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How to Conquer the Biggest Higher Ed Marketing Challenges in 2025
Key Insights Student Search Behavior Is Changing, and Marketing Must Follow: Shifting demographics, alternative education pathways, and AI-driven search are changing how prospective students discover and evaluate institutions. Universities must align their strategies with search behavior that now spans AI tools, social platforms, and traditional search engines. AI Search and …
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AI SEO for Higher Education: How to Get Your Institution Recommended by ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AI Search
Half of prospective students now use AI search tools weekly to research programs. If your institution isn’t showing up in ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, or Google AI Overviews, you’re invisible to half your audience. In 2026, success is measured by AI citations and brand mentions within generative summaries, not just clicks. …
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Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation Partners With Search Influence for AI SEO Audit
Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation has engaged Search Influence to conduct a comprehensive AI SEO audit. This audit will focus on how the program’s academic content is represented across AI-driven and traditional search environments. As generative search tools and AI-powered summaries continue to influence how people discover and evaluate …
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30+ AI Search in Higher Education Stats [2026]
Higher education discovery is becoming increasingly more distributed, more automated, and more competitive. Students now rely on a mix of AI tools, traditional search engines, and social platforms as they evaluate programs. Institutional strategies, however, do not always reflect how these new search elements work together. Below, we’ve compiled over …
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All of Your Higher Education Marketing Questions Answered
This post was updated by Paula French on 1/22/26 to reflect current best practices. It was originally published on 11/7/25 Key Insights Half of all prospective students now use AI tools daily or weekly, making AI-optimized content and entity SEO essential for institutional visibility. Fewer than 50% of higher ed …
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90+ Higher Education Marketing Stats [2026]
This post was updated by Paula French on 12/23/2025 to reflect current best practices. It was originally published on 1/9/2025. Higher education marketers face more pressure to compete than ever before. From the demographic cliff and evolving modern learner to the rise of AI-driven program discovery, institutions must pay close …
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Search Influence Named a Finalist for Best SEO Campaign at the 2025 US Agency Awards
We’re excited to share that Search Influence has been named a Finalist in the Best SEO Campaign category at the 2025 US Agency Awards for our AI-driven campaign, The Art of AI SEO, created in partnership with Maine College of Art & Design (MECA&D). This recognition marks our second consecutive …
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Higher Education AI Search Strategy: What Students Expect vs. How Institutions Must Adapt
Key Insights Students have shifted how they search. Prospective learners now use AI tools alongside traditional search, making structured, consistent program information essential for visibility. Institutional readiness lags student behavior. Many colleges recognize the influence of AI search but still lack the systems and processes to monitor and improve their …
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UPCEA Guest Blog: Paula French on AI Search Trends in Higher Education
When prospective students begin researching programs, their first stop may no longer be your website…. or even Google. Many now use generative AI platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity to ask questions, compare options, and find fast answers. These tools influence what students see, what they trust, and which institutions …
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[Search Influence x UPCEA] Unpacking New Research on AI Search in Higher Education
This blog post was updated by Ren Horst on November 4, 2025 following the webinar event. 50% of prospective students use AI tools at least weekly to research information online. 79% read Google’s AI Overviews, and more than half say they’re more likely to trust the institutions AI cites. These …
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