Example of Proper Image Text for Scientist Searchers

This post is in response to a comment string from a previous article on scientific alt text.  It illustrates an example of building website content from the scientific visitor perspective.

Jon commented – Here are the alt tags I used …you are welcome to use them as examples etc. (perhaps these will go in the what-not-to-do section…which is fine, but teach me how to improve them). – webpage – morpholino optimization

First image, figure 1 panel 1
alt=”Figure showing target regions used in a Morpholino oligo-walking experiment through a region of RNA secondary structure in a hepatitis B virus leader sequence.”

This is a great start. But its a little long (5-7 words is best) and the context of the page is missing. I took a look at the page on morpholino optimization on your site and in the code I noticed there are potential issues with the title tag that can help us get this correct.

Remember  – the title tag is the most important for describing the image.

For example, the first image is titled – “optimal_target_1.gif.”, it could be improved with a better description such as “morpholino_optimization.gif” or “morpholino_silencing_efficiency.gif.”

Next use the alt tag to put the image into context of the page.

In this example, I might suggest- “Choosing morpholinos based on RNA secondary structure“.

Keep it brief as some browsers will break alt text.

The idea is to consider the context a scientist interested in your product (morpholinos) would be searching in google. They might be interested in “best practices for morpholino design” or “optimization of morpholinos” or “targeting morpholinos to RNA or secondary structure or hairpins“. You might also get “how to design morpholinos” type searches.

Now as you go down the page, image text should flow logically with context they meant to illustrate.

Second image, figure 1 panel 2

New Title = antisense_activty.gif, New alt text = “mRNA target position determines morpholino silence activity.”

Third image, figure 2 -

New Title = morpholino_target.gif, New alt text = “best target choice for a Morpholino oligo AUG start codon”

Each time considering what a scientist might be searching for.

Hope that helps

We are in the middle of assisting a large science company re-writing all the content, code and image text with scientific keyword association illustrated above. It seems tedious, but it is critical with all the competition out there.

Writing Proper Scientific alt Text

by Rusty Bishop, PhD

Many companies spend thousands on Google Adwords campaigns to attract scientists, but only pennies on making their site attract scientists via organic search. However , if you sit back and think about how many times you actually click on a paid search link?  (I bet the answer is not very often.) That money should be headed the other way.

Today’s article is about writing proper alt text, a great way to punch towards that first page in Organic Results.

Why alt text?

Previously I wrote about  alt tags and  why its critical to use them to describe your scientific products on your website to capture Google searchers. In that article I described a typical scientist performing a highly targeted search string,

“antibody human Akt1 Western blot”

This search is highly targeted and the searcher is pre-qualified to buy. People entering 4 and 5 word search strings are looking for a specific product.  In this example, I am looking for an antibody to akt1 that works in a Western blot experiment. Most likely I need to do that experiment in the next few days, so I’m not browsing, looking for random antibodies for fun.

Think about your own searching…

If you are looking for a “great Italian restaurant in downtown San Diego”  would you enter that complete search string or would you enter “restaurant”. Obviously the former would return the exact results you want, while the latter wouldn’t be in the same zip code of what you want.

For this reason, you need to be thinking what does my product accomplish for a scientist and what would they be searching for. Then use that well thought out search string for your product image alt text.

A simple example of alt text or the lack thereof…

If you enter the string above in Google, you get a ton of results that are relevant, yet not a single image in the organic results.  Go ahead, try it now. Then, click on images in the upper left hand corner of the page. It should look like this:

Do you see all those panels with black lines in them?  Those are images of Western blots.  In this case, the first 2 are actually images of Western blots using an Akt1 anti-human antibody.  How many companies make this antibody?  I bet its at least 30.  Why aren’t their images here?  They either dont have them or they didn’t name them properly. They definitely didn’t use alt text.

The blot images above are on the websites of Cell Signaling and Abcam.  Both have the word “western blot” underneath indicating Google knows this is a Western blot just like I did.

However if you click on these images – both lead to antibodies for Phospho-Akt1. Bummer I wanted Akt1, not Phospho-Akt1.  With proper alt text associated with these images, Google would have shown me what these blots really were.

Writing alt text

The alt text on these images should be something like…

“phospho-Akt1 western blot with anti-human antibody” or “western blot with phospho-Akt1 antibody”

…this would distinguish these blots from those performed with “human Akt1 antibody”, which both Cell Signaling and Abcam both sell.

For some basic rules on Alt text, check out this article – “Alt Attributes: Describing Your Images for Better Web Accessibility.”

Attracting qualified leads online requires constant vigil.  If you have questions about how to create alt text, request a free consultation from Red Funnel. Our team is here to help.

A Scientific View of Alt Tags – Qualified Leads Up

By now you know exactly, why its critical to title images correctly online. In this article, Im going to help you supercharge your organic search engine clicks and qualify those searchers before they visit.

How?

Alt tags!

Is this some kind of black hat SEO?  Nope, its even recommended by the search engine wizard Google herself.

Thou shalt ….

…..Create great alt text

In all seriousness, if Google took the time to make an entire web page about image alt tags and a YouTube Video about how to write them, perhaps we should pay attention.

Here’s why.

Scientists use Search Engines to find exact reagents and equipment for experiments. For example, I would search “antibody human Akt1 Western blot” to find that antibody. In this example, I am an extremely qualified buyer. You’ll notice that I know exactly what I’m looking for an antibody for Akt1 that reacts to human samples by Western blot.

Scientists smart enough to know that more terms you add to your search string the better your chance of FAST success. Admittedly, this is due to Google’s indexing of scientific full-text and thereby the methods sections where reagents are discussed in context.  But companies can get in the game!

The reason I know not one single antibody company is using alt tags correctly is no images came up when I searched.

No Title + No Alt tags = No Clicks

Yet by clicking on the images link in the upper left shows me hundreds of Western blots on Antibody company’s websites like Cell Signaling, Abcam, Santa Cruz, etc.  Pretty much all the companies spending money on Google Adwords for Akt antibodies (green $ above).

Why didn’t they appear in the organic results above?  The answer is they lack alt tags and proper titles for Google to understand exactly what they are even though they know the images are on a webpage about Akt antibodies.

Don’t make Google guess! Improve those alt tags and get more qualified leads today by getting your product into the organic results.

Attracting qualified leads online requires constant vigil.  If you have questions about how to use alt tags, request a free consultation from Red Funnel. Our team is here to help.