If you’ve noticed declining search performance over the past 2 years, you’re not alone.
Showing up on the first page of Google used to be the goal to drive search results. With the emergence of GenAI search experiences like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, Copilot, Claude and others – now, more than ever, students using both AI search and traditional search to discover validate trust act.
A recent study found that nearly half of prospective students turn to AI tools for personalized guidance on colleges, programs, and career paths. And 1 in 5 students remove a college from their consideration solely based on AI-generated search answers.
That means gaining AI visibility is only half the battle – earning both LLM and student trust is your true institutional advantage.
1. Audit Your Technical Foundation So AI Can Actually Read Your Content
Technical optimizations are your quick wins that you can implement this week and see results the following. Check your CDN, robots and meta directives to ensure there are no blockers for LLMs to access your website and content.
Then, begin mapping your structured data and schema markup to prominent entities on your site.
Structured data and schema markup are the behind-the-scenes code that tells AI exactly what your page is: a degree program, a faculty profile, an FAQ, a course offering. Without it, AI must work harder to crawl, render, and connect the dots.
Schema also helps AI place your institution inside its broader “knowledge graph,” linking your programs, your people, and your outcomes into a coherent identity rather than isolated pages. Some types can additionally earn you enhanced visual rich results in search.
Who: Your web developer or SEO agency.
Ask them:
- Are our Robots.txt blocking AI chatbots or critical resources?
- Is key information only rendered by JavaScript or CSS?
- Are we using schema for program pages, faculty, and courses?
2. Map and Build Content Around Student Search Journeys, Not Just Your Programs
Keywords don’t drive AI visibility – topical authority does.
Prospective students aren’t searching for your institution by name at the start of their journey. They’re asking questions like “How do I become a physical therapist?” or “What can I do with a psychology degree?” or “Is a finance degree worth it?” or “What’s the difference between nursing and health sciences?”
Your content needs to meet them where they are – across every stage of their search journey: career exploration, program comparison, outcomes, cost concerns, and their personal life circumstances like transferring programs, attending part-time online, or balancing work and grad school.
Don’t just create generic content. Create unique value and connection.
Who: Your content strategists or copywriters.
How:
- Talk to prospective and enrolled students – what made them choose you over another school? Lean into that.
- Audit your program and admissions pages – do they answer the questions students are actually asking, or just describe what you offer? Is what you offer also clear and transparent?
3. Stop Building Content in Silos – Distribute by Topic Across Multiple Owned Channels
AI tools don’t just pull from your website (but it should be your source of truth).
AI answers student questions with citations to content from YouTube, Reddit, TikTok, LinkedIn, Instagram, podcasts, and more.
That means a single topic – say, career paths and outcomes for your computer science program – shouldn’t just live on a single web page. It should live in a blog post series, a YouTube explainer, a short video day-in-the-life of a programmer, a student success story on Instagram, a LinkedIn post from your dean, and a partner publication highlighting value.
When multiple channels are telling the same story with the same consistent message, AI sees a stronger, more trustworthy signal.
Build around topics first, then decide which channels best carry that topic to your audience.
Who: Your social media team, videographers, and content strategists.
4. Showcase Your Institutions Best Asset – Your Experts.
LLMs are trained to value expertise, experience, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness – what we refer to as E-E-A-T.
That means the who behind your content matters just as much as the what.
A program page written by a committee reads differently to AI than one that features a quote from your department chair, cites a faculty research study, or links to a professor’s published work.
Interview your faculty. Feature your students. Cite your research. And amplify that expertise on the platforms where credibility compounds: LinkedIn for faculty thought leadership, TikTok and Instagram for authentic student voices, Facebook groups for questioning parents.
Every native platform has its own AI now. Feed them something worth recommending.
Who: Your faculty liaisons, PR team, and social media managers.
How: Start with your highest-enrollment or highest-demand programs.
5. Craft Real Data and Earn Third-Party Validation to Shape Your Digital Reputation
Your digital reputation is the collective information about your institution online that shapes how AI models perceive, summarize, and recommend your institution or programs to students.
You can say your sports management program is exceptional, but do your student ratings validate that?
You can say your outcomes are strong, but do job placement scores after graduating support that claim?
Both users and AI are rightfully skeptical of institution marketing jargon. AI will look for data proof points and external validation on unsubstantiated claims. If no one outside your institution is talking about you positively, AI has no reason to elevate you.
Regional rankings, accreditation recognition, awards, alumni features in publications, faculty quoted in the news, program spotlights in trade media – all of this becomes the earned reputation that AI cross-references against your own claims. Amply this.
Build a PR and awards strategy that is intentional, consistent, and tied to the market position you want to own.
Who: Your PR firm or communications director.
How:
- Conduct a digital reputation audit. Ask AI what it knows about you – is it accurate? Is it positive? What does it cite?
- Map the awards, publications, and recognition opportunities most relevant to your top programs and start pursuing them now.
