Would a free PDF download diminish SEO benefits of HTML content?
-
Dear readers,
This post is a duplicate of one I just put up. Sorry about that. If you are interested in commenting or seeing other responses, please go to http://moz.com/community/q/would-a-free-pdf-download-diminish-seo-benefits-of-html-content.
Thanks.
Hello,
I am doing SEO for a company that, as a sideline business, sells four books written by the principals; the content is directly relevant to the company's primary business focus. Book sales are a tiny fraction of our overall revenue, and we don't expect that to change, although we will continue to sell the books.
In addition to selling them, we have decided to convert the books to HTML and post them for free on our website (laid out by chapter and section). The hope is that this will result in goodwill, links, traffic, and ultimately improved search rankings.
My question: Would offering free PDF downloads of the books (in addition to posting the HTML content) diminish the SEO benefits of the HTML content?
- If we don't offer the PDF option, people would have to visit our site to read the content (unless they bought a hard copy).
- If visitors were able to download a free PDF, they wouldn't need to return to our site to read it.
- If our corporate clients (nearly all of our clients are corporations) could download a PDF, they could then post it on an intranet instead of posting a link to our site.
- In general, do you think a visitor would be less likely to link to our site if he or she were able to download the PDF? Or would the appeal of the PDF option make it more likely that people would visit and link to the site?
- Also, if we offer the PDF option, are there any SEO issues related to duplicate content?
- Finally, if we did offer the free PDF download, would you recommend that we ask for an email address before giving the PDF?
Thank you very much!
-
I'm going to close this discussion, and ask that it be carried on at the original post at http://moz.com/community/q/would-a-free-pdf-download-diminish-seo-benefits-of-html-content
-
I see you have posted the same question earlier. Is there a reason you asked the same question in two separate posts?
-
Hi, that's a lot of variables and answers may therefore vary from different people, but here's my best shot:
**1. If we don't offer the PDF option, people would have to visit our site to read the content (unless they bought a hard copy). **If the goal is getting more readership and attention for these books then I think you should provide a PDF.
**2. If visitors were able to download a free PDF, they wouldn't need to return to our site to read it. **No, but the benefits of (1) above apply I think.
**3. If our corporate clients (nearly all of our clients are corporations) could download a PDF, they could then post it on an intranet instead of posting a link to our site. **I think you could put information in the PDF and on the page where it can be downloaded from to say that you do not give permission for the PDF to be hosted on another site. You cannot guarantee that they wouldn't but I think it is unlikely a corporate would want to be seen to be going against your wishes on that. Alternatively, you could say that the PDF can be hosted on other sites, providing they include a Follow link to your site attributing your site as the source.
**4. In general, do you think a visitor would be less likely to link to our site if he or she were able to download the PDF? Or would the appeal of the PDF option make it more likely that people would visit and link to the site? ** Yes - the second option
5. Also, if we offer the PDF option, are there any SEO issues related to duplicate content? Not really, if posting on other sites they include a link to the source of the PDF on your site
**6. Finally, if we did offer the free PDF download, would you recommend that we ask for an email address before giving the PDF? **It depends what your motivation for doing so is. If you want to build an email list that you can then send newsletters and special offer emails to, then yes - as long as you make it clear that is what you will do and you get the visitor to click a checkbox confirming they accept that condition - although of course you have to give them the option to unsubscribe at a later date when you send newsletters and offer emails.
I hope that helps,
Peter
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
How to solve duplicate content issue???
I have 5 websites with different domain names, every website have same content, same pages, same website design. Kindly let me know how to solve this issue.
On-Page Optimization | | ross254sidney0 -
Duplicate Content Issue in Magento
Hi I need help in resolving the duplicate content issue on my magento site I got a product My main product url is https://www.oakfurnitureking.co.uk/shop-by-product/boston-solid-oak-4-drawer-chest and it got variation of url see below that are causing duplicate content issue , I have inserted the canonical tag on the below url and my main url is https://www.oakfurnitureking.co.uk/shop-by-product/boston-solid-oak-4-drawer-chest but still moz is showing it as duplicate content. Help Please <colgroup><col width="1003"></colgroup>
On-Page Optimization | | Adnan.Hassan.Khan
| https://www.oakfurnitureking.co.uk/product/oak-bedroom-furniture/boston-solid-oak-4-drawer-chest |
| https://www.oakfurnitureking.co.uk/catalog/product/view/id/45/s/boston-solid-oak-4-drawer-chest/category/6/ |
| https://www.oakfurnitureking.co.uk/catalog/product/view/id/45/s/boston-solid-oak-4-drawer-chest/category/17/ |
| https://www.oakfurnitureking.co.uk/shop-by-range/boston/boston-solid-oak-4-drawer-chest |
| https://www.oakfurnitureking.co.uk/catalog/product/view/id/45/s/boston-solid-oak-4-drawer-chest/category/42/ |
| https://www.oakfurnitureking.co.uk/catalog/product/view/id/45/s/boston-solid-oak-4-drawer-chest/category/63/ |
| https://www.oakfurnitureking.co.uk/catalog/product/view/id/45/s/boston-solid-oak-4-drawer-chest/category/67/ |
| https://www.oakfurnitureking.co.uk/catalog/product/view/id/45/s/boston-solid-oak-4-drawer-chest/category/46/ |
| https://www.oakfurnitureking.co.uk/catalog/product/view/id/45/s/boston-solid-oak-4-drawer-chest/category/79/ |
| https://www.oakfurnitureking.co.uk/catalog/product/view/id/45/s/boston-solid-oak-4-drawer-chest/category/88/ |
| https://www.oakfurnitureking.co.uk/catalog/product/view/id/45/s/boston-solid-oak-4-drawer-chest/category/75/ |
| https://www.oakfurnitureking.co.uk/catalog/product/view/id/45/s/boston-solid-oak-4-drawer-chest/category/90/ |
| https://www.oakfurnitureking.co.uk/catalog/product/view/id/45/s/boston-solid-oak-4-drawer-chest/category/92/ |
| https://www.oakfurnitureking.co.uk/catalog/product/view/id/45/s/boston-solid-oak-4-drawer-chest/category/33/ |
| https://www.oakfurnitureking.co.uk/catalog/product/view/id/45/s/boston-solid-oak-4-drawer-chest/category/27/ |
| https://www.oakfurnitureking.co.uk/shop-by-range/boston-solid-oak-4-drawer-chest |
| https://www.oakfurnitureking.co.uk/catalog/product/view/id/45/s/boston-solid-oak-4-drawer-chest/category/50/ |
| https://www.oakfurnitureking.co.uk/catalog/product/view/id/45/s/boston-solid-oak-4-drawer-chest/category/22/ |
| https://www.oakfurnitureking.co.uk/catalog/product/view/id/45/s/boston-solid-oak-4-drawer-chest/category/74/ |0 -
Impact of rogue keyword in content
I have a page that is optimised - title, URL, content etc for the chosen keywords. However, within the content are some batches of bullet point text that has repeated text throughout. So for example I have 5 instances of my chosen keyword within the content and 24 instances of the two word text within the bullet points. Does this kind of scenario have any impact on ranking?
On-Page Optimization | | MickEdwards0 -
Is .PW domain is good for SEO?
I want to register .PW domain which has recently got live to register. I am in doubt should it is good for SEO or not.
On-Page Optimization | | semmediapvtltd0 -
Page content length...does it matter?
As I begin developing my website's content, does it matter how long or short the actual text found in the is? I heard someone say before "a minimum of 250 words", but is that true? If so, what is the maximum length I should use?
On-Page Optimization | | wlw20090 -
Drupal SEO Question
Still trying to get a handle on all this...a lot to figure out! My site is Drupal and a few weeks ago I had my developer install an SEO Module so I could add a meta description and keywords for my pages. I have done that for the majority of the landing pages and the product pages as well. Earlier I posted a question about the use of adding the meta description and keywords to each product. The answers were mixed and pointed out the problem of the duplicate content which I am trying to figure out how to fix. BUT...when I went through my On Page Analysis grading for my campaigns one of the reasons my grades were low were because of the use of meta keywords tag. That the search engines ignore them and competitors can use them against you. So now I am thoroughly confused. I should optimize each product page with the meta description and keywords or i shouldn't? Keywords should show up in the title tag and the content....anywhere else? Help! Thanks much, Shara
On-Page Optimization | | Confections0 -
Duplicate content on video pages
Hi guys, We have a video section on our site containing about 50 videos, grouped by category/difficulty. On each video page except for the embedded player, a sentence or two describing the video and a list of related video links, there's pretty much nothing else. All of those appear as duplicate content by category. What should we do here? How long a description should be for those pages to appear unique for crawlers? Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | lgrozeva0 -
Should H1s be used in the logo? If they are and it is dynamic on each page to relate to the page content, is this detrimental to the site rather than having it in the page content?
On some sites, the H1 is contained within the logo and remains consistent throughout the site (i.e. the company name is in the of the logo). If the h1 in a logo is dynamic for each page (i.e. on the homepage it is company name - homepage) is this better or worse to have it changed out on the logo rather than having it in the page content?
On-Page Optimization | | CabbageTree0