SearchWP Xpdf Integration

When the PDF text enters the search, the PDF competes with everything else

A customer searches for a specific clause of a contract and your search returns nothing, because the PDF is only called "terms-2024.pdf" and the clause is inside. You fix that by indexing the content, and a new problem appears: now a long manual matches many more searches.

Indexing the inside of PDFs solves their not being found, and shifts the work to deciding how much they weigh against your pages and posts.

SearchWP's Xpdf integration indexes the whole content of PDFs, while WordPress search indexes only basic information by default, such as the title and description. You can index all the content or specify exactly what to index, and the algorithm settings let you weight PDF attributes by relevance. That weighting is the part worth spending time on.

What gets indexed and how it is ordered

• Full PDF content: the document text enters the index, in addition to the title and metadata.
• Custom fields and taxonomies: they can also be indexed, to improve relevance.
• Scope to choose: all the content or only what you specify.
• Weighting: advanced algorithm settings to give more or less weight to each attribute.
• Priority by keyword: you control the order of results and promote a specific result with one click.
• Exclusions: you can hide posts and pages from PDF search.
• Highlighted terms: results can mark the searched word and show excerpts generated around it.

The search can be offered with a Gutenberg block or with a modal popup. The Ajax live search extension shows results, PDFs included, as the visitor types.

A store of PDF books or guides

In a catalog of downloadable guides, each guide can have a commercial title and a body with technical terminology. With the content indexed, someone searching for a technical term reaches the guide where it is explained. This is one possible approach; adjust it to your own site.

The same applies to documentation, manuals or reports that you upload to the site and that today are only found by their title or description.

What the integration does not cover

• SearchWP is for WordPress installations that you host yourself. It does not work on WordPress.com.
• Author details are not indexed by default, although they can be added with custom indexing.
• The integration depends on the SearchWP plugin, the search engine it adds to.
• Among its functions there is no PDF viewer on the site: its job is for the PDF to be found.

Turning on search inside PDFs

You need SearchWP installed on a self-hosted WordPress.

1. Install and activate SearchWP and this integration.
2. Activate the Xpdf integration with one click.
3. Decide whether all the content is indexed or only what you specify.
4. Adjust the weight of the PDF attributes against the rest of your content.
5. Add the search form with the Gutenberg block or a modal popup.

Add-ons for the same search engine

The search engine it works on is SearchWP. To show results while the visitor types, there is SearchWP Live Ajax Search. If you prefer another search engine, there is Ajax Search Pro.

Four questions about PDFs in search

What does WordPress index from a PDF by default?

Only basic information, such as the title and description. With this integration the whole content is indexed.

Can I choose which part gets indexed?

Yes. You can index all the content or specify exactly the content to index.

Can I push a specific PDF up in the results?

Yes. You control the order by keyword and promote a specific result with one click.

Does it work on WordPress.com?

No. SearchWP is only for WordPress.org installations that you host yourself.