Google clarified Tuesday how it processes and ranks PDF documents for its traditional search engine and AI-powered search modes, providing information for search engine optimization professionals.
The technology company converts PDF files into HTML for indexing and ranking, rather than directly using a PDF viewer, a process that impacts how content within these documents is handled, according to Google.
John Mueller, a Search Advocate at Google, explained that links embedded within PDF documents function similarly to standard web links because they are processed from the HTML conversion.
However, images contained within PDFs may not be fully processed for Google Image Search due to the absence of a direct URL for these embedded visuals, Google said.
Google maintains larger file size limits for fetching PDFs, comparable to those for videos and images, though the company did not specify the exact maximum size.
PDFs are eligible to rank in both regular search results and Google’s AI Mode, provided that the text within them is highlightable and copyable, according to Martin Splitt, a Developer Advocate at Google.
Despite their ability to rank, Google generally considers HTML to be a more effective format for overall SEO performance compared to PDF documents.
Source: Search Engine Journal
