OU Campus Training and Support

Creating and Optimizing PDFs

Creating Accessible PDF documents using Word

Keep Your Microsoft Word document layout simple. Keep all content in a linear single column progression. This will allow screen readers to obtain a proper reading order of the document. More complex document layout design can scatter the document’s reading order for screen readers

Select "Save As", then click "PDF", open the newly created PDF.

For Search Engine Optimization, is it IMPORTANT to Insert the appropriate tags.

Select "File," Properties and insert the proper:

Title Tag
Subject
Keywords

NOTE: Always use text-based PDFs. Search engines understand text. Building PDFs with plain text instead of the form of pictures allows for SEO and accessibility.
To check for accessible text-based content in your PDF, make sure the words are basic copy-and-paste text.

Set an SEO friendly filename (url)

The filename will become part of the URL (web address). by naming the file appropriately.
Also see the UT Tyler guidelines for naming files.

Set your title in the document properties

The title tag is a huge ranking factor for search engines. Use the "Properties" function to include the appropriate title tag along with subject and keywords.

For more information, see:

• Guide to Creating Accessible PDF Documents
• 8 Tips to Making your PDF Page SEO Friendly
• SEO for PDF