Paula French Speaks on AI Search and the Invisible Enrollment Funnel
June 13th, 2026 by
Search Influence Director of Sales and Marketing Paula French recently joined SearchStax and the University of Arizona for a webinar on one of the most pressing challenges in higher education enrollment marketing today: the growing gap between where students research programs and what institutions can actually track.
The session, The Invisible Enrollment Funnel: How AI Search Is Reshaping the Student Journey, brought together Paula alongside Ryan Dool, web director at the University of Arizona, and Jeff Dillon, digital strategist for higher education at SearchStax, to explore how AI search is reshaping the student journey and what enrollment teams need to do about it.
What the Invisible Funnel Actually Means
Traditional enrollment funnels track what institutions can measure: form fills, page views, and ad clicks. But the moments that shape a student’s decision, the late-night AI query about “best online data analytics programs,” the comparison ChatGPT surfaces between two competing schools, those happen outside your tracking.
Your website remains the most trusted source when a student is ready to convert. But the research and consideration that leads them there is increasingly happening in AI-mediated spaces, out of view of your analytics. That’s the invisible enrollment funnel. And if you’re not thinking about how your programs appear in AI search results, you’re missing critical moments of intent.
What Higher Ed Marketers Learned From This Session
The AI search in higher education webinar covered four areas every enrollment marketer should be thinking about right now:
- How AI is changing program discovery and the specific signals and content structures that help programs get surfaced in AI-generated responses
- Why traditional funnels miss student intent and the gap between what analytics show and what’s actually shaping student choices
- How to use search data to identify the questions students are asking that your current site doesn’t answer
- UX strategies that close the loop between AI-driven discovery and on-site conversion
Why This Matters Now
Paula has spent years helping institutions like PON at Harvard Law School, Tulane SoPA, and Tufts University College connect enrollment strategy to how students actually search. Her work sits at the intersection of traditional SEO, AI SEO, and digital advertising, and her perspective on this topic is grounded in what’s working for real institutions navigating this shift.
The tools students use to discover programs have changed faster than most marketing teams have been able to adapt. Getting found in AI search isn’t a future concern. It’s already happening, and the institutions that understand this moment will have a meaningful head start.
Watch the On-Demand Webinar
The full session is available on demand at SearchStax. Watch The Invisible Enrollment Funnel: How AI Search is reshaping the student journey.
Want to talk through what AI search visibility means for your institution’s enrollment strategy? Contact Search Influence to learn more.
