Topical Authority for the AI-first Student Journey

Transcript

1. DIGIT AL CO LL EGI UM ANNU AL CO NFER ENCE Beyond the Buzzwords Topical authority for the AI-first student journey Diane Kulseth Manager, Digital Marketing Consulting © Siteimprove Confidential. All rights reserved.
2. Oh good… another AI talk… © Siteimprove Confidential. All rights reserved. 2
3. Digital Collegium Annual Conference – Beyond the Buzzwords: Topical authority for the AI-first student journey Our Goals for Today Grounding the conversation in what’s real Siteimprove The Framework: Eligible, Visible, Chosen Aligning content to student needs © Siteimprove Confidential. All rights reserved. A 30/60/90 Day Roadmap 3
4. Grounding the Conversation Lots of things are changing, but not everything © Siteimprove Confidential. All rights reserved.
5. Focus on what’s real 46 % Students using AI in their college search process 25 18 Students having an ongoing conversation with AI about their college search Students that have removed a college from their list after an AI search % % Source: EAB. How Students View and Use AI in College Search. 2025. © Siteimprove Confidential. All rights reserved. 5
6. This is still the same audience as before: how they search for, and consume content about your institution is evolving © Siteimprove Confidential. All rights reserved. 6
7. An example © Siteimprove Confidential. All rights reserved.
8. Digital Collegium Annual Conference – Beyond the Buzzwords: Topical authority for the AI-first student journey What scholarships are available for me? Gaby Robby Toni Class valedictorian Built a business at 15 Skilled basketball player Interested in becoming a lawyer Interested in studying abroad Interested in science & math Latina First generation college student Middle class household Query fan out = accounting for the questions not asked © Siteimprove Confidential. All rights reserved. 8
9. You don’t have to write hundreds of blog posts to meet every unique user… © Siteimprove Confidential. All rights reserved. 9
10. …but if you’re not actively addressing key gaps, your university won’t exist in AI search © Siteimprove Confidential. All rights reserved. 10
11. Prospective students searching for you are informed by a narrative that you cannot fully control © Siteimprove Confidential. All rights reserved. 11
12. The Framework Eligible, Visible, Chosen © Siteimprove Confidential. All rights reserved.
13. AEO starts with a strong foundation AI can’t cite what it can’t fetch, read, and understand. Topical Authority AEO/SEO-optimized content that is cited within top-level results AI-driven suggestions and insights for developing citation-worthy content Content that is developed for accessibility is the key to discoverability and topical authority by SEO/AEO engines. Structuring content so AI can parse, trust, and summarize. Ensure fast, crawlable pages so retrieval happens instantly Making sure all content is properly tagged, crawlable, and readable. © Siteimprove Confidential. All rights reserved. 13
14. Digital Collegium Annual Conference – Beyond the Buzzwords: Topical authority for the AI-first student journey Eligible, Visible, Chosen Eligible Visible Chosen ✓ Accessible pages ✓ Validated claims ✓ Clean hierarchy ✓ Crawler access ✓ Clear answers to queries ✓ Funnel visibility ✓ Readable content ✓ Content coverage ✓ Understanding behavior Entrance to the arena Competitive advantage Driving conversion AI Visibility means nothing if your organization isn’t chosen Siteimprove © Siteimprove Confidential. All rights reserved. 4
15. FRAMEWORK Eligible: Is our content ready for AI search? Eligibility Extractability Can the system access it? Can the system interpret it? Crawl, render, index, snippeteligible, accessibility Semantic structure, heading hierarchy, passage clarity © Siteimprove Confidential. All rights reserved. 15
16. FRAMEWORK Visible: Do we have the content to be competitive in AI search? Coverage Selection Information gain Can it extract useful passages? Do you cover the fan-out space? Do you add something new? Evidence density, scope,corroboration Topic clusters, fullfunnel, journey coverage Differentiation, unique POV, verifiable evidence © Siteimprove Confidential. All rights reserved. 16
17. FRAMEWORK Chosen: Have we earned the conversion? Outcome Are you selected repeatedly? Business outcomes — not appearance artifacts © Siteimprove Confidential. All rights reserved. 17
18. Aligning content to the student journey Building for the query fan-out and beyond © Siteimprove Confidential. All rights reserved.
19. FRAMEWORK Revisiting Visible Coverage Selection Information gain Can it extract useful passages? Do you cover the fan-out space? Do you add something new? Evidence density, scope, corroboration Topic clusters, fullfunnel, journey coverage Differentiation, unique POV, verifiable evidence © Siteimprove Confidential. All rights reserved. 19
20. APPROACH Step 1: Identify top programs/topics Identify the top 3-5 programs/topics with which you want to pilot this approach © Siteimprove Confidential. All rights reserved. Step 1: Identify top programs/topics
21. APPROACH Step 2: Mine key questions/queries Places to start: • Google Search Console • Chatbots • Forms • Admissions Counselors © Siteimprove Confidential. All rights reserved. Step 2: Mine key questions/queries
22. APPROACH Step 3: Filter Analyze 5-10 most frequently asked questions. These will be the prompts you monitor. © Siteimprove Confidential. All rights reserved. Step 3: Filter
23. APPROACH Step 4: Determine unique approaches For these questions, determine: • What content types would help answer this prompt? • What unique perspective can our institution provide? © Siteimprove Confidential. All rights reserved. Step 4: Determine unique approaches
24. APPROACH Step 5: Connect other resources Identify and connect other related pages in your ecosystem: • Department pages • Faculty research • Social media • PDFs © Siteimprove Confidential. All rights reserved. Step 5: Connect other resources
25. APPROACH Step 6: Execute • Build or update your content according to your plan • Be sure to connect to the resources identified in Step 5 © Siteimprove Confidential. All rights reserved. Step 6: Execute
26. Your 30/60/90 Day Roadmap Time to get started! © Siteimprove Confidential. All rights reserved.
27. ROADMAP 30 - 60 – 90 Days to Success 60 Days 90 Days Identify Gaps Solidify Content Expand Approach • Determine top programs • Audit presence in AI Search • Begin fixes in Accessibility, Technical SEO • Capture baseline traffic numbers • Optimize chosen pages • Strengthen claims • Provide schema markup Identify remaining content gaps • Execute remaining gaps • Prioritize by opportunity • Queue future content • Review traffic • Tie to business impact • Discuss what’s next 30 Days © Siteimprove Confidential. All rights reserved. Roadmap: 30-60-90 Days to Success
28. Reminder: Check your content quarterly! Is your content visible to AI search engines? Is your content helping to convert your visitors? Stop by the Siteimprove booth (#314) or our PDF Checker Lounge (Chartiers) to answer those questions! © Siteimprove Confidential. All rights reserved. 28
29. Visibility is good, chosen is better Diane Kulseth go.digicol.org/digicol26-uad6 Manager, Digital Marketing Consulting, Siteimprove LinkedIn logo © Siteimprove Confidential. All rights reserved.