Very detailed and in-depth article on the subject. Came at a useful time too, got a pile of PDFs to optimise for a site. Only problem is we're now on Ubuntu so Adobe InDesign is out. Played around with a few alternatives so far but will look at programs with your post in mind now.

Went hot as editor's pick. This is a well written and detailed guide to PDF optimization, unfortunately a topic that doesn't come with boatloads of valuable information on the Internet.

Editor's Pick! Why thank you, that was very kind of you. I kind of figured this one wouldn't see the light of day due to the nature of the topic. Not much thought goes into PDF optimization, not at this level anyway. Searching for files with .pdf in Google is very revealing as to who knows the inside secrets to Optimizing PDFs for Search. ;)

Only problem is we're now on Ubuntu so Adobe InDesign is out.

I think there may have been some confusion in how I phrased that. The program that created the original publishing documents was InDesign. Once converted to PDF, I do believe any PDF Editor is going to offer you the Document Properties dialog which is where all this information will be.

Thanks again for the Editor's Pick!

@Pageoneresults

Once converted to PDF, I do believe any PDF Editor is going to offer you the Document Properties dialog which is where all this information will be.

I hope so, the *nix alternatives to Adobe have looked a little bleak so far. PDFedit is the most often recommended but it's very basic and doesn't seem to have an option to edit the document settings. PDF Studio (paid) seems to allow this and I still have Scribus to try out.

That PDFedit looks a bit archaic. I just went through all the menu options and don't see where you can edit the Document Properties. I've always had Adobe Acrobat for as far back as I can remember. Since I do a lot of traditional publishing, I work quite a bit with Quark and InDesign files going to print via PDF. Now there's a process that requires a little bit of skill. :)

I noticed a few questions appearing from friends about how to optimize other documents for search. Since Microsoft Office is one of the more popular document publishing platforms, I took examples using Word, PowerPoint, and Excel for this extended Tutorial/Pictorial.

SEO for Office Documents - Tutorial and Pictorial for Optimizing Microsoft Office Documents for Search. I wanted to share with you the steps that I'm taking to make sure that each and every Word, PowerPoint, and Excel Document are Optimized for Search.

Really nice piece on getting the basics of PDF optimization done for clients (and yourself). Recommended reading. Nice work on this @pageoneresults!

I just found this - very excellent post... kudos