PDF Standards: Make Your PDF Files Web-Friendly

The popularity of the PDF file is easy to see. On most content-driven websites, you'll find PDF files that contain tutorials, excerpts, diagrams, patterns, ready-to-print books, and more. The reason they're so popular is also easy to see - the program needed to read PDF files is free, and there are a dozen different programs (free or cheap) out there to create them.

For the person helping to maintain or update a website, the reason for using PDF files goes even further. They maintain document security - it's not as easy to "steal" the text from one of these babies - and they are both print-ready and look professional.

Because they're so popular and easy to create, they've started to flood the Internet. In order to get the most out of your PDF, you'll want it to be found in search engines the same way your html pages are... and to do that, you need to get comfortable with the Document Properties so that your files are searchable.

PDF and the Document Properties Window

Every reliable software made for creating PDF files has a document properties window that does more than you might think. The information you enter in this window are embedded within the file itself, and search engines use this information to display search results.

Without making this difficult (it doesn't have to be!), here are the properties you should be concerned with - to access them, simply go to "File" and choose "Document Properties" when your file is open:

PDF Title - This is one of the most important elements of your file as far as search engines are concerned.

When you create the title of your file, make sure it is descriptive. It should contain keywords that you'll use in just a moment - words or phrases that people would actually search for on a site like Google. The title should be less than 100 characters long, include version numbers if applicable, and not contain symbols (like the trademark, servicemark, or copyright).

How important is this field? Very, if you care about your file being searchable. If you don't set a title, search engines will create one for you - so your beautifully crafted story named StarBringer might appear in search results as draft10.pdf - which really isn't very enticing.

So easy way to remember this: the title in your title field is the same title that search engines will use to display your PDF file.

Author - This field is pretty self-explanatory. When you place an author name, make sure that it is something identifiable.

For me, I can easily use my Internet handle "lolaness" because I've used this name for years and years, I'm easily identifiable with the name in search engines, and it's a name unique to me. If you're creating this file for a company, consider using the company name in the author field. It's all about making the information count - or deciding how searches can find your work more quickly.

Subject - Think of this field as a "foreword" for your document. You'll want to clearly and accurately describe what is actually in your file, and introduce the reader to the content. The subject can be as short as one sentence or as long as five - but try to keep it clean and concise.

Keywords - Just like an html document, this field helps search engines decide what you think is most important in your file. Use keywords and keyword phrases that are accurate - if your PDF is a course on dyeing hair, don't place keywords about a celebrity simply because she's big in searches at the moment. In other words, keep your keywords specific so that search engines can match them to phrases actually in your file.

Once you've gone through these fields, your document is ready to save and will result in a lot more hits than it was before. There's no reason to stop here, though - check out what you can do under the "Security" tab, or the "Initial View" tab. Every step you take to making a PDF file more professional makes it more user-friendly, which in turn reflects positively on you and your business.