SEO: Do .pdf Files Pass Page Rank?

by Pat Marcello on Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 | View Comments

I just finished reading an interview with Matt Cutts at Stone Temple Consulting’s RSS feed (You can read the whole thing at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/STC-Articles .) , where he talks about lots of different SEO topics like page rank sculpting (Google doesn’t like it.) to using iframes, javascript, and so on. It’s a good interview, if you want to spend some time checking it out.

But here’s something that interested me. Eric Enge, the interviewer, asked Cutts whether Google scans .pdf files, and Cutts said, “We absolutely do process PDF files. I am not going to talk about whether links in PDF files pass PageRank.” Ah, ever nebulous. Do they or don’t they? My guess is yes.

In what follows, Cutts also counseled that .pdf isn’t a format that is “native to the Web,” like HTML is. And he said that where Google tries to find relevance in flash, they also try to find relevant content in .pdf files. And, in case you haven’t noticed, you will see .pdf files in the SERPs. But he also says that they’re not optimal for user experience. People don’t really like the longer time that it takes for a .pdf result to load.

But then, if they’re not optimal, why does Google rank and index them? If they are relevant, why wouldn’t they pass page rank? They can attain page rank. Why wouldn’t they pass it?

To me, it’s an enigma. Only Google knows the answer, and they’re not talking.

But if your readers are uncomfortable with .pdf, if Google is unhappy with it, be a little more ambitious and create something everyone will love — spiders and all.

Yet, if you insist on the .pdf format, here are some tips for SEO:

Be sure to complete the document properties for the .pdf. Give it a good SEO keyword-rich title and description at the very least. It seems that spiders do see this information, and what you include here is what will appear in your search listing.
Be sure to make it a text-based .pdf, not an image .pdf. This is easy when you use Microsoft Office 2007 or later. Then, you can simply save as .pdf and you’re all set to go. Spiders ignore image-based .pdfs, such as those that can be created in Photoshop, for example.
Upload the .pdf as close to your root directory as possible so that spiders don’t have to dig too deep to find it. At least link to it from your homepage, if possible.

Here’s why I think links inside a .pdf pass page rank:

If you just type in .pdf into Google, you see some pretty high-ranked documents. Heck, the IRS’s W-4 form, in .pdf format. has a PR 8! That would be some good ju-ju. But Google doesn’t like .pdfs. Google doesn’t want us to know that they pass PR because they don’t want more .pdfs loaded up than are already in the SERPs. Too many would make for a worse experience for their search audience.

What do you think?

Related Reading:

H. S. Strut Cutt'n & Strutt'n VI

Google Apps: The Missing Manual

PDF Professional - Complete Guide to Creating Professional PDF Documents and EBooks

Tags: document properties, google, Matt Cutts, page rank, pdf files
Posted in SEO Information

WealthSecrets
Hi
Many thanks for that detailed article.
I found the same thing when I was searching for some information not too long ago, unfortunately I did not give it much thought until today.
Really did make me think twice about many of the pdf's I have thanks
http://e-businessmoms.com/blog/work-at-home-opportunity-seekers-are-you-stepping-in-poop ebusinessmom
The IRS W-4 form has a PR 8? Well, that's certainly a new one. I'm glad that Tellman passed this article link on to me. I'm learning something new every single day. Thanks for the article. I really enjoyed it.
http://www.ubervu.com/conversations/www.theseonewsblog.com/2070/seo-do-pdf-files-pass-page-rank/ uberVU – social comments
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by PatMarcello: New blog post:: SEO: Do .pdf Files Pass Page Rank? http://www.theseonewsblog.com/2070/seo-do-pdf-files-pass-page-rank/...
http://theSEONewsBlog.com/ PatMarcello
Awesome! Glad to be of help.
Pat
http://theSEONewsBlog.com/ PatMarcello
You're welcome! Yes… That's incredible, isn't it? But the W-4 gets traffic and is linked to so often, it's bound to have page rank, eh? Amazing!
- Pat
http://www.EdwardMooreLive.com Edward Moore
Pat,
This is a very interesting article. Thanks for letting us know about your findings on PDF files.
So, if we have a Viral PDF that we've created for other's to give away for us, that should create even more link juice, right?
To your health,
Edward Moore
http://twitter.com/EdwardMoore
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http://theSEONewsBlog.com/ PatMarcello
Hi Edward!
Only if you put the viral report online as a .pdf. Brad Callen's SEO guide is online with a PR5. I don't know if he put it up there or not, but pretty sweet.
- Pat
http://affiliateprogramearncash.com/?p=548 A book written very (clever) | Affiliateprogramearncash.com
[...] SEO: Do .pdf Files Pass Page Rank? – The SEO News Blog with Pat Marcello [...]
Ross
I was wondering about this today when I found a link from a PDF file. I'm still uncertain if a PDF file can pass any PR at all. I think it comes down to if Google can recognize a link in a PDF.
I think this would be something fairly easy to test. Create a fairly simple PDF that has a link to a unindexed page with an anchor text of a random set of letters that definitely has no search results (like 'awefjowaht'). Get that PDF crawled and index and if after a few weeks, the unindexed page ranks for that random set of letters, then I'd believe PDFs can pass PR.
http://theSEONewsBlog.com/ PatMarcello
I'm not convinced either way, Ross. But I'm not sure your test would prove anything.
The .pdf will have no rank at all, so how can it pass any PR?
It would be indexed, I have no doubt, but just because it ranks for a nonsensical string doesn't really prove anything. There's no competition, right? It would be really easy to rank for “awefjowaht” because nobody else is trying to rank for that keyword.
What am I missing?
- Pat
http://seeallweb.org/domain/seop.com SEOP
Interesting points. I am actually a bit curious about PDFs and PRs myself. Now this kind of shed some light to my questions. Thanks for sharing.
http://theSEONewsBlog.com/ PatMarcello
You got it! Thanks for your comment.
- Pat
http://theSEONewsBlog.com/ PatMarcello
You got it! Thanks for your comment.
- Pat
http://www.howtogettopsearchenginelistings.com/index.php Derek
Interesting reading. I've never bothered with seo for pdfs. Worth trying out. Cheers.
http://theSEONewsBlog.com/ PatMarcello
Indeed it is, Derek. Thanks for your comment!
- Pat