Why 51% of universities lack an SEO strategy (despite 84% of leaders saying it’s crucial)
The biggest SEO mistakes in higher education and how to fix them
How prospective students search for online and professional education programs
Google, AI, and the future of university search marketing
The role of SEO in university enrollment strategy
Below is an overview of Paula’s actionable SEO strategies that will help your university increase visibility, boost applications, and optimize digital recruitment.
About The Enrollment Clinic Podcast
The Enrollment Clinic Podcast explores the challenges and opportunities in higher education admissions, marketing, and enrollment management.
Hosted by industry professional Gjergj Dollani, the podcast features discussions with higher ed leaders, marketing experts, and admissions professionals from universities and organizations worldwide.
Recent episodes covered topics like international student recruitment, the impact of generational shifts on higher education, and strategies for optimizing enrollment efforts.
By bringing together insights from experienced professionals, the podcast provides valuable perspectives for those working to attract and engage students.
An Overview of Paula’s Enrollment Clinic Episode
On The Enrollment Clinic Podcast, Paula shared her expertise on higher education SEO, discussing the challenges universities face and the opportunities they may miss regarding organic search.
Paula emphasized how search engines significantly influence student recruitment, with 67% of prospective students beginning their education research online. Despite this, many institutions focus heavily on paid digital advertising — spending an average of $800,000 per year — without a strong organic search strategy.
She pointed out that higher education SEO is about ensuring the right students find the right programs at the right time, not just t ranking on Google.
Many PCO units lack a clear SEO strategy
Online and professional education is widely recognized as a growing area in higher ed, but Paula revealed that 51% of institutions lack an established SEO strategy.
While universities engage in activities that resemble SEO — such as publishing content and public relations — they often fail to approach these efforts with a strategic, long-term SEO mindset.
How AI is changing SEO
Paula explored the impact of AI on SEO, explaining how large language models and AI-driven search features influence content creation and discoverability.
She noted that AI-generated content often favors clear, conversational language, encouraging marketers to simplify their messaging for better engagement.
The importance of backlinks and SEO authority
Paula also discussed one critical aspect of higher education SEO: the role of backlinks in establishing authority. She explained that backlinks signal credibility to search engines, much like citations in academic research.
However, many universities struggle to secure these links strategically, limiting their potential to rank for key search terms.
Learn More About SEO for Higher Education With Search Influence
This blog only scratches the surface of Paula’s insights on The Enrollment Clinic Podcast.
To see the full picture of how your university can improve its SEO strategy, listen to the podcast episode and hear Paula’s expert take on the challenges and opportunities in higher education SEO.
Download Search Influence and UPCEA’s Higher Ed SEO Research Study for a deeper dive into the data behind these insights.
This comprehensive, three-part study examines:
How institutional and marketing leaders perceive SEO
The SEO readiness of professional and online education units
Actionable opportunities to improve search visibility
This March, Search Influence Co-Founder and CEO Will Scott brings his SEO expertise to two major conferences, leading in-depth sessions designed to help marketers harness AI for search.
First, he’s hosting a two-day workshop for SMX’s Master Class series, Generative EngineOptimization, on March 10-11. This live and on-demand event will focus on helping marketers optimize their content for ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other AI platforms while maintaining strong search visibility.
Then, on March 26, he’ll take the (virtual) stage at LocalU Global to present The AI Shortcut to Local SEO Domination, a must-attend session for marketers looking to leverage AI for local search success.
These sessions will provide actionable strategies and expert insights to help you build ROI-driven campaigns in the era of AI.
Will’s SMX Master Class Presentation
AI search is changing how and where people search.
Will’s SMX Master Class session will provide you with strategies to adapt to these changes.
Attendees will gain practical, actionable insights on:
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Fundamentals: Learn how AI-driven search differs from traditional search engines and the key ranking factors that impact AI visibility.
Content Optimization for AI Platforms: Discover how to format and structure content to enhance visibility in AI-generated responses while keeping human readers engaged.
Keyword Strategy for AI & Natural Language Processing: Adapt your keyword approach, focusing on conversational AI queries while maintaining relevance in traditional search.
Competitive Analysis for AI Rankings: Get hands-on experience evaluating how competitors perform in AI-driven results and identify opportunities to strengthen your own presence.
Building Brand Authority & Trust Signals: Explore how AI platforms assess authority and learn strategies to establish your brand as a recognized, credible source.
Tracking Performance & Future-Proofing Your Content: Learn the latest tools and metrics to monitor AI search performance and adjust your strategy as AI search evolves.
This two-day intensive training is perfect for SEO professionals, content strategists, and digital marketers who want to gain a competitive edge in the AI-powered search landscape.
Will’s LocalU Global Presentation
Will Scott’s presentation at LocalU Global is a must-attend event for marketers looking to optimize local search rankings with AI-driven strategies.
The AI Shortcut to Local SEO Domination presentation is designed to help business leaders and marketers leverage AI to streamline their local SEO efforts and achieve better visibility.
His session will dive into actionable insights, including:
Optimizing Local Content for AI & Search: Learn how AI tools can enhance your content strategy, ensuring local relevance while improving search visibility.
AI-Powered Google Business Profile (GBP) Posts: Discover how AI-driven automation can help businesses generate engaging, keyword-rich GBP posts effortlessly.
AI-Generated Local Videos: Explore how AI-powered tools can streamline video creation, making it easier to create engaging content that connects with your audiences.
Scaling Local SEO With AI: Understand how AI frees up human resources, allowing marketing teams to focus on strategy, planning, and high-impact decision-making.
Implementing Local Schema With AI: Get insights on how AI can simplify schema markup, helping search engines better understand and display local business information.
Don’t miss this opportunity to learn how AI can transform your local SEO strategy by creating efficiencies that improve results and free up human resources. .
About Will Scott
With decades of experience in SEO and digital advertising, Will Scott is a recognized industry leader known for his expertise in search optimization, AI-driven strategies, and local search marketing.
He is credited with coining the term “barnacle SEO” in 2008, a widely adopted strategy that helps businesses improve visibility by leveraging high-authority platforms.
As Co-Founder and CEO of Search Influence, Will has spent two decades leading teams in creating thousands of websites, optimizing millions of search visits, and developing data-driven marketing strategies for businesses of all sizes.
Since launching Search Influence in 2006 with his wife, Angie Scott, they have built the agency into a trusted name in SEO, helping clients navigate the ever-evolving digital space.
Will’s thought leadership extends beyond his agency. He is a full-time faculty member of LocalU and a frequent contributor to top marketing publications.
His insights have been sought after by industry leaders across various sectors, and he has delivered expert presentations at some of the most renowned marketing conferences, including Pubcon and.
Learn More About AI for SEO With Search Influence
Don’t miss your chance to gain expert insights into AI for SEO at two premier virtual events this March:
Sign up today to discover AI-driven strategies that will help you optimize content, automate local SEO tasks, and scale your efforts for greater impact.
With a passion for educating marketers, business owners, and industry professionals, Will continues to push the boundaries of SEO — especially in the era of AI-driven search.
As a leader in AI for SEO, Will Scott continues to develop innovative products and services that help businesses stay ahead in this evolving landscape.
AI search and other SEO trends are transforming the higher education landscape. Recognizing this shift, Search Influence developed the SEO Roadmap—a strategic guide designed to help universities navigate and succeed in this new era of search.
Our SEO Roadmap provides a personalized plan that dives deep into one top program or degree, delivering immediate, high-impact recommendations you can implement immediately.
Search Influence proudly announces that our search engine marketing agency has been named to New Orleans CityBusiness’s 2024 Best Places to Work list in the Small Company category.
This is our team’s third year in a row receiving this honor and our fifth time overall. This recognition is a testament to the honorees’ commitment to creating environments where employees thrive, reinforcing their reputations as employers of choice in the region.
About the CityBusiness Best Places to Work List
Since its inception in 2003, the New Orleans CityBusiness Best Places to Work list has highlighted top employers in the New Orleans area, celebrating both large and small businesses that excel in fostering outstanding workplaces. Companies are selected based on a thorough evaluation process that combines employee feedback with an analysis of workplace benefits, such as health care options, paid time off, salary averages, and employee programs.
To qualify for consideration, businesses must meet two key criteria. First, they must achieve a minimum survey response rate: 40% for companies with 25 or more employees, and 80% for organizations with fewer than 25 employees. Second, businesses must secure an average positive response rate of at least 80% from their employees across eight core focus areas, including Leadership and Planning, Corporate Culture and Communications, Role Satisfaction, and Pay and Benefits.
CityBusiness categorizes companies by size, using the U.S. Small Business Administration’s guidelines that define small businesses as having fewer than 50 employees and large businesses as having 50 or more employees.
Build Your Career at Search Influence
For many of our team members, Search Influence isn’t just a job; it’s where they build their careers.
Our average employee tenure of 5.9 years is a testament to the healthy work environment Co-Founders Will and Angie Scott set out to create nearly 20 years ago.
Search Influence has come a long way since our early days as a spare bedroom operation. We now boast a client list featuring household names across several industries including higher education, healthcare, and hospitality.
With that progress, we’ve created robust benefits for our team, including:
Generous paid time off, which increases with tenure
Director of Sales & Marketing Paula French, Digital Advertising Manager Jeanne Lobman, and Co-Founder and CEO Will Scott represented Search Influence at the 33rd Annual UPCEA Marketing, Enrollment Management, and Student Success (MEMS) Conference in Philadelphia.
The Search Influence team made a splash at our third appearance at the higher education marketing, enrollment, and student success conference.
Paula introduced a Breakfast Briefing and led two insightful sessions on higher education SEO and higher education marketing metrics. Will and Jeanne connected with attendees at our booth and showed them how to use SEO to attract modern learners into 2025 and beyond.
Paula French’s Higher Education SEO Sessions
Practical Magic: How to Navigate 2025 SEO Trends
In her first session, Practical Magic: How to Navigate 2025 SEO Trends, Search Influence’s Director of Sales and Marketing discussed the evolution of search behavior — specifically Google’s AI Overviews and the evolution of social search.
Attendees walked away from this quickfire 10-minute session with practical strategies to implement to conquer these trends and future-proof their SEO strategy to attract more students through the enrollment funnel.
Visibility is Vital: Maximize Enrollment by Tracking Marketing Metrics
In Paula’s second session, Visibility is Vital: Maximize Enrollment by Tracking Marketing Metrics, the higher ed marketing expert co-presented a 30-minute roundtable discussion with UPCEA’s Senior Director of Research and Consulting Bruce Etter.
This session provided an overview the key findings of UPCEA and Search Influence’s Higher Ed Marketing Metrics Research Study, highlighting one shocking finding in particular: The majority of professional and online education schools don’t track critical marketing metrics.
Driving Engagement: Marketing Strategies for Online Learning
For Paula’s third presentation, she moderated Driving Engagement: Marketing Strategies for Online Learning.
This session, presented by Auris Calvino and Cari Gold of The University of Texas at San Antonio, explored how UTSA Online’s multifaceted content strategy drives student attraction, engagement, and retention.
At the Search Influence Booth
Search Influence Digital Advertising Manager Jeanne Lobman and CEO & Co-Founder Will Scott joined Paula French to host the Search Influence booth.
Will is a recognized digital marketing leader who regularly presents and writes about the industry.
Take our higher education SEO Quiz
Booth visitors could take our new Higher Ed SEO In-House vs. Outsourcing Quiz, specifically designed for higher education marketers.
This quiz provides personalized higher education marketing recommendations based on user input, categorizing them as “Outsourcing Whiz,” “In-House Hero,” or “Hybrid Hotshot.”
In just minutes, you’ll be equipped with tailored insights to optimize your resources and make informed staffing choices, ultimately boosting your SEO strategy and student recruitment efforts.
After taking the quiz, booth visitors received personalized feedback and recommendations from our experienced team about their current digital marketing approach.
About MEMS
UPCEA MEMS is the premier conference for online and continuing education marketers and enrollment managers worldwide.
Held annually for over 30 years, MEMS offers strategically focused presentations and sessions that cover the tactical components of higher education marketing and enrollment management.
Boost Your Higher Education Marketing Strategy With Search Influence
Whether speaking at conferences or providing ROI-focused digital marketing services, Search Influence is dedicated to helping higher ed institutions meet their enrollment goals.
Ready to get started?
Take our SEO In-House vs. Outsourcing Quiz to learn whether working with a higher education digital marketing agency is right for you.
We’re honored to announce that Search Influence has been named a finalist in the Best SEO Campaign category at the 2024 US Agency Awards! This recognition highlights our collaboration with Halvorson Plastic Surgery, where strategic SEO drove meaningful growth in patient inquiries and expanded their reach to patients seeking quality care.
The Nominated Campaign
For the past two years, we’ve partnered with Halvorson Plastic Surgery — a trusted provider of cosmetic and reconstructive procedures in Asheville, NC. We have a shared goal to maintain a steady flow of new patient inquiries by implementing thoughtful and data-driven SEO strategies.
Over the past year, we pursued a two-stage SMART goal:
Increase year-over-year organic search leads.
Rank within the top five for specific target keywords central to the practice’s success.
We’re thrilled to announce that we met and exceeded both goals, helping Halvorson Plastic Surgery connect with more prospective patients while enhancing the practice’s online presence and visibility. This success earned us a shortlisted spot in the 2024 US Agency Awards for Best SEO Campaign.
We’re proud to partner with Halvorson Plastic Surgery to enhance their search rankings and online visibility, helping more patients connect with trusted care and make informed choices.
Four key categories contributed to this success:
Content Strategy: Boost rankings and authority through publishing keyword-targeted blog posts, optimizing on-site content, and creating off-site content
Off-Site Entity Optimization: Increase authority and reach with off-site content creation and link-building
Technical SEO: Enhance search engine understanding and site navigation by implementing schema
Google Business Profile Optimization: Improve local visibility and SEO with profile updates and optimizations
About the US Agency Awards
The US Agency Awards celebrate innovative strategies and impactful campaigns led by agencies of all sizes and specialties across the United States. With 20+ categories, the awards highlight achievements across industries such as marketing, PR, technology, design, and digital advertising.
An expert panel of industry professionals scores each submission through a rigorous two-step process. In the first stage, judges pre-score entries to create the shortlist. In the second, the panel meets to select winners, with some categories also recognizing a silver prize. This year’s winners will be announced on November 14 via the US Agency Awards site.
Award-Winning Search Engine Marketing Agency
We’re honored to be shortlisted for the 2024 US Agency Awards and thank Halvorson Plastic Surgery for their trust in this partnership.
This recognition follows our Silver Award win for the Best Integrated Campaign at the 2023 US Agency Awards and our shortlist at last year’s US Search Awards for the Best Use of Search B2C – PPC category.
Search Influence is a full-service search engine marketing agency committed to helping clients grow through strategic SEO. If you want to strengthen your online presence, contact us to learn more about our expert SEO services.
Specialize in higher education marketing? Check out our new SEO Roadmap offer for three months of actionable strategies that position you for search success.
Search Influence and UPCEA hosted the joint webinar “Top Trends for Your 2025 SEO Strategy to Attract the Modern Learner.”
AI-generated search results and social search have transformed user behavior, including how prospective students research and apply to institutions. As higher education marketers, our job is to make it easy for prospective students to find the information they need. Therefore, failing to adapt to these higher ed SEO trends could result in losing prospects to more visible competitors in 2025.
In this webinar, we explored a new way to think about SEO that will future-proof your strategy in a time of changing search behavior. UPCEA’s Chief Research Officer Jim Fong and Senior Director of Research Bruce Etter, joined UPCEA Platinum Partner Search Influence to share a blueprint for a 2025 SEO strategy that attracts and guides more students through the funnel.
Learning Objectives for the Higher Ed SEO Trends Webinar
How AI-generated search results and social search impact your institution’s visibility
The key components of a higher ed SEO strategy built to outlast trends
How to communicate to your team about this new way of thinking about SEO
How to Watch the Webinar
Watch the webinar recording to learn how to build your 2025 SEO strategy to attract and engage the modern learner.
Search Influence’s Digital Advertising Manager, Jeanne Lobman, will present the session Integrating SEO and Paid Search Strategies at Pubcon 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada, from 3:20 to 4:10 PM on Wednesday, October 16.
Along with AdLift Co-Founder and CEO Prashant Puri, Jeanne will explain how digital marketers can drive results by combining the powers of organic search and paid advertising.
An Overview of Integrating SEO and Paid Search Strategies
Jeanne’s session, Integrating SEO and Paid Search Strategies, is tailored for seasoned digital marketers seeking to elevate their approach.
In this advanced session, Jeanne will explore how blending organic SEO with paid search tactics creates a unified strategy that maximizes traffic and enhances campaign performance.
By leveraging the strengths of both channels, attendees will learn how to boost ROI, achieve business goals more efficiently, and drive long-term growth.
Key takeaways from the SEO and paid search strategy session include:
Unified Keyword Strategy: Discover how to develop a unified keyword strategy that leverages the strengths of both SEO and paid search to target high-converting keywords and reduce bid costs.
Data Synergy: Learn how to use data from paid search campaigns to inform your SEO efforts and vice versa, ensuring a more data-driven approach to your marketing.
Content Optimization: Explore techniques for optimizing content that performs well in organic search and supports your paid search objectives.
Budget Allocation: Understand how to strategically allocate your budget across SEO and paid search to maximize your marketing spend and achieve the best possible ROI.
Performance Metrics: Gain insights into the most effective performance metrics for measuring the success of your integrated campaigns and making informed adjustments.
Case Studies: Review real-world case studies that illustrate the successful integration of SEO and paid search strategies, highlighting best practices and key learnings.
Jeanne’s Years of Paid Search Strategy Experience
With almost 15 of experience in digital marketing, Jeanne has established herself as a leading authority in paid search strategy.
As Search Influence’s Digital Advertising Manager, Jeanne guides paid advertising campaigns to align with clients’ goals, ensuring optimal results. Her strategic mindset and data-driven approach allow her to craft impactful campaigns, track performance, and deliver actionable insights.
Beyond her hands-on expertise, Jeanne is a respected speaker and trainer, sharing her extensive knowledge to elevate both her team and the digital marketing industry.
Search Influence at Pubcon 2024
Jeanne won’t be the only Search Influence team member sharing valuable insights at Pubcon 2024.
Co-Founder and CEO Will Scott will present the session Content Repurposing and Content Generation. In it, he will explain how digital marketers can leverage AI and large language models to revitalize existing content.
You can also find Will at other Pubcon 2024 sessions, including:
Don’t miss Jeanne’s insightful session at Pubcon 2024 to learn how to integrate SEO and paid search strategies for maximum impact. To attend live, view the session details and full event schedule.
Search Influence Co-Founder and CEO Will Scott will present at Pubcon 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Wednesday, October 16th, from 10:30 to 11:20 a.m.
In his session Content Repurposing and Content Generation, the SEO pro will discuss how marketers can use AI and large language models (LLMs) to breathe new life into their existing content and use AI for link-building to identify optimization opportunities.
If you’re a content marketer, SEO professional, or digital strategist looking to work smarter, not harder, this session is your first-class ticket to a whole new world of workflow efficiency.
This blog will address what you can expect from Will’s upcoming Pubcon session.
An Overview of Content Repurposing and Content Generation
Why is Hollywood full of adapted screenplays?
Why does Nike always have another retro shoe release?
Because coming up with new ideas is hard and more expensive.
Like screenwriters and shoe designers, marketers don’t always have the time or funds to reinvent the wheel.
But many marketers do have countless archived blogs, press releases, social media posts, and videos collecting virtual dust across their platforms.
Will’s October Pubcon session, Content Repurposing and Content Generation, will equip you with the skills to turn your old, boring content into new, engaging formats.
Those who attend will learn practical skills to:
Identify high-potential older content for AI-assisted updates
Use LLMs to expand, rewrite, and modernize outdated articles
Create multiple content formats from a single piece (e.g., blog post to video script, infographic to podcast)
Enhance SEO performance of existing content through AI-driven optimization
Develop a sustainable content recycling strategy that saves time and resources
Will’s presentation will highlight how generating fresh, AI-driven content opens the door to valuable link-building opportunities. As you repurpose old content into new formats, AI for link-building helps you identify link-building prospects and optimize your content for greater visibility.
As Will has emphasized before, using AI tools to repurpose content isn’t about spamming the web with low-quality material. Instead, it’s about strategically reworking content into fresh formats that can be shared across multiple platforms, boosting visibility and driving traffic.
This session will equip you with the skills to maximize your content investment and keep your websites fresh and relevant in the age of AI.
Search Influence at Pubcon 2024
Search Influence’s presence can be felt across Pubcon 2024.
Search Influence Is On the Cutting Edge of AI for Content Marketing
From AI-driven content repurposing to cutting-edge AI content link-building techniques, Will’s Pubcon 2024 sessions will give you the tools you need to create engaging content faster. To catch them live, check out the full Pubcon schedule for session details.
Looking to learn more about AI for SEO content now? No need to wait for Pubcon to access Will and Search Influence’s expertise. Our team is always here to help you revolutionize your SEO and digital advertising campaigns with innovative tech and results-driven strategies.
AI content marketing is changing the way agencies, internal marketing departments, and freelancers go about their daily workflow.
As more marketers add generative AI to their competitive toolkit, the gap between those who use AI versus those who don’t will grow. This makes jumping on the proverbial AI train today more crucial than ever.
Search Influence uses a suite of data-driven AI tools, including Anyword, to complement our content creation processes, thus maximizing our efficiency while ensuring our content is performance-optimized.
Just as AI has its benefits, it also has its limitations. To mitigate AI shortcomings, it’s important to maintain the magic touch of the human editor via the “AI sandwich.”
Intuitive prompting can distinguish between content that meets expectations and content that falls short of them.
Over the course of history, countless tech advancements have reshaped how we view and approach our daily workload.
In the late 19th century, the invention of the tractor revolutionized the average farmer’s day-to-day by enhancing planting and harvesting efficiency, thus reducing the need for manual labor. In the mid-20th century, the introduction of ATMs made banking more accessible, minimizing the necessity for bank tellers to be available around the clock. Now, fast forward to the early 21st century, and generative AI tools are empowering content marketers to maximize their productivity and automate the creation of performance-driven copy, all in just a few keystrokes.
Recently, I had the pleasure of sitting down with our good friends at AI platform Anyword to discuss the impact of AI on content creation and how it helps our team work smarter. In our joint webinar “AI Performance Writing: How to Apply AI + Analytics to Your Content,” we dove deep into the state of AI content marketing, its opportunities and challenges, and how Search Influences uses data-driven tools like Anyword to better predict the success of our content collateral.
In case you missed it, here’s a quick overview of our action-packed discussion for your convenience, and maybe — just maybe — you’ll consider giving it a watch in your free time if you’re interested (100% shameless plug there).
The AI Train: Getting On or Getting Left Behind
Few industries will be as affected by generative AI as marketing. That is, if you look at some hot takes by sites like Hotjar, Spiceworks, and U.S. News & World Report… among many, many others.
The pressure is on many agencies, internal marketing departments, and freelancers to adopt AI into their daily workflows. This mounting pressure isn’t necessarily being applied from internal sources, but rather in the way the industry tides are naturally turning.
The data shows that more and more marketers are integrating AI into their daily tasks, whether it’s to help generate a punchy headline or to save time in their workload altogether. With a steady influx of marketers leveraging the power of AI, those who do not will inevitably feel the brunt of a competitive disadvantage.
Since generative AI first broke, Search Influence knew we couldn’t be one to miss the proverbial “AI train,” as it would only pass us right up on the route to our competitors. As Bora Tarimcilar, our Anyword webinar co-panelist and client support specialist, put it, “If you’re not on the train, there is this kind of sense of getting left behind.”
Anyword: The AI Software Built for Content Marketing
Search Influence started testing Anyword in 2023, at a time when generative AI was first starting to grow wings and take flight in the public eye. We set out on a mission to add another AI platform to our diverse suite of tools, which includes platforms like ChatGPT, Adobe Suite, Surfer SEO, and Google Gemini, among several others.
With Anyword, we’ve found success in creating performance-driven content that resonates with our clients and their audiences. The tool has since become one of many key strategy components for producing high-quality, impactful content.
Benefits of Using AI in Content Marketing
Investing in AI today has its payoffs tomorrow.
Timesaving for peak efficiency
The phrase “time is money” rings true in content marketing. We all wish we had more hours in the day, especially when deadlines are looming.
With AI as a +1 on our teams, we can now produce an entire ad campaign’s worth of copy in minutes versus the hours we’d have likely spent prior.
The faster we produce content, the more time we have to focus on strategy, optimization, and the bigger picture as a whole.
Relevant, competitive content
An important disclaimer: Generative AI is not a subject matter expert. It doesn’t have a degree, it doesn’t have any certifications, and it certainly doesn’t have real-world industry experience.
However, AI models do function by scraping the web for a “common consensus” on what to include in its outputs in response to your prompts.
For example, let’s say you’re writing a blog for your legal client titled, “When Should You See a Personal Injury Lawyer?” and you default to AI to help get you started. After receiving your prompt, the AI model will analyze a vast dataset of online content, including articles, legal blogs, FAQs, and expert opinions on personal injury law. It will then identify common themes, important legal terms, and frequently mentioned advice to construct a well-rounded response.
This helps ensure that the content you write is robust, researched, and in line with what your competitors are discussing. Plus, it may even help fill in some topic gaps that you’ve missed but your competitors haven’t.
A hub for brainstorming
Sometimes, the hardest part of content creation is simply getting that first word or sentence down.
AI tools are perfect for those “blank page” moments. Need a catchy headline or an engaging intro? Generative AI’s brainstorming capabilities can spark creativity and help overcome writer’s block, setting the stage for compelling content that doesn’t leave you with a headache.
If you’re not all in for AI automation, using tools for brainstorming purposes is one of the best use cases for getting your feet wet with this new tech. Even the best fires need an accelerant here and there, and AI is just that for your content creation process.
Challenges of AI Content Marketing
Despite all its benefits, AI content marketing is not without its limitations. To get the most value from an AI tool, you’ll need to know what to look out for — just as much as what to look for.
Robotic tendencies
AI is, in its truest form, just a robot. It’s not the kind you see in science fiction movies that are cynically threatening, but nonetheless, there’s no human behind the screen.
Generative AI is not capable of experiencing human emotion, and it naturally lacks empathy. Unless you give it highly detailed context, it won’t automatically know that you’re maybe speaking to an audience with highly sensitive needs, like, for example, those in the “Your Money or Your Life” category.
Because the model is not human, it also does not know how to distinguish fluff from lean, helpful content. With fluffy content, you lose the full extent your content can make on your audience simply by being generic and impactful. You’ll always need to bring humanness to the content, which also means double-checking that the content reads natural and conversational, not robotic.
AI buzzwords
“Unwavering,” “top-notch,” “a beacon of,” and so on — sometimes, it seems like AI has a few favorite words and a severely limited vocabulary.
With these “AI buzzwords” comes one inevitable pitfall: Your content ends up using the same adjectives to describe your brand or services as your competitors.
This can be beneficial in some areas, like when you’re trying to establish a place in the industry relative to your competitors, but it also leaves you with the risk of content that sounds the same as everyone else’s — thus affecting your ability to stand out.
At one point, these terms likely did do considerable justice to content, and some could even have been classified as power words. Now, however, their impact seems diluted due to overuse.
Machine hallucination
AI is, again, no subject matter expert, and it is capable of making mistakes.
The phenomenon “AI hallucination” occurs when an AI model generates content that is factually incorrect or nonsensical. This happens because the AI tries its best to create plausible-sounding information based on patterns it has learned, even if the actual data or facts do not exist.
ChatGPT even has a disclaimer that it can make mistakes, and to always check information that isn’t common knowledge.
By blindly trusting the facts and evidence AI provides you, you risk publishing inaccurate and possibly even offensive content that could harm your brand’s trustworthiness, authoritativeness, and overall bottom line.
Mitigating Common AI Shortcomings
Where there are problems, there are solutions.
The AI Sandwich
Generative AI is your teammate, it’s your dynamic +1, but it is not your replacement.
The human editor will always be necessary to create a human-like feel in the content, fact-check all information, and optimize it for maximum engagement.
At Search Influence, we like to call the relationship between the human and the AI model the “AI Sandwich.”*
The human (acting as the top bun or slice of bread) prompts the machine with all the important information it needs to produce a quality output, and then they wait as the machine gets to work (acting as the sandwich’s hearty sandwich ingredients — think lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese, and meat). Once the machine produces its output, the human editor (now acting as the bottom bun or slice of bread) goes behind it, cleans it up, personalizes it more to the brand, fact-checks it, and overall adds that human touch.
While the content is not produced top-to-bottom by a sole human writer, it is perfected by the human, which grants an overall stamp of approval that the copy meets quality standards.
*Learn more about the AI Sandwich and its use cases with Search Influence CEO, Will Scott, on the “Make Marketing Make Sense” podcast.
Practical prompting
If you’re worried about generic, impactful content and the overuse of AI buzzwords in your content, the solution starts with your prompt.
I’m a strong believer that the quality of your prompt determines the quality of your output. If you give the AI model a bare-bones prompt and expect it to fill in the gaps, it may do so in a way that doesn’t suit your brand or campaign goals.
I recommend you include these points to be as specific as possible with your prompts:
Your campaign goal and keywords (if applicable)
Your tone of voice and your target audience
Your desired call to action
Your desired word count
Any terms you do or do not want to be included in your output
When you’re working with a platform like Anyword, with pre-built prompts, covering all your bases is simple. But if you aren’t using a tool with pre-built prompts provided, there are a ton of helpful articles, videos, and templates online that can get you started.
Dive Deeper Into AI Content Marketing
A very, very big thank you to Anyword for inviting me to join “AI Performance Writing: How to Apply AI + Analytics to Your Content.” I hope that you all are just as excited and geeked out as we are about this new wave of content marketing.
And, if you’re not, that’s perfectly okay. Just know the AI train does have a seat open for you.
Search Influence specializes in full-service content marketing, from SEO and paid advertising to email marketing, social media, and beyond. To learn more about how we’re using AI content marketing to drive client success at scale, get in touch with us today.
Tracking, reporting, and analyzing are three pillars of a successful higher education advertising strategy.
From click-through rate to cost per inquiry, several metrics temperature check your paid ad campaign performance.
Search Influence and UPCEA collaborated to establish the first industry-wide cost per inquiry benchmark to help higher education marketers assess the state of their campaigns.
Tapping into the right metrics and data sources for your university unlocks insights that best optimize your campaigns.
When in doubt, partner with an experienced paid advertising agency that is proficient in turning data into decisions.
According to 2023 research from Invoca, 87% of marketers feel that data is their most under-utilized asset.
Like a gym membership, full of promise but often underused, data insights are what lead to the most gains in your higher education marketing campaigns.
But the challenge lies in knowing which numbers matter and where to dig them up.
Today, more universities than ever rely on paid advertising to attract the new tech-savvy adult learner. The global shift to digital marketing has opened doors to new metrics and tracking capabilities, all of which help gauge your campaigns’ success.
If you’re a digital marketer, tracking and reporting on the right metrics ensures you use your resources effectively to reach your goals. Here’s what to know about measuring paid advertising success in higher education — and how an agency can help you uncover the metrics that truly matter.
The Importance of Tracking & Reporting in Paid Advertising
Diligently tracking and analyzing vital metrics empowers your higher education institution to assess the impact of your digital campaigns. By maintaining a vigilant oversight of the performance of your paid advertising initiatives, you gain the ability to:
Understand your audience
Data shows that 71% of consumers expect personalized marketing, and 76% feel frustrated when brands fail to meet this expectation.
Achieving this level of personalization starts with knowing your prospective student. This goes beyond mere demographics, factoring in their aspirations, challenges, and the digital footprints they leave.
Through a deep dive into audience analytics, you can segment your prospective students more effectively, crafting campaigns that address their specific needs and interests.
Whether it’s highlighting flexible scheduling for working adults, showcasing success stories from similar backgrounds, or emphasizing support services for international students, tracking audience insights helps center your messaging around your core audience.
Optimize your campaigns
The digital advertising playing field is dynamic, with campaign performance varying by the minute.
Real-time data analysis plays a critical role in optimizing your campaigns for the best results. It enables you to make immediate adjustments, such as pausing underperforming ads or reallocating the budget to more successful ones, which fosters a cycle of testing, learning, and optimization.
Staying agile and responsive to campaign performance 24/7 through successful tracking keeps your advertising aligned with your marketing goals.
Enhance the return on your investment
The true value of tracking and analysis lies in its ability to reveal not just which channels and campaigns are performing but also why.
By dissecting the elements of successful ads — be it the magic words, compelling visuals, or the right call-to-action — you can fine-tune your approach, guaranteeing every dollar spent is one working towards greater engagement and higher conversions.
In doing so, you’ll demonstrate the value of your marketing campaign in ways you want the most: increased return on your investments.
Effective Metrics for Measuring Paid Advertising Success in Higher Education
Tracking the right marketing metrics can make the difference between campaigns that meet the mark and ones that fall flat. The following metrics act as vital signposts, indicating the health and impact of your advertising efforts:
Click-Through Rate (CTR): gauges the initial appeal of ad copy and visuals, signaling how well your ads grab attention and prompt click
Conversion Rate: measures the success of those clicks in achieving desired outcomes, like applications, spotlighting how ads translate interest into action
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): assesses financial efficiency, comparing campaign costs against generated revenue to quantify your advertising investment’s return
Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): calculates the average expense of attracting a student via paid ads, offering insights into the cost-effectiveness of marketing strategies
Engagement Metrics: explores deeper interactions beyond clicks, revealing how compelling and relevant your content is to potential students
Beyond these widely recognized metrics is a critical but often overlooked indicator: Cost per inquiry (CPI).
This metric offers a nuanced view of the investment needed to generate a prospective student’s interest, providing a deeper layer of insight into campaign efficiency and the quality of engagement.
Cost Per Inquiry in Higher Education Marketing
In higher education marketing, CPI measures the financial investment needed to generate a single prospective student’s interest in your offerings, such as your programs, courses, or services.
This metric uncovers exactly what it costs to catch the eye of a potential student, whether they’re signing up on your contact form, reaching out by email, or picking up the phone to learn more.
The “cost” cost component varies based on:
The specific marketing campaigns
The mix of marketing channels used
The capability to track an inquiry back to its origin
By focusing on CPI, your institution can pinpoint the effectiveness of your ad campaigns, guaranteeing that your allocated budget directly contributes to attracting potential students. This helps you achieve a favorable balance between the cost of attracting inquiries and the quality of interest generated.
Benchmarking your CPI against the wider industry
In collaboration with UPCEA, Search Influence established the first industry-wide CPI benchmark to help higher ed marketers like you better assess how you measure up to others in your industry.
Our 2024 Higher Ed Marketing Metrics Research Report revealed that while 73% of marketers track the source of inquiries for their professional, continuing, and online (PCO) programs, less than half (46%) of higher education marketers track CPI.
For those who are tracking this key metric, the average PCO CPI is $140, with a median of $106 and a range of $29.03 – $450.
The research study also unveiled a strong link between metric tracking and satisfaction with results. In fact, 92% of those confident in their tracking abilities also report being satisfied or very satisfied with their marketing campaign performance. This finding reinforces the old adage that “what gets measured gets managed,” emphasizing the importance of diligent tracking in achieving impactful marketing outcomes.
Key Data Sources to Track for Campaign Success
Where you track matters just as much as what you track. At Search Influence, we recommend leaning on the following data sources to keep a steady pulse on your campaign success:
Website Analytics: Tools like Google Analytics are indispensable for observing how users interact with your site. They offer a window into which paths lead towards inquiry or application and highlight the landing pages that work best.
CRM Integration: By syncing CRM data with your digital campaigns, you gain a comprehensive view of the prospective student’s journey, from first contact to enrollment, helping to pinpoint effective strategies.
Social Media Insights: The rich data from social platforms can inform you about engagement levels, reach, and which content types drive actions, allowing for agile strategy adjustments.
Other Prospect Data Sources: Don’t overlook additional touchpoints like email interactions, webinar participation, or content downloads. These can provide valuable insights into your audience’s preferences and behaviors.
Tracking cost per inquiry
Cost per inquiry is a more individualized KPI, with extra flexibility in how you can measure it to best fit your institution.
Most marketers track CPI as a KPI for:
Specific Digital Marketing Channels: Differentiated CPI from paid search, organic search, etc., for precise adjustments to strategy and budget
All-Platform Digital Marketing Spend: Comprehensive CPI across all digital channels to understand the overall budget impact and guide comprehensive financial strategies
However, some marketers may find it more fitting to track:
CPI Per Program: Segmented CPI analysis for individual academic programs to enable targeted marketing enhancements
Organic CPI: CPI exclusively from organic search to refine SEO and content tactics
Overall CPI Across All Marketing Expenses: CPI from all marketing activities for a global perspective on investment efficiency
Whichever way you look at CPI, it’s a versatile metric designed to suit the distinct objectives of your institution and unveil whether your marketing dollars are spent wisely.
Maximizing Results Through Agency Partnerships
Struggling to keep track of your paid campaign’s success? Partnering with an experienced advertising agency can help take the weight off your shoulders.
With an agency’s robust tracking, reporting, and analysis capabilities, you’ll be equipped with the insights needed to make informed decisions and refine your strategies. You’ll gain the advantage of knowing:
Precisely what to measure
How to tailor your optimization efforts
The best ways to integrate these insights into your campaigns for enhanced performance
Agencies are data specialists. They know how to interpret your school’s results, provide actionable next steps, and ensure your strategy always aligns with the latest industry and software changes.
Are You Tracking the Right Metrics?
At Search Influence, we pride ourselves on our ability to obtain results, track them, and report them back to your institution.
We’re here to eliminate the guesswork from tracking the essential metrics that propel your success forward. To get you started, we’ve crafted a comprehensive, free worksheet designed to simplify the calculation of your CPI.
