'What are the best schools for…' — How AI decides who makes the list

Prospective students are changing how they research colleges and most institutions aren't ready for it. Instead of visiting school websites directly, they're turning to AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity to get answers. As common app adoption grows, students don't even need to visit your site to apply. If your content isn't structured correctly, AI tools will either ignore your institution entirely or surface inaccurate or outdated information about your programs, tuition and admissions requirements. Your website is still the authoritative source of truth behind all of it — it just has to be built for robots, too. In this session, Rhode Island School of Design's Brian Clark will show how RISD and their digital agency Current reimagined content management and governance to address major shifts in prospect behavior. We'll cover what answer engine optimization (AEO) and generative engine optimization (GEO) actually mean for higher ed, why structured data is so critical and which CMS platforms have a built-in advantage when it comes to implementing it, how to shift your content model to support AI readiness without triggering a full redesign, and which third-party tool integrations are genuinely worth the investment. You'll also get a deep dive into the realities of implementation: What worked, what surprised them and what insights RISD's team is surfacing in the current admissions season. Think of it as a behind-the-scenes look at what it actually takes to make a higher ed website visible, accurate and trustworthy in an AI-first search landscape with a practical framework you can bring back to your own institution.