AI Search Is Already Writing Your University's Reputation

Show notes

A parent or a sixth former asks an AI assistant about your university and gets an answer in seconds, often with no click to your site. I set out five practical steps to find out what it says and shape it.

• Ask the main AI assistants your audiences' questions every month and record the answers.
• Fix outdated and contradictory facts at source, then earn third-party proof.
• Give AI search a named owner and a regular place on the agenda.

Read the article: AI search is already writing your university's reputation

Full transcript

Hello, and welcome to Marketing Greats in Higher Education. I'm Jonathan Sabarre, your host, and this is where we explore the ideas shaping how universities are seen, chosen and trusted around the world. Everything I share on this show is my own personal view.

A parent in Lagos asks an AI assistant which UK universities are strongest for engineering and good value. A research director in Singapore asks which European institutions lead on climate science. A sixth former asks whether a university is a good place to study psychology. Each gets an answer in seconds, and very often nobody clicks through to a university website. That answer is now one of the most influential summaries of your institution. A machine wrote it, and most universities have very little idea what it says!

For twenty years, we optimised for search engines that gave people a list of links. You fought for the top spots, someone clicked, and they landed on your page, where you controlled the story. AI answers work differently. They summarise, compare and recommend. They might mention you, describe you inaccurately, or leave you out altogether. The person asking may never read a word you wrote. That's a profound shift in who tells your story.

What fascinates me is where these systems look. Clear, factual content on your own site matters. But so do rankings, news coverage, independent reviews, Wikipedia, academic profiles and what others say about you online. That list is what a good reputation strategy should already be building. AI search hasn't invented a new game. It's started keeping score of the old one, in public, at enormous scale.

Here are five things I'd ask every marketing director to do. First, check what's being said. Ask the main AI assistants the questions your priority audiences ask, in your key markets, and write down the answers. Do it every month. Second, fix the facts at source. Many errors trace back to outdated or inconsistent information: an old programme page, two contradictory statistics, a profile nobody has touched in years.

Third, earn third-party proof. These systems lean heavily on what others say about you. Strong media coverage, credible partnerships, independent recognition and active academic profiles all shape how you're represented. That's reputation work, and you can't fake it. The shortcuts that tempted people in the old world of search don't carry much weight here.

Fourth, answer the real questions. Students ask about cost, safety, graduate jobs and what day to day life is really like. Content that answers plainly, with evidence, is far more likely to find its way into an AI answer than another page of aspirational copy. Think of that sixth former again. A clear, honest page about the course, the support and where graduates end up gives the machine something worth repeating.

Fifth, give it an owner. AI search is where social media was a decade ago, falling between teams. Digital assume it sits with communications, communications assume recruitment, and nobody's watching. Someone needs to monitor it, report on it and coordinate the response. You don't need a new department. You need a name next to it, and a regular place on the agenda.

It would be easy to treat all this as another threat. I see it the other way round. AI search rewards institutions that are clear about who they are, consistent in how they describe themselves, and genuinely respected by others. Those are the qualities that have always built lasting reputations. The gap between universities doing this well and those that aren't is about to become easy for everyone to see.

That's why this is one of the topics I'm most looking forward to exploring with guests this season. The teams experimenting now, quietly checking answers and fixing facts, will set the standard for everyone else. And none of it asks you to become something you're not. It asks you to be clearer about what you already are. Get that right, and the machines will tell your story the way it deserves to be told!

Thank you for spending this time with me. If this episode sparked something for you, hit subscribe, so you never miss the next one. And our full season, with guests from leading universities around the world, is coming very soon. Head to Jonathan Sabarre dot com and sign up, so you're the first to know when it launches. Until next time, keep building something great.