Elliance has posted another helpful ‘Search Illustrated’ graphic at Search Engine Land. We know that search engines can read PDF’s, but what can we do to better optimize these pages so they will show up in search results? Simply put, creating a keyword-rich filename and coupling it with targeted Meta data will not guarantee your charge to the first page of search results, but it’s a start.

Additional PDF optimization techniques exist and should be used in conjunction with the above tips. Remember to create your PDF’s in MS Word fomat. Creating a PDF within an image-based format is the same as asking search engines to read the text within an image, it’s not going to happen. Like the Meta data suggestion above, keyword targeting should be implemented within the Document Properties element of the PDF.

A PDF may still not carry the ranking ability of a standard HTML page, but utilizing the tactics above will help.