Feeling invisible? Audit and optimise your content for answer engines
Joel Goodman
VP Growth Strategy, Squiz
AI-assisted tools such as Google’s AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity are becoming the first point of contact for many prospective students and parents. Instead of browsing multiple websites, users often receive a single summarised answer — meaning institutions not reflected in those responses may effectively disappear from consideration.
In this session, you’ll explore how answer engine optimisation (AEO) and generative engine optimisation (GEO) are reshaping digital recruitment. Drawing on real examples from higher education institutions, the session examines how AI systems currently interpret institutional content and the patterns that increase the likelihood of accurate representation.
You’ll learn a practical, resource-conscious approach to auditing core content for AI discoverability, even within complex environments of legacy systems, distributed ownership, and competing priorities. The session focuses on achievable steps that can improve visibility without requiring a full site rebuild.
Key takeaways
Understand how AI-driven search is changing discovery for education audiences
Identify content and structural changes that improve representation in AI responses
Apply a practical audit approach to assess AEO/GEO readiness
About Joel
Joel Goodman is VP of Growth Strategy at Squiz and a long-standing higher education digital strategist. For nearly 18 years, he has helped universities and colleges improve their web experiences and content strategies — first within two institutions, then as founder of Bravery Media, and now through his work at Squiz.
Joel focuses on making institutional content understandable, discoverable, and genuinely useful for both people and the AI systems that increasingly shape how audiences find information.