Did you just find out your PDFs are available on Google search, and urgently need a way to hide it (and all future PDFs) from showing up on Google?
A lesser known fact: Google does actively crawl the internet and list all types of online content including PDF files on their search page; even if the content creators didn't explicitly permitted this.
This is not a situation most people like to find themselves in; as many PDFs content are contextual to timing, event; and commonly require a broader context to make sense of. Moreover, accessing the PDF alone often makes it easy to discount the credibility of the creator(s) behind the PDF files.
When you publish your PDFs on your Wordpress or Shopify websites, they are indexable by Google even if you didn't explicitly request for indexing.
To do a quick check, you can try going to Google and search with the keyword: "your file name" +"pdf".
If your PDF files are already indexed on Google, you can submit a link removal request to Google via Google Search Console.
This is applicable only if your PDF files are hosted on your own website domain.
If your files are hosted on Google Drive or Dropbox, the only way is to make your file private.
Meanwhile, if you are concern about future PDF uploads, there are ways to exclude them before Google even started indexing them.
The easiest way to exclude all your PDF files from search engines, without coding, is to upload your PDF files to Titlegram. Once uploaded, Titlegram lets you hide your PDF files from Google with just one click:
When search engines tried crawling your PDF files now, they will receive a noindex request.
Here is a quick comparison on Titlegram versus the different ways to block Google from PDFs
This method is best for folks with technical knowledge and access to your website server.
It is only applicable if your PDF files are hosted on your own website (Wordpress or otherwise). For PDF files a cloud storage service like Google Drive or Dropbox, this method is not possible
If your PDF files are on a cloud storage, the best method is to remove the public access and make them private.
This can be achieved with just a few clicks. However if you have a lot of files, or need a particular large group of individuals to be able to access it, there will be many manual effort involved.
When you add password protection to your PDF files, it would not stop Google from indexing your file. It just adds a layer of password protection when readers start loading your file.
With Titlegram, you can achieve the same result with just one click using our PDF SEO features.
Moreover, Titlegram doesn't block off people to read and access your file if they have the URL. This removes the need to implement additional sharing configurations that are prone to human error.