Presentation
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) for Higher Education: How Institutions Can Adapt to AI-Driven Search
Presented by Jon Covell, AVP, Integrated Paid Media – Digital Division
Thursday, February 19 | Lunch Session
For decades, prospective students found information online by typing keywords into a search engine and clicking through a list of websites. Today, students increasingly turn to AI-driven search experiences like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, Perplexity, and others to ask direct questions and have conversations about programs, outcomes, cost, and fit. In many cases, they trust the answers they receive. As a result, colleges and universities are now being discovered, compared, and evaluated through AI-generated answers that shape visibility, perception, and credibility long before a student ever visits a website.
In this presentation, we’ll define this shift in search behavior and introduce Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) as a way institutions can influence how they appear within AI-generated answers and conversations. We’ll explore how higher education teams can better understand their current AI presence and share practical ways to improve visibility, credibility, and sentiment across AI-driven search experiences.
