Loading ...A lot of businesses don’t realise that there is a hidden danger to their SEO plan lurking on their pages. Even the most innocent of sites may include it. It’s the dreaded PDF file. This file can seem like a nice touch on your pages, but for most sites is not achieving what it should in terms of SEO.
The difficulties with PDFs all arise from the problems the search engines have with alternative content formats. Although the search engines can see inside PDFs, the content isn’t treated the same as text-based content on the page itself. This means that if you’ve got a ‘how to wash your dog’ page and include a handy e-book in PDF form on exactly how to wash any breed of dog, the latter won’t count as much with the search engines as if you simply included the text on your page.
There are ways to optimise your PDFs, and this can come in handy if you absolutely must include a PDF on your page. PDFs can prove an effective tool when you want to attract more traffic and increase loyalty, so it’s important not to discount them altogether. Where possible, though, it is a far better plan to simply place the text that would have been in the PDF directly onto your site, whether it be on the page or hyperlinked to a page deeper within the site.
The basic rule when it comes to the search engines and content is ’simple is best’. The search engines started out reading text-based content, and that’s the form of content they will always be most comfortable with. Regardless of what other formats you dabble in, it’s vital to ensure that your site has a strong text-based backbone.
Areas of danger
PDFs are just one of the forms of search-unfriendly content site owners regularly dabble in. Other forms of content that are less-than helpful to your search engine optimisation plan include:
- Multimedia. Multimedia is not the ideal form of content when it comes to the search engines, but it is a good idea to have something a little more interesting than text now and then. Video and audio are now coming into their own as attractive forms of content. The key with these, though, is optimising the text around them, and you can talk to our experts at SEO Consult Australia about this.
- Graphics. It’s been said before, and it will be said again. The search engines are blind. That means that your attractive graphics leave them cold. If you have vital information displayed in a graph, photo or drawing, it’s best to include it elsewhere as well. The caption below the graphic is an ideal area, as this will let the search engines know what the image is about. It might even get you listed in Google image search.
Anything you put on your pages that isn’t text might present difficulties in terms of SEO. It’s a good idea to research the individual forms you’re considering using, and to talk to your SEO consultant if you’re uncertain.
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Tags: content, Search Engine Optimisation, SEO, SEO Consult
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