Ever Wonder Why a PDF Is Ranking Higher Than You on Google?
Try this: search “marketing agency Denver.” Along with the usual “best agencies” lists, you will see a document from the University of Colorado Denver business school, a plain list of local agencies put together for students. It has no ads, no sales pitch and no fancy design. And yet it keeps showing up near businesses that spend real money on marketing.
If that stings a little, you are not alone. A lot of business owners find a PDF or a college page sitting above their own website and wonder what they did wrong. Usually the answer is nothing. It is just a good reminder of what Google likes.
Why a plain document can beat a nice website
A few things are working in its favor. It comes from a university website, and Google tends to trust those. It answers exactly what the searcher asked, which is a list of agencies in Denver. And it is almost all readable text, with a clear title and no popups in the way.
Your website can do every one of those things too. Say clearly what you do and who you do it for, put it in words people can actually read, and make the page answer the question someone typed in. Fancy design helps people trust you once they land, but it will not make up for a page that does not say anything.
PDFs can work for you, too
Google can index PDFs, so a good one can show up in search just like a web page. That makes them handy for things like guides, checklists and price sheets. Our own free guide on running a business that does not drive you crazy is a good example of a downloadable that brings people in.
A few habits make a PDF easier for Google and for people to find. Give the file a clear name instead of scan0045.pdf. Use a real title. Make sure the words in it are actual text, not a photo of a page, because a flat scan gives a search engine very little to read. And link to the PDF from a page on your site so people can find it.
Need to update a PDF?
This is where scanned files cause trouble. If your old guide or form only exists as a scan, you cannot click in and fix a typo. An online editor with OCR (optical character recognition) reads the picture and turns it back into text, so you can edit a scanned document online. We have used pdfFiller for this before and it does the job. Save your edit as a new copy, and check names, dates and numbers against the original, since OCR sometimes mixes up things like zeros and the letter O.
One caution if you work with clients’ health information: before you upload anything, make sure you have a signed business associate agreement (BAA) with the company. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services explains what a business associate agreement needs to cover. pdfFiller offers a BAA on certain plans, so confirm which plan you are on first.
What to do next
Search for the services you offer in your city and see who shows up. If a directory, a college page or a PDF is outranking you, look at what it does well and make sure your own pages do the same. And if you run a therapy or mental health practice, our page on marketing for therapists and private practices shows how we help practices get found and booked.
Want us to figure out why you are not ranking?
We are a Denver digital marketing agency, and finding out why one page beats another is a big part of what we do, through SEO, Google Ads, website work and Google Business Profile management. If you would like us to look at where you stand and what is holding you back, book a consultation with Faceted Media and we will get you on the calendar.
