{"podcast":{"title":"The Signal","slug":"the-signal-7024065","podcast_index_feed_id":7024065,"rss_url":"https://feeds.castos.com/4xqr8","website_url":"https://edtechconnect.castos.com","image_url":"https://episodes.castos.com/66cf7b74d67cb0-47099354/images/podcast/covers/c1a-mp079-qd154xrxu74q-t9z0us.jpg","author":"Jeff Dillon","episode_count":96,"summary":"With more than 450,000 downloads, The Signal is the definitive podcast for higher education’s transformation leaders. Hosted by Jeff Dillon, The Signal cuts through the noise of the \"status quo\" to bring you the strategic intelligence needed to reshape how institutions recruit, support, and retain students. Every Friday, we sit down with the practitioners and technology builders who are actively defining the next decade of campus life. Why Higher Ed Leaders Listen: In one of the most consequential periods for academia, we move past the hype to focus on Human-Centered Innovation. Our episodes feature deep-dive interviews with guest experts focusing on the \"real work\" of institutional evolution. Core Topics & AI Strategy: * Artificial Intelligence: Practical AI adoption, governance, and the \"Human in the Loop\" mindset. * Enrollment Marketing: Modern recruitment strategies and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization). * Student Success: Data-driven retention, mental health, and digital engagement. * Institutional Transformation: Navigating digital transformation with a focus on workforce readiness and AVPs reimagining student care. Whether you are a C-suite leader, IT Director, or Facult…","last_synced_at":"2026-07-17T20:20:41.808526+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-signal-7024065"},"episode":{"title":"Ep. 92 - Paula French: From Clicks to Conversions—A Practical Playbook for AI Search","slug":"ep-92-paula-french-from-clicks-to-conversions-a-practical-playbook-for-ai-search","published_at":"2026-06-19T11:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-signal-7024065/ep-92-paula-french-from-clicks-to-conversions-a-practical-playbook-for-ai-search","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-signal-7024065","url":"https://edtechconnect.castos.com/episodes/paula-french-from-clicks-to-conversions-a-practical-playbook-for-ai-search","audio_url":"https://episodes.castos.com/66cf7b74d67cb0-47099354/2454341/c1e-wqzr4hvk8jrf0x0vd-xxk7z5xnskkq-txznue.mp3","summary":"Your traffic is down. Your inquiries are flattening. But your applications haven't dropped. What's happening? The front door just moved—and most higher ed marketers haven't noticed. In this episode, Jeff Dillon welcomes Paula French, Director of Sales and Marketing at Search Influence, a digital marketing agency with more than 16 years of experience helping institutions stay visible online. Paula co-authored a groundbreaking study with UPCEA titled AI Search in Higher Education: How Prospects Search in 2025, and the findings are reshaping how colleges should think about discovery, trust, and ROI. Paula shares the data: one in three prospects now trusts AI tools for program search, 79% are reading Google's AI overviews, and more than half say they trust institutions cited there. But here's the catch—those prospects are showing up to your website already informed, which means they never registered as a click or an inquiry. The metrics marketers have relied on for two decades are breaking down. The good news? AI has the power to connect students with niche programs in ways Google never could. Paula walks through real examples—including how Tufts University recovered lost traffic by optimizing for AI—and offers a practical six-month playbook for institutions with limited budgets. She also tackles the hard questions: Where should you focus when you're spread thin? How do you measure success when the funnel is no longer a funnel? And why Q&A sections might be the \"easy button\" for AI visibility. For any enrollment marketer, digital strategist, or institutional leader trying to make sense of a post-AI search landscape, this episode is required listening. Key Takeaways AI Search Is Mainstream, Not Fringe: One in three prospects now trusts AI tools for program search, and 50% a…","meta_description":"Your traffic is down. Your inquiries are flattening. But your applications haven't dropped. What's happening? The front door just moved—and most higher ed…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1897,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-signal-7024065/episodes/ep-92-paula-french-from-clicks-to-conversions-a-practical-playbook-for-ai-search/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-signal-7024065/ep-92-paula-french-from-clicks-to-conversions-a-practical-playbook-for-ai-search.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}