Will Google and other search engines index the content of PDFs embedded with PDF Embedder? In most cases, yes, search engines treat text-based PDFs much like any other web page.
This guide explains how PDF indexing works and what you can do to give your embedded PDFs strong SEO.
How Search Engines Index PDFs
Search engine bots crawl and index PDF content when the file is accessible via a URL and its content is text-based. PDFs uploaded to your WordPress Media Library remain accessible to crawlers in the same way as any other uploaded file. Embedding a PDF with PDF Embedder does not prevent it from being indexed.
Links within a PDF are also crawled. Note that clickable links inside embedded PDFs are a Premium-only feature — the free version renders links as non-interactive.
A useful overview of how Google handles PDF content is available here: Google: We Index PDFs Just Like Any Other Web Page
Optimizing PDF Metadata for SEO
To give your PDFs strong SEO signals, set the Title, Author, and Subject fields in the document’s properties before uploading the file into your site.
In Microsoft Word: Go to File > Info and edit the document properties. When exporting, use File > Export > Create PDF/XPS rather than printing to PDF. The print method flattens content and removes hyperlinks.
If your PDF contains hyperlinks, save the source document as a Word 97-2003 document(.doc) file before exporting. The .docx format can affect link behavior during PDF export.
In Adobe Acrobat: Open File > Properties and edit the Description tab to set the title, author, and subject fields.
Frequently asked questions
Below are some common questions about PDF SEO and indexing.
Do secure PDFs get indexed by search engines?
No. PDFs stored in the /securepdfs/ folder are protected from direct URL access, which also blocks search engine crawlers. If SEO indexing matters for a document, use a standard non-secure embed.