Answer Engine Optimization Drives Stronger Visibility to Strengthen Early Discovery

+49%

change in visibility score (increased +7 percentage points)

#1

position in Share of Voice

A focused Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) Strategy helped the business school at Rice University (Rice Business) improve visibility, competitiveness, and representation across AI-powered search experiences.

A large brick academic building with arched windows, palm trees, and steps leading to the entrance.

Creating visibility for a new generation of searchers

AI has transformed how students research and evaluate potential programs. For Rice Business, limited visibility and a smaller share of voice than key competitors created a gap in early-stage discovery. With more students than ever using AI to search, Rice wanted a focused AEO activation strategy to capture those searchers where it matters most.

Student Type

Graduate

Solution

Digital Advertising

Our Approach

We began with an AEO audit to understand Rice’s current visibility, share of voice, citation presence, sentiment, and technical readiness. This identified what was already working, growth opportunities in early-stage student discovery, and the key competitive differences to highlight. This intelligence established the baseline for a strategic AEO Activation that elevated Rice Business’s competitive AI presence.

From there, we executed an optimization strategy aligned to key performance drivers like visibility and share of voice. This started with developing content designed to better align with AI search behavior and improve visibility over time. This included building FAQ-driven content and enhancing program pages with AI-relevant details. Simultaneously, we addressed technical and structural barriers limiting how AI systems access, interpret, and surface site content.

What Worked

  • An AEO Audit that analyzed AI visibility, share of voice, sentiment, and technical health
  • A sentiment analysis that reviewed how Rice Business is represented in AI-generated responses
  • Built a content roadmap with a prioritized set of content opportunities (such as blogs and program pages) to better align with AI search behavior and improve visibility over time
  • Created new FAQ-driven content to directly align with high-value AI search prompts.
  • Optimized YouTube channel and video content to expand visibility across multimodal AI experiences and increase the likelihood of being cited in AI-generated responses
  • Addressed structural and technical barriers that could limit how AI systems access, interpret, and surface site content
Diagram showing targeted content types leading to an AI-generated answer citing a source from rice.edu.
Visibility score increased 49 percent and share of voice rose to number one in their competitive set.

The Results

In just two months, Rice strengthened its presence in AI-driven discovery across key topics and programs, improving how and where it appears in early-stage student research. These gains translated into meaningful performance impact, increasing visibility, driving more engagement from prospective students, and helping Rice Business outpace direct competitors to secure a leading position within AI-powered search experiences.

+49%

change in visibility score (increased +7 percentage points)

#1

position in Share of Voice

70%

more site sessions attributed to AI search YoY

300%

more conversion events YoY

Carnegie has been an invaluable partner in strengthening our visibility across search and the evolving LLM landscape. Their team brings strategic insight, deep expertise, and true collaboration—delivering recommendations that were smart, tangible, and easy to act on. The results have been incredibly promising, positioning us effectively for prospective students to discover us through LLMs.

Kateri Benoit Senior Director, Marketing and Communication Rice University (Rice Business)

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