Making documents SEO friendly before uploading

Why the document’s title and description are important

Both Google and the internal search on nsw.gov.au display the document's title and description.

What happens if a document does not have a title or description

If the document does not have a title or description, search engines will use the file name as the title and the first few lines of the text as the description. This can be a poor customer experience and creates accessibility issues. The document will not be able to rank highly for the relevant terms.

Here is an example of a few documents without a title and description. You can see the document name does not always make sense for the customer and the description isn't helpful either.

And here is an example of what we would like all PDFs to look like in search:

Adding title and description to documents

Before uploading any PDF or Word document into the Content Management System (CMS), you can add a unique title and unique description to the document by following the steps below. Using a unique name and description will allow the internal search to find the document. 

How to add title and description to PDF file

1. Open the file and head to Menu > Properties (or File > Properties)
   
   
2. The Document Properties box will automatically open. Click on the Title field and enter the document title. 
3. Click on the Subject field, enter a short summary of the document.
   Note: You may need to have Adobe Acrobat installed on your computer to enter this field.
   
   
4. Once you are happy with the title and description, click on the OK button
5. Save the file 

How to add title and description to MS Word document

1. Open the file and head to Home > Info
   
2. Click on Show All Proprieties
   
   
3. Click on Add a title in the Title field and type your file name
4. Click on Specify the subject in the Subject field and type your description
   
5. Once you are happy with the title and description, click on the top left hand arrow to go back out of the document.
   
    
6. Save the file.

Need any more help?

If you have any questions, or require assistance with anything mentioned on this article, submit a request via the webform.