A new industry look at enrollment marketing highlights how AI-supported search is changing how students find colleges, with nearly half of high schoolers using AI tools to research institutions. The shift is pushing colleges toward “answer-engine optimization,” aiming to ensure their program pages are accurately cited and returned in AI-generated overviews. Practices discussed include adjusting webpages and content structure so AI tools can ingest them reliably. Example cases cited include Belmont University’s more than sixfold increase in AI-sourced traffic between March 2025 and March 2026, and Occidental College seeing a 96% jump in AI-influenced activities on enrollment pages after content modifications. EAB’s Michael Koppenheffer cautioned that results are not perfectly scientific, but he said the patterns are not random. The core message for higher education leaders is that brand discovery is becoming less dependent on traditional click-through and more dependent on how well institutions “show up” inside AI summaries. With “zero-click” research workflows rising, colleges are facing a new measurement problem: whether they are truly discoverable—and correctly described—in the tools students now use first.