PDFs With No Index Contribute To Page Ranks?
-
I have a question I'm hoping you can help me with. If I upload a PDF and add a no index under the meta robots index so that the PDF doesn't appear in search results when I send people the link to this PDF, does it still contribute to my site traffic/ranking etc?
Basically we are deciding whether to put some PDFs with pricing options etc onto our website or on a google drive. We will be sending the links to potential clients. If visitors clicking on the link would still help with increasing traffic and increasing our google rank (without that PDF showing in results) we thought this might be the best solution.
-
Thanks for your insight there Martjin, super helpful.
Yes, the Google drive was what I thought we'd use if there was no SEO advantage to having people view/download on our site.
-
Hi,
There is a few things in your post that I want to help clarify:
- Just sending traffic and links to something doesn't always mean that it'll help drive your search rankings.
- Posting a PDF in Google Drive and linking to that won't help your site rank better, in the end the file is hosted on a Google owned domain, not yours. So as far as I can imagine it won't help you.
- Only if people would link to the actual PDF that is hosted on your site (including meta robots of noindex) it could help you. But only if that link is public for anybody to visit and not just something that you obviously send out in an email.
Martijn
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
-
Google Search Console Not Indexing Pages
Hi there! I have a problem that I was hoping someone could help me with. On google search console, my website does not seem to be indexed well. In fact, even after rectifying problems that Moz's on-demand crawl has pointed out, it still does not become "valid". There are some of the excluded pages that Google has pointed out. I have rectified some of the issues but it doesn't seem to be helping. However, when I submitted the sitemap, it says that the URLs were discoverable, hence I am not sure why they can be discovered but are not deemed "valid". I would sincerely appreciate any suggestions or insights as to how can I go about to solve this issue. Thanks! Screenshot+%28341%29.png Screenshot+%28342%29.png Screenshot+%28343%29.png
Algorithm Updates | | Chowsey0 -
Blog-posts pages are dominating in search console "Internal Links". Only home-page at top!
Hi all, Ours is WordPress website and we have a blog...website.com/blog/. All the important pages in the website are well linked from top and footer menu. But in our webmasters...internal links section, only homepage is at the top. Blog-posts are others followed by homepage. I wonder why blog pages are dominating our website pages. Please give your suggestions on this. Do you think Google will give more priority for the blog-posts than website pages as they are more linked technically? Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | vtmoz1 -
Training - How Google Crawls & Indexes Websites
Hi Does anyone know of any online training resources/webinars/training UK based that will cover the following for SEO: Why monitoring how search engines crawl and index content is important and how this can improve your SEO performance Using Google advanced operators to evaluate website indexation How to use log file data to gain insight into how search engines crawl and index content Techniques to control how search engines crawl and index content How search engines deal with JavaScript, common frameworks and SEO considerations I'm trying to develop my technical knowledge - I have always been more focused on content/KWD research/optimisation. Thank you
Algorithm Updates | | BeckyKey0 -
Could Retail Price Be A Google Ranking Factor???
I have not done any detailed studies on this but it seems that Google might be using low retail prices for specific items as a ranking factor in their organic SERPs. Does anyone else suspect this? Just askin' to hear your thoughts. Thanks!
Algorithm Updates | | EGOL0 -
MOZ.com Page Rank of 2?
I don't recall the page rank of SEOMoz.com prior to the company's change to MOZ.com. But did notice that MOZ.com currently has a Page Rank of 2 (which I find weird since it's such a strong, content rich, highly-regarded site). I'd be interested in hearing about findings from the MOZ.com team on why the low PR and how has it affected your site since the change? (...and perhaps a look at the future through a crystal ball 🙂 I recall reading the MOZ domain changing article titled "Domain Migrations: Surviving the "Perfect Storm" of Site Changes" which had great info and addresses some reasons for PR loss in the 'Traffic and Ranking Loss' section: http://moz.com/blog/domain-migration-lessons
Algorithm Updates | | Prospector-Plastics0 -
Rankings fluctuating by around 10 pages between night and day
Hi all, I'm experiencing something very odd with my website ranking at the moment. My homepage is fluctuating in rank for my main keyword by 10 pages every day and night. So, during the day i am on page 14, 15 or 16 for my main keyword yet by night i am on page 5 or 6. This trend has continued for the past 7 days now and i can't quite understand why this is. I'm using pagewash dot net to carry out manual searches and a ranking tool - both of which produce exactly the same result. Does anyone have any experience of this or why this is happening? My domain is around 8 years old and has around 50,000 pages. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.
Algorithm Updates | | MarkHincks0 -
Can visitors duration time affect Google Rankings?
Does the time a person stays on a website affect Search Rankings? If so, could the lower time from Adwords Visitors be effecting organic rankings? And the same for bounce rate. If Non-Paid Search Traffic Avg. Visit Duration time is 3:55 and Paid Search Traffic Avg. Visit Duration is 1:59 Could the low duration time be affecting our website rankings?
Algorithm Updates | | hfranz0 -
Perfect Landing Page for jewelry website?
What would be the Perfect Landing Page for jewelry website? Show me some examples and tell me why do you think so. Thanks in advance to everyone who participated.
Algorithm Updates | | DiamondJewelryEmpire0