Orphan pdfs: where, if anywhere, does the PR go?

[Brian]

I've got a PDF on my site with a really tasty PR. I'm tempted to go into it and install a link to my homepage, but I think that means converting it to Word and then back again, which raises formatting issues.

Do you think my site benefits from this page, or is it in its own little world?

[tedster]

Sure, your site can benefit from a PDF with good Page Rank. Does it get any search traffic?

[Brian]

Oh, yes, it gets lots of traffic, but people go nowhere else on the site from this page because it has no links, and its PR seems to go nowhere for the same reason.

So I'm wondering if there is any site-wide benefit, or whether I should bite the bullet and convert to word, add a link and then convert back to pdf. But is it a semi-legal document, and the converters I've used in the past make subtle errors in the formatting.

[tedster]

Yes, it is definitely better to make changes in the original source document and then convert to the new PDF file, rather than try to edit directly in the existing PDF. Depending on the software you use editing a PDF directly can also increase the file size dramatically, as well as generate other potential troubles, as you mentioned.

Also a quick tip - while you are modifying the PDF, check its meta data, especially the embedded title information along with the author. Google will use this data for ranking purposes if it is accurate, and sometimes even if it is really bad.