Can Google index the text content in a PDF?

[LindsayDayton]

I really really thought the answer was always no. There's plenty of other things you can do to improve search visibility for a PDF, but I thought the nature of the file type made the content itself not-parsable by search engine crawlers...

But now, my client's competitor is ranking for my client's brand name with a PDF that contains comparison content.

Thing is, my client's brand isn't in the title, the alt-text, the url... it's only in the actual text of the PDF.

Did I miss a major update? Did I always have this wrong?

[Cesare.Marchetti]

Yes they can crawl and index also the contents of PDF's and they are doing that extensively. Its nothing new actually. As long as the contents of the PDF is not only images but also text they will be able to scan the actual text.

Interesting article with tips to make your PDF's SEO-friendly: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/pdf-seo-best-practices/59975/

Cheers,

Cesare