Should ebook content be a download or hosted on site for SEO?

[PhotographerSteve]

We have written ebook(s) on subjects of interest to our prospects (B-C market). We have taken many recurring questions asked over the years plus helpful graphics and put into short 12+ page ebooks.

After filling out form to receive ebook- (first name & email on form) for any option below-

Should we:

a) send them to Landing page to download ebook to their desktop?

b) send them e-mail with link to download ebook?

c) send them directly to page on our site with the ebook content?

d) something else?

My thoughts are to do c) which will put content on site, though 'protected' via gate. This way the search engines can crawl the content. However, if that content is not directly reachable through menu will that degrade the importance of that content?

Obviously we want to provide good, helpful information to prospects. We would also love to benefit from that content from a Search point of view if possible.

Anyone have experience with this through A/B test or otherwise?

Thanks,

Steve

[Dubs]

Using option B allows you to gather info on them before the receive access to ebook. However, if you were to block access to the page, option c would work to still gather user info. You can also track the pdf's off the landing page but this allows the user to have a local copy and 'share' your content without registering their information.

I would personally recommend option C as long as it's a hidden or protected page.

[WhiteboardCreations]

Steve,

I second what Dubs states. Option C is your best option as you accomplish a lot with this strategy assuming you are protecting the page with a form submission to gain access. You capture their information, you are protecting your content on the site, provide them the downloadable PDF and could track both submissions and clicks to download in Google Analytics as "Goals".

Patrick

[PhotographerSteve]

If we utilize option (c) how valuable do we think the SEO for that content is- IF that content can not be reached thorough the onsite navigation? In other words does brining the content 'further away' from the root domain (and without direct menu access) decrease it's importance/relevancy in search results?

Also: would the 'thank you page' - after form fill- be the page with the pdf document, or would the 'thank you page' have a link button to forward to (access) the content page?

[WhiteboardCreations]

Good questions. First, anything which you want to rank in Google can be found in Google. Take for instance, I sometimes do searches for ebooks of certain topics I want to learn about for example, "how to write an ebook". I'd search "how to write an ebook filetype:pdf" and then I could potentially find direct PDF downloads from URLs and bypass any one looking to collect my email, name, etc. I don't check them all, but some may not have the PDF protected or blocked with a robot.txt file discouraging Google from indexing the page, but some do, yet their PDF can be found through a link, especially in WP sites. So, you raise a question about having your content indexed to aid your SEO efforts, right? If you're going to protect the PDF and want the content indexed then sneaky searchers like myself could find your content, otherwise, put the content on the page and the PDF and let Google index. I'd say majority of the people coming to your page would enter in their info to get the ebook(s).

I would, for the sake of saving your users more clicks and thinking, place the downloadable PDF on the Thank You page. Collect their info and eliminate any further confusion or clicks. "Thank you for taking interest in our ABC ebook. Please click below to download your copy now."

Hope this was a good answer! Cheers - Patrick

[EGOL]

I go for D.

Publish the whole thing on your website and link to it from every page of your website...  so that anybody anywhere can view it for free at anytime with no limitations.

If this ebook is fantastic then you want everybody everywhere to see it, be amazed, tweet, like, link, emal, share and bookmark.   All of that traffic will come to your site and the cycle will start again.

It's like throwing gasoline on a fire.

[PhotographerSteve]

thanks, Patrick. This isn't the formula to Coca Cola or some other highly held secret. If a skilled searcher get's the info without giving name, that's fine. I'm  looking to give good content, get ranked for relevant information and with permission drip e-market to gain position of trusted expert in my area by disseminating, hopefully, helpful content.

My main concern is whether not having a direct (stair step) link structure from main menu to protected content will diminsh  the relevancy of what i'm trying to rank for...any thoughts on this?

[PhotographerSteve]

So, if we publish the ebook to the site, without a gate (email/name) then:

a) we potentially loose the opportunity to periodically drip other helpful info over time as we are not requiring name/email for this content. correct?

If we do publish without "gate" then does it make a difference if this page with pdf is part of main/sub navigation or if we exclude it from that and make if available from pages within site? does how far a page is from main navigation make a difference in relevance/importance from SEO Point of view?

[EGOL]

a) we potentially loose the opportunity to periodically drip other helpful info over time as we are not requiring name/email for this content. correct?

I think that you are giving up a FLOOD to collect a drip.

My experience has been that I get a LOT more traffic from the SERPs than I can get by collecting emails.

If you publish awesome stuff you can still collect emails... "Sign up for free updates by email".

If we do publish without "gate" then does it make a difference if this page with pdf is part of main/sub navigation or if we exclude it from that and make if available from pages within site?

I would not publish on pdf because they do not perform as well as html pages in the SERPs and they are harder to monetize.

Instead of excluding this from your navigation.. I would be shouting about it on my homepage and every relevant page of my site.  Drive as many people into it as you can.

**Does how far a page is from main navigation make a difference in relevance/importance from SEO Point of view? **

Yes.  Pages in your main navigation get more linkjuice and often rank better than if they had just one or two links into them.

I would be monetizing this content with ads.  They can be adsense, another network, or they can be house ads promoting your own products.

[PhotographerSteve]

a different paradigm then i've been hearing.. now i'm thinking more about this.

two things come to mind 1) why would so many companies like Hubspot, others require email for content exchange if putting on site would do as well?

Does the type of industry: B-B, vs B-C make a difference in how you would approach or is your answer blanket for all types B-B,B-C?

If we go the route of publishing to site (not pdf)  does it make a difference whether a 12 page ebook is one long scrolling page or should the content be 'click to read more' which advances to another possibly optimized page?  If multiple pages then each page would likely be optimizing for pretty much the same content?

Has there been any correlation between top step (main menu) and 2, 3, 4 steps below the main navigation on relevance (with same content) in rankings?

[EGOL]

1) why would so many companies like Hubspot, others require email for content exchange if putting on site would do as well?

Here are two answers:

A) they want to spam you with email and sell your email to everyone on the planet;

B) the value of a sale is enormous, so they would rather have a sale than the ad clicks

Does the type of industry: B-B, vs B-C make a difference in how you would approach or is your answer blanket for all types B-B,B-C?

Publishing for everyone makes more sense for the B-C business because the number of potential visitors is enormous compared to the B-B.

If we go the route of publishing to site (not pdf)  does it make a difference whether a 12 page ebook is one long scrolling page or should the content be 'click to read more' which advances to another possibly optimized page?  If multiple pages then each page would likely be optimizing for pretty much the same content?

I put a few thousand words on a page but if you have more then I would break it into separate pages.  I would break the ebook into chapters or lessons each targeting a different keyword.

Has there been any correlation between top step (main menu) and 2, 3, 4 steps below the main navigation on relevance (with same content) in rankings?

Yes.  The deeper you bury the content in your navigation the deeper it will rank in the SERPs.   If you want to promote this for traffic, income, links, tweets, signups,  I would think that you would be showing it to every person who visits your website.  That's what I do when I have something hot, valuable and important.  If you fail to do that you lose the opportunity.