Higher ed marketers have a new challenge: if your institution isn’t showing up in AI search results, students may never find you.
Nearly half of prospective students turn to AI tools like ChatGPT for personalized guidance on colleges, programs, and career paths. And nearly 1 in 5 students remove a college from consideration solely based on AI-generated search results, according to a recent survey reported by Inside Higher Ed.
Showing up on the first page of Google used to be the goal. Now, institutions also need to show up in the AI-generated answers students increasingly rely on to make decisions.
To make a fast and lasting impact on marketers’ understanding of AI search, Paskill Principal Search Strategist Torin Keefer will present a Lightning Talk at the eduWeb Summit, taking place July 14–16 in Orlando, Florida.
Keefer’s session, “Earn Your AI Search Star: 5 Tactics to Make Your Institution the Trusted Answer,” scheduled for 3 p.m. Wednesday, July 15, will help higher education marketing teams adapt their search and content strategies for the evolving AI landscape. Designed to be collaborative, rooted in real examples, and immediately actionable, the session will focus on practical tactics attendees can begin implementing right away.
The eduWeb Summit brings together higher ed professionals from all 50 states, with 70 sessions focused on the future of digital marketing, enrollment, and student engagement. Save your seat today.
Bringing energy and levity to a complex conversation, the “Earn Your AI Search Star” theme will also extend to Paskill’s eduWeb Summit exhibit, where attendees can complete a short AI Search quiz to earn a collectible AI Search Star enamel pin and entry into a $250 gift card giveaway.
Keefer is a visionary search leader guiding SEO, SEM, CRO, and AEO content strategy at Paskill. For eight years, he has created optimized, student-centered digital experiences that drive measurable enrollment growth for clients. In November, he led the roundtable discussion, “What Are You Doing Differently to Enroll Students?” at AMA’s Symposium for the Marketing for Higher Education.
As a first-generation college student, Keefer’s own higher education search journey led him to Wilkes University after graduating from a high school class of fewer than 60 students, an experience that continues to fuel his passion for helping institutions connect with right-fit students.
As one of higher education’s most respected digital marketing conferences, eduWeb has long served as a hub for innovation, collaboration, and professional growth. Paskill has been part of that legacy from the very beginning, serving as the first sponsor of the inaugural event in Philadelphia and continuing to share industry insights through presentations from agency leaders including Ryan Pudloski, Kelly Kautz, Mary Pedersen, and Jim Paskill.
