PDF as they see PDF's as a great source of info being either product or technical guides, business reports and so on. Something that us little people tend to seek out when looking for answers.

I didnt reply to your post last night as I cant find the source of that info

After seeing this thread I must give it a shot and add a couple.

DarrenC · 05-15-2006, 04:34 PM

Good point about Google seeing them as a source of information. When you view a PDF listing in the SERPS, you can view it as a HTML file or PDF, so I think it probably does treat it as duplicate content.

I'm sure there must be something different in how they rank them because you'd see tons of them filled with links to websites used by spammers. Maybe they only list PDF files with a certain number of words and files which dont contain a high percentage of the same keyword.

I dunno, its not something I've seen discussed that often on SEO forums so thought I'd get peoples opinions.

cldnails · 05-17-2006, 12:13 PM

That is a very interesting idea. Personally, I didn't think that the robots would crawl the actual file. But, it's worth checking out, me goes off to build some pdfs.

DarrenC · 05-17-2006, 12:41 PM

Let us know how you get on Cldnails.

priyo · 06-15-2007, 02:33 PM

This may be help you: http://www.searchengineguide.com/mcgee/010167.html