?? Is Google Stealing Higher Ed SEO with AI Overviews, too?

Having definitively proven my hypothesis regarding Google Stealing HubSpot SEO, I wanted to see if the same was true in Higher Ed blogs.

I'm totally kidding about the definitive nature of my proof ??

The question: is Higher Ed SEO being stolen by Google AI Overviews?

TL;DR: yes they are.

Methodology for proving Google is stealing Higher Ed SEO with AI Overviews:

Speaking of HubSpot, I decided to go through contact records in our HubSpot to identify schools for my first filter.

First filter: do they have a "blog," or other content area? (news, updates, blog, etc.)

I selected a small handful to review:

?? Villanova University College of Professional Studies

?? Rutgers Division of Continuing Studies

?? Tulane University School of Professional Advancement (SoPA)

?? UC San Diego Extended Studies

?? LSU Online & Continuing Education

Rutgers DoCS did not have a blog that I could find, so they are not included in the review, below.

For the others I did the same thing I did with the HubSpot blogs. I searched for the H1 - usually the HTML title as well - to see if Google was showing an AI Overview.

Keep in mind, this is not a keyword search. This is a title search. Arguably if that title is unique then Google should show that blog post or article first.

NOT an AI Overview. ??

Proof that Google AIOs are robbing Higher Ed SEO:

Villanova: The Power of Design Thinking in Problem-Solving: A Revolutionary Approach to Innovation

Google AI Overview

Tulane SoPA

OK. I promise this isn't a set up. Tulane SoPA is a Search Influence Higher Ed SEO client, and we do some of their blog writing.

I approached Tulane SoPA in exactly the same way as the others and I was a bit surprised to learn that the first three of four articles I looked at did NOT have an AI Overview.

I'm including two that don't have an AIO, and one that does for sake of a good example.

What's different? There are a few things. The blog posts are typically written with more storytelling intent. They're not generic informational content. They're very much about the programs at Tulane SoPA.

The other thing is our SEO and Content teams have been thinking about the impact of AI Overviews, and the need to format content for inclusion in AI search for a while.

Two other items of note: one of these is most definitely an SEO blog. And, the word counts are very normal – 600 - 1200 words, much shorter than the HubSpot SEO blogs.

Tulane SoPA: 5 Career Pathways for the Creative Pursuing a Media & Design Degree

Traditional Google results

Tulane SoPA: Influencer marketing course prepares students for the future of digital marketing

Traditional Google Results

Tulane SoPA: 3 Benefits of Having Paralegal Experience Before Joining Law School

Google AI Overview

Good news is we have both the AIO and the rich snippet. Granted we have to share the AIO, but this is a pretty good result.

UCSD: The Call to Creative Writing-Finding Your Voice, Telling Your Story

Traditional Google Result

UCSD: Tips for Creating a UX Design Portfolio: How to Stand Out and Avoid Common Mistakes

Traditional Google Result - Rich Snippet, even

I really expected an AIO on this one. You can tell this is an SEO article by searching for the keyword -- it's used like 9 times on-page.

That notwithstanding, USCD is doing a great job. They have clearly focused on both storytelling and from what I can see in the SERP secondary promotion.

LSU: Top Careers You Can Get with a Master's in Finance

Google Dynamic Entity Exploration Panel

Main result:

Incognito:

I redid this search in Incognito mode to assure that Tulane ad (Business School, not SoPA) wasn't a personalization. I live about three blocks from Tulane, and as an alum and a marketing provider I spend a lot of time on Tulane websites.

While the Dynamic Entity Exploration Panel is not exactly an AI Overview, they are machine learning and NLP driven.

Regardless, LSU Online is getting robbed.

Conclusion:

All hope is not lost.

If you study these SERPs, you'll get some good clues about how to continue winning in Google, and in the AI Overview, and probably in the other AI search engines, too.

A few ideas I will leave you with:

?? I saw a great presentation at SEO Spring Training that talked about how to write for LLM inclusion. I brought this learning back to our team, and I also documented it on my personal blog. If you're interested: Passage Rank, Retrieval Augmented Generation, and The Future of SEO

?? Who remembers Page Rank? Hilltop? Information gain? Consensus? Maybe some more technical folks will tell me I'm dumb, but I've always found Google is good at discovery, not so much at forgetting.

?? And then, as I said in a comment on a recent post from Lily Ray , there's the other thing: Way back in 2008, Eric Schmidt, then CEO of Google was quoted as saying:?

"Brands are the solution, not the problem... Brands are how you sort out the cesspool."

Remember that for now, the popular AI search engines are using "retrieval", aka: search, to "augment" their "generation." AKA: RAG (thanks Michael King ). So if you can rank in the engine you have a higher likelihood of ranking in the AI search engine. For now.

So look at the results, think about the onion that is the Google algorithm and ask yourself: what format of content works best in AI search, Google and the others, and how do I look more like a "brand?"

Can we agree that Higher Education SEO is getting robbed by Google AIOs, right?

What do you think? Good examples? Good advice? I will appreciate your feedback.

#SEO #HigherEd #AIO #Google #RAG