Colleges are discovering that prospective students increasingly find them through AI “answer engines,” not traditional search. As high-schoolers use AI-supported tools to research colleges, institutions face new pressure to appear in chatbot overviews and local queries. Reporting highlights measurable early results from colleges that changed webpages for “answer-engine optimization” (AEO). Belmont University said AI-sourced traffic rose more than sixfold between March 2025 and March 2026, and Occidental College reported a 96% jump in AI-driven actions on enrollment pages after modifications. The shift is changing enrollment marketing priorities: the goal is no longer just clicks, but being “top of mind” in AI-generated summaries, according to enrollment marketing practitioners cited in the report. Providers also caution that results are not perfectly scientific, but that visibility patterns are emerging from intentional content changes.