These days, most web pages feature objects of one kind or another. It could be a PDF, a video, or even a basic image. Objects are what can make a page more interesting. They do, however, present some difficulties when it comes to search engine optimisation. Whether it’s because they are sourced from off the site, whether they block search engine crawlers or simply take up otherwise ‘optimisable’ page space, they can be problematic.

Objects come with benefits and drawbacks, and most SEO professionals try to balance the two. The benefit of objects is that they add a lot of interest to a page. Objects break up text and provide a little relief for the user scanning the page. Objects also add to the value of a page, as things like videos and PDF files come across as free product. The problem is, search engines have difficulty crawling objects.

Videos have continuously presented a problem for SEO experts. The difficulty comes from the attention benefits of video. Sites that feature video tend to be more popular than plain text-based sites. This means that featuring video is a smart idea that most businesses can’t afford to ignore. In strict SEO terms, however, videos are a waste of space. As search engines are unable to crawl videos, their content does not add to an SEO campaign. You can apply SEO to the title and tags, but the content itself is an SEO void.

One good idea for getting around this problem is to feature a transcript of the video for people who want to read instead of watch. This takes care of the search engine problem, because every word of your video is then crawlable. It also provides an option for users who don’t want to download a video, and avoids frustration in those inevitable times when the video refuses to stream.

PDFs present similar difficulties to videos, but there are more strategies available for optimising PDF files. The main strategy is to PDF a text file, rather than PDF as an image. Another is to feature the text whole on page and provide the PDF as a download. If you go with featuring a text version as well as an object, be careful to avoid duplicate content issues. Placing the PDF file in your robots.txt file is a way to steer the search engine spiders toward indexing the right content. This is a tricky area, however, and a mistake can affect your ranking. It’s a good idea to consult your SEO firm about objects and duplicate content issues, and you can talk to SEO Consult about optimising your objects.

Objects are too valuable to be left off a page entirely, despite the inherent problems they present. Although it takes more strategising to work objects into your SEO plan, the added attraction can result in better conversions. At a basic level, objects can be titled and tagged for some SEO effect. Your SEO consultant should also be able to help with superior SEO tactics when you want your objects to work harder.

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