What is the proper way to display e-commerce product guides? PDF / JPG?

[BeytzNet]

Hi,

On each product page in my e-commerce site, I have a link to show a certificate of authenticity for the product. (similar to any guide in an e-commerce site).

I also have the details as plain text on the page, but this is required.

What is the correct way to show it, using PDF or JPG?

Thanks

[danbocain]

I would probably go with the PDF, possibly with a thumbnail JPG image of it instead of a text link to the PDF. That's just me personally.

[Saijo.George]

I am not really sure what you want to get done. If you want to display the "certificate of authenticity" as an image you can JPG.

[BeytzNet]

The question is what is better SEO wise.
For example, Am I loosing link juice when I use pdf's?

Am I weakening my product pages somehow because people are leaving them when they want to see the guide? (I use target = "_blank" but still...)

Thanks

[Saijo.George]

If you can show the image on the page then do that . I think it would be better for users too instead of an unwanted click to open up another page which takes them away from your products page.

[Anthony_NorthSEO]

I'd recommend using a Javascript Lightbox extension to display the certificate in JPG format. That will keep your users on the same page and allow them to zoom and pan over the COA without opening a new window. Free Lightbox extensions are available for most eCommerce platforms, and aren't too hard to implement.

Once the user purchases a product, I'd send the certificate to the buyer in PDF format so it can be easily printed, which I'm sure most customers would appreciate.

Hope this helps.

Thanks!

Anthony

[riplash]

PDFs accumulate and pass link equity, so add a link back to your site in the PDF itself to avoid it becoming a dead end. An added bonus is the many sites that scrape user manuals and other PDFs and republish them, usually with your link intact.