How can you get AI to recommend your school for the right reasons?
That question matters more as prospective students use tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Google AI features to explore their options. It is tempting to treat these tools as another version of search. Get mentioned, get linked, get the click.
But that misses a large part of the modern student journey. More of the thinking, comparing and narrowing happens inside the AI conversation itself. A student can ask a detailed question, refine it, test trade-offs and only visit a website after much of the decision has already taken shape.
A useful case study: KdG
KdG University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Antwerp offers an interesting example. It is not a university that can rely mainly on global rankings or traditional prestige signals. Its strengths are more practical: career-focused education, applied learning, international context and support for students.
When I asked ChatGPT about KdG, the answer reflected many of those strengths. It described the university as practical, career-oriented, international and focused on applied learning.
That is not a coincidence. KdG has evidence online that supports this profile. Students review it, talk about it and describe their experience in ways that match the institution’s positioning. For example, KdG was recognised as the most inclusive university worldwide by international students in the Studyportals 2025 Global Student Satisfaction Awards.
What AI says about you matters
The important question is not only whether your school is mentioned by AI tools. It is what those tools say when students ask specific questions.
A student no longer has to search using keywords, click several results and compare multiple websites manually. They can ask something much more precise, such as:
Which university in Belgium is a good option for an international student looking for a practical, career-focused bachelor with strong support?
If your school profile is clear, and if that profile is supported by students, alumni, ambassadors and credible third-party sources, prospective students can discover that evidence within a few prompts.
The opposite is also true. If you are not putting enough useful evidence online, AI tools have less to work with. They may not recommend you at all, or they may describe you in a way that feels thin, generic or outdated.
Recommendation is only the first test
Even when your school is recommended for the right reasons, students will often keep testing the answer. In the same conversation, they may ask:
- What do students of this school say about studying there?
- What are the pros and cons of this school?
- Is it a good fit for someone with my goals and background?
This is where the quality of your online evidence becomes important. AI tools do not only need clean website copy. They also need credible signals from students, alumni, reviews, programme pages, institutional content and other sources across the web.
If your school holds up during this kind of scrutiny, the eventual website visit can be much more valuable. The prospective student is not arriving cold. They have already explored, compared and built some confidence.
The practical lesson
There are many tactics around AI visibility, but the underlying theme is simple:
Make sure accurate information and credible proof are available online.
Your website still matters. Its structure, clarity and accessibility to search engines and AI systems all play a role. But the work does not stop there. For many education teams, the bigger opportunity is to build a clearer and more credible profile across the web.
That means helping others talk about your school in a way that reflects what you genuinely offer. Student reviews, ambassador stories, alumni outcomes, programme content and independent platforms can all support the same picture.
A useful test is to ask: if a prospective student prompted an AI tool for the kind of institution we want to be known as, would there be enough clear evidence online for the tool to recommend us?
If the answer is no, the next step is not another clever AI trick. Start with the evidence.
This article is adapted from Genuinely Helpful – Field Notes, Guus Goorts’ newsletter for education marketers. Want more practical notes like this? You can subscribe to Genuinely Helpful – Field Notes.
