Beyond the Search Bar: What AI Discovery Means for Your School & Programs

Join OEDI to explore how AI discovery reshapes the way prospective students find UVA's schools and programs — and what to do about it. Prospective students don't always start with Google anymore. More are asking AI tools directly and getting a synthesized answer instead of a page of search results. How a school shows up in that answer is becoming just as important as how it ranks in traditional search. This topic came straight from you. At the last Community of Practice, attendees asked for a session on exactly this, so the Office of Online Education & Digital Innovation (OEDI) and Rhodes Advisors are bringing it to Grounds this fall: Beyond the Search Bar: What AI Discovery Means for Your School & Programs. We'll open with a working session on Answer Engine Optimization (AEO): what it is, how it relates to SEO, and what's changed in just the past year. From there, small groups will work through real higher ed scenarios, built for practitioners in content and marketing, for school and program leadership, and for cross-functional teams doing both. Each group works a scenario tied directly to what they just learned and leaves with something they can put to use. AEO is new enough that most schools are starting from a similar place right now, which makes this a good moment to learn together rather than each school figuring it out alone. Join colleagues from across UVA to see where your website really stands and leave with concrete ways to improve it. Lunch and networking to follow.