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PDFs in Search: Indexing, AI & Pitfalls
Should you publish your content as a PDF or stick strictly to standard HTML? Does Google treat PDF files differently when it comes to indexing, ranking, and AI search features? In this episode of Search Off the Record, Martin Splitt and John Mueller from the Google Search Relations team demystify how Google Search handles PDF documents. They break down some of Google's internal pipelines, explain why putting an LLMs.txt file inside a PDF is a bad idea, explore common technical traps like rasterized pages and canonicalization issues, and share practical advice on managing PDFs for SEO, AEO…
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