How to Optimize Web Content for AI-Powered Search

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0:00:11.8 Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to Office Hours with EAB. Today, we take a look at how AI-enabled search is reshaping the way digital teams create and structure content for.edu websites. From established players like Google to emerging AI-driven platforms, search tools are now generating synthesized conversational answers instead of just a list of results. That shift is changing how audiences find information and how institutions need to think about search engine optimization. Our guests will break down what’s happening behind the scenes and share practical strategies to ensure your content stays visible and competitive in the age of AI search. So give these folks a listen and enjoy.

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0:01:01.7 JP LaFors: Hello everyone and welcome to Office Hours with EAB. We have a fun topic for today and I’m excited that everybody’s here. But first things first, my name is JP LaFors and I’m a senior strategist and principal with EAB’s digital agency division. That means I get to work with colleges and universities on marketing themselves, oftentimes to prospective students. And for today, I really wanted to start off with a fact that our team thinks about a lot, which is that 92% of prospective students visit the websites of the institutions they are considering.

0:01:41.3 JP LaFors: And what we know about that is when they get to those websites, that the content that they engage with is really influential in helping them make a decision on whether that institution’s a right fit for them. And so therefore in our group, a lot of what we talk about and think about on a day-to-day basis is, how do we make sure that that web content is working as hard as it can, that it’s optimized, that it’s inspiring? And what we also know is that we’re living in a rocket-fueled age of AI and new search platforms that are constantly answering things for us already. And so we really think about content and where it is and how it gets presented no matter what. But we know that the website is a key information source for those students looking for that right fit. And so today, as part of Office Hours, we’re going to dig into some of the basic principles of developing AI-optimized content and really talk about some of the strategies and really the useful points to make sure that your brand is staying at the forefront of that and that your web content is working as hard as it can work.

0:03:00.1 JP LaFors: Before we really dive into that, I want to introduce EAB’s director of creative strategy, my colleague, Meghan Ondrish. She’s with us today. And so Meghan, do you want to say hello and…

0:03:12.6 Meghan Ondrish: Absolutely, yeah. Hi, JP. Thanks so much for having me. I’m really excited to be joining this conversation. Yeah, so I am the Director of Creative Strategy on Agency. I lead a team of very talented content strategists and SEO specialists. The main part of our job is making sure that we’re helping partners make their website engaging for prospective students and that that content’s really meeting their needs. And yes, over the last year, that also means making sure that the content is visible to AI and those models and new machines that are also looking for that same sort of information. So, very excited to talk about this with you today and hopefully give some really good grounding strategies and things that folks can start doing today with their edu site.

0:04:19.2 JP LaFors: Yeah. Thanks, Meghan. And I just want to recognize that I guess everybody on the line here has really changed their behavior, probably, and how they search for things. When we’re talking about these platforms, whether it be ChatGPT or Perplexity or even going to Google and Google presenting the AI overviews, it’s all a little bit of a different world that we all are living with and really has been changing the games in how institutions really think about that conversation they’re now having with prospective students. And so at a high level, what do you think this shift really means for how colleges and universities should be thinking about their websites?

0:05:04.8 Meghan Ondrish: What I really think colleges and universities should be thinking about right now is that while this is a shift, it’s not a drastic change. SEO is not over. Those same optimization strategies still apply. They’re more critical than ever to get them right. If you’re already prioritizing optimization for search engines, you’re one step ahead. The other thing that is going to make you go even beyond halfway there is prioritizing your user. At EAB, on the agency team, we are always focused on the user. The user is our North Star, so that means that we’re always making sure content is accessible, it’s clear, it’s concise, and it answers the user intent, what that person is searching for. Those same basic strategies apply to AI. There are some emerging best practices to start maybe looking into and getting to understand some of those things like schema markup and clustering content, focusing on FAQs. These are some areas that we’re doubling down on to truly understand how they impact the AI visibility and how your brand shows up. But the confidence that we have in those foundational SEO and user strategies has really helped us get going into this new world we’re in with a lot of confidence.

0:06:37.1 JP LaFors: Yeah, no, you’re right, Meghan. And a lot of those basic SEO principles are so strong to keep going, but also just as you mentioned, in addition to that, thinking about maybe some things that people haven’t been doing, that schema markup and structured data and really understanding how you surround that content and make it the most visible that it can be. And I know we have conversations with our partners about, what’s the last thing you’ve done this past month to really help this? Because AI-enabled search is on a rocket ship of adoption and is really the corresponding work that you’re doing within your teams in parallel step with that and at that same pace. And I know that’s not always easy and especially when you’re thinking about competitors and how you compare, how you’re ranking, and also all that visibility when it comes to that. And so, as we’re kind of chatting about this, it makes me think that a lot of people on the line here might be asking, how do you make sure your content is being found and resonating? That idea of resonating with today’s students.

0:08:01.4 JP LaFors: And so you mentioned staying at the center, you know, the center of that, but what other things can people take away?

0:08:12.0 Meghan Ondrish: So yeah, it really is coming back to that center, that user, what they’re seeking, the information they’re trying to find. On Agency, we really focus on enrollment critical content. So these are areas of the student journey when they’re starting to explore colleges, all the way to when they enroll. This is the kind of information we know they’re seeking based on a lot of research and user behavior analysis. Cost and admissions, everybody knows that’s number one, so talk about it, answer those questions, be clear, avoid jargon, help the student along. Career outcomes, student life, things like that are all information that we know prospective students are seeking really at any level of their journey towards college or even graduate school and beyond.

0:09:12.7 Meghan Ondrish: And anticipating the questions that those students and prospects and users will be asking will help you frame your content in a way that the LLMs love. They love a conversation. They love to be able to have the next possible question that that user might be asking already right there ready for them to scrape from your content. So it really is kind of honing in on what that question is of that topic, and then thinking about what those follow up questions might be, those related content pieces, and stringing them together in a way that flows naturally for both the user and the LLM to pick up.

0:10:00.9 JP LaFors: Yeah, no, you’re so right. In many of the conversations I’m having with partners, it really has gone from this idea of keywords to conversations, and just the way… And people are asking questions, they’re asking it into their phone directly, verbally, they’re typing it into Google still, they’re… But the one thing’s clear, as you mentioned, is it really is about these longer tail, more detailed questions that are coming, that we really want to make sure our content has the answers to. And also, I think what it also forces a bit is this idea of, what’s the next question? If they ask the first question, what’s next incoming? And being able to anticipate or be in the head of that prospective student to say, all right, I know they’re going to ask this first question, but what’s the follow up? And then, what’s after that? To follow that string to ultimately serve content that’s going to progress them in that idea of, is this the right place? And how do we make sure to attach to some of that? And so I guess as you think about that new world a little bit, are there certain formats… I know you mentioned FAQs, but are there any other things that just help content perform better, especially within these new platforms?

0:11:26.6 Meghan Ondrish: Yes, absolutely. So FAQs are powerful because they mimic that conversational flow. But in addition to that, there is this emerging… I’m sure some folks have heard it, About It. This is very similar to the strategies that you want to use for your human user, which is that emotional connection, that storytelling, those elements that bring in authenticity. So you might be reading in some of the articles about AI and optimizing content is adding that credibility through student stories and testimonials. This is something we have been pushing and behind from the get-go. It’s very important for that user to hear from outside that grounding information or that affirming snippet that gives them that connection and that element of engagement that we’re seeking for the human user. That is also true for the AI, these large language models. They also want that authenticity. It’s conversational, but it also helps create authority. So transcripts of video content are also an underrated asset. AI can pull those video transcripts that are often in a conversation.

0:13:01.0 Meghan Ondrish: If you have some great marketing materials that maybe it’s a Q&A with an admission counselor, things like that, add that video transcript in, that is such rich content that the LLM will pick up. So it really is about bringing that authenticity and that ability to tell the story beyond the black and white nuts and bolts of the school…

0:13:32.9 JP LaFors: Yeah, that makes…

0:13:33.8 Meghan Ondrish: The process.

0:13:34.9 JP LaFors: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that makes a ton of sense. And I think it really points to this idea that it’s not only that humans have become more savvy in digesting and ingesting content. The testimonials, they’ll have a certain tone, they’ll have an opportunity to really get dimensional about what that experience can be. But it’s also that these bots are getting pretty savvy. To your point, they can take the transcripts, they can understand all this. And as consumers today, we live in a pretty visual, snappy, let’s make sure it feels compelling, but also that it’s really ingestible. And I think that’s true both of humans as well as the bots these days and…

0:14:25.4 Meghan Ondrish: Absolutely, mm-hmm.

0:14:27.4 JP LaFors: And it is, it’s like, how should colleges… How should we be striking the right balance between optimizing for AI versus optimizing for humans, which they care about not just the words and the pictures, but they care about the user experience they’re having on a site, the way in which this information is being presented, the way they progress in a website. So where do you think you find that right balance?

0:14:57.7 Meghan Ondrish: Yeah, so I’m probably going to sound like a broken record this far in where I’m still answering each question with, the user is always first in my mind. You’re always going to want to keep prioritizing that user. The balance is really in those tactical elements that you’re applying to your edu. It’s very similar to the SEO strategies with that site structure, the heading tags, kind of those technical setups. And then also, what we were talking about earlier, where we’ve shifted away from maybe keywords to more of those prompts and topics. That’s the balance or the kind of layer you want to put on top of prioritizing the user. And then there’s so much aligned too, because at the end of the day too, remember that prioritizing your user is critical because your user is at the other end of that chatbot or that interaction that they’re having on ChatGPT, Perplexity, whatever it is. That’s your user still getting that information. So that’s another reason why I’m being very adamant about the user, because we still want to make sure what is being surfaced for them in those chat experiences is answering their question and positioning your brand in a way that really sticks out to them or helps them resonate or just explore more.

0:16:33.4 Meghan Ondrish: So I would say that’s what the balance is. It’s more about how you layer in strategies. And again, going back to how we started about the SEO strategy, if you are optimizing your site for SEO, you’re already well on your way to optimizing it for AI. And then again, that clarity and usability is so important. If your website is easy to navigate, if your content is well organized and you’re talking in that plain language, you’re hitting all of your targets, you’re hitting those search engines, you’re hitting the students, the families, and then you’re also hitting those bots, those AIs out there.

0:17:26.5 JP LaFors: That’s a lot of great information, Meghan. And one of the things that we talk a lot about is really the metrics in this new world. And so what other metrics or signals should schools monitor to know if their content is not only resonating with prospective students, but effectively being picked up by these new platforms?

0:17:51.7 Meghan Ondrish: There are definitely new metrics emerging. It’s not just about page views anymore, it’s about your share of voice in AI-driven overviews and how your brand is being perceived when AI summarizes information for your students. I find these metrics incredibly interesting as a content strategist to be able to tap into that kind of brand perception, and basically how I see it as how the Internet is talking about you. And that’s really fascinating to be able to get a picture of and act on. So I would say that is one of the emerging metrics around visibility that’s very interesting and definitely going to inform content strategy moving forward and give you those tools to be able to write content and create content on your edu that helps that brand perception in a way that elevates your brand, makes it stronger. So I think that’s a great metric. And then also that share of voice is also very important. That’s basically going to be showing you how you’re showing up in those answers, maybe some of those wider prompts where a student might be saying, what’s the best college for nursing in Virginia? Your share of voice is measured by how you show up in that answer, or if you even do.

0:19:31.8 Meghan Ondrish: There are some varying ways of defining that. I think we at EAB have adopted citation, like how you’re being cited in an answer and whether or not you are. So these are all great metrics to lay the groundwork for a really focused content strategy around those enrollment critical areas. So I’m really excited about that. I am a creative, but I do love data and I do love having that information because it really helps focus and tailor the strategies and solutions we create for our partners.

0:20:13.6 JP LaFors: Yeah. And what I love is that there’s a lot of transparency, we can see the tools that we have. Just as you mentioned, where are you being cited and where are you having that strength? But also on the flip side, the questions out there that your institution should be in but aren’t. And then, that has great implication into content strategy and what content can really be built to then be a part of that answer and being cited in there. And so, yeah, the metrics I think are really exciting because it really helps then move and inform what should be that next push into content and content optimizations for it. So I know we’ve covered a lot of ground in a short amount of time, Meghan, but we need to make sure to give people a little bit of time in their day and bring this conversation to a close. But before we go, what advice would you share with senior leaders, really the ones that are tasked with modernizing their digital content strategy? In other words, what are those most important steps or key takeaways you think they should be doing right away?

0:21:27.5 Meghan Ondrish: I think if I had to choose, the main takeaway from this conversation is that you shouldn’t be waiting on AI anymore. There’s still going to be a continuous stream of information, maybe too much information some days about AI, but action is necessary now. And the main place you should be focusing is your website, because that’s the one place you can control the information AI models are pulling about your institution. We didn’t really get into this too much, but I know a lot of folks get concerned about how LLMs and these AI models are pulling information from other sources like Reddit, like Wikipedia. Your workaround to that is your edu. So auditing your enrollment critical content now is the easiest place to look for content gaps or where some of these common questions just aren’t getting answered. Play around in AI, ask questions, see how your institution is showing up, and then go back and look about how you’re talking about it on your website. Are you answering those questions really clearly about cost? If someone’s talking about the food in the dining hall, are you talking about it too on your edu? These are all things that you can start looking at against your edu.

0:22:59.3 Meghan Ondrish: We’ll say over and over again on Agency, your edu is your primary marketing tool. It’s your digital front door. It’s still all those things, but now it’s your script to feed those models. The other thing is, get familiar with those metrics around visibility and how they inform content strategy. There are new terminologies and there are new metrics, and it can be overwhelming, so understanding those and how they relate specifically and how you’re tracking specifically for your institution is a great area to focus on and get educated around and feel comfortable with. Leaders need to monitor those signals just as closely as they have been traditional web analytics. And again, I’ll say it, those traditional web analytics aren’t going anywhere, so keeping that SEO optimization a priority and keeping your user your North Star are all the things that I would recommend to do now for your edu.

0:24:10.0 JP LaFors: Yeah, I think that’s great advice, Meghan. And it also reminds me of the point that we want our content to be visible, but we also need it to be compelling. And so as we’re thinking of the metrics and where we are and where we’re not, it’s also, are we really making sure, to your point, it’s going to resonate with the user? And keeping that at the center and making sure that the content that you have there, when somebody reads it or sees it, that it’s moving them from having that interest in an institution to really that place of having an intent that they should be there and that that’s a program of interest that they should have. Or as you were mentioning, the food in the dining hall, that’s the food they’d want to be eating, right? And so those are all, I think, important points in addition to all of what you said, and this idea that the demands on content today are just increasingly multidimensional. We want content to be snackable by the bots and snackable by the humans as they ingest it too.

0:25:26.9 JP LaFors: But all this talk is kind of making me hungry. You mentioned dinning hall food [chuckle] [0:25:32.8] ____eat, which is the principles [0:25:35.2] ____ hungry, I think, before we go off and get some lunch. But I also just think that it is. It’s a conversation that you should be having on campus, right?

0:25:51.0 Meghan Ondrish: Absolutely.

0:25:52.1 JP LaFors: With your team and also with us. We’re here, and so we love to chat about it and we certainly invite you into the conversation with EAB, and reach out anytime so that we can help your team on creating that roadmap. So, Meghan, thanks so much for joining me today on EAB, Office Hours. It was a lot of fun getting into content in the edu and its importance. And we wish everybody a great day. Thanks, everyone.

0:26:23.6 Meghan Ondrish: Yeah. Thank you.

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