Ep. 89 - Leslie Weller: How AI Site Search Turns Student Discovery Into a Competitive Advantage

Every month, nearly half a million people type questions into your university's search bar. They're telling you exactly what they want to know—about deadlines, transfer credits, program fit. And yet, 31% of higher ed digital teams have no access to that data at all. In this episode, Jeff Dillon welcomes Leslie Weller, Director of Product Marketing at SearchStax, a site search platform helping colleges and universities transform how students find information online. Leslie brings over 25 years of experience making complex enterprise software understandable—and she's now applying that lens to higher ed's fragmented, decentralized digital landscape. Drawing on SearchStax’ recent research study conducted with The Chronicle of Higher Education, Leslie reveals the gap between how important colleges think site search is and how poorly it's actually performing. She explains why 93% of students rely on websites during their college search, yet only 19% of digital teams believe they're delivering a great experience. Leslie also tackles the AI shift head-on, arguing that site search is a "great AI lever" schools already own. She shares practical examples of how AI can re-rank content by semantic meaning, suggest synonyms and even generate instant answers to common questions. For any enrollment leader, web manager, or digital strategist trying to reduce friction and convert more curious visitors into applicants, this episode offers a clear, actionable roadmap. Key Takeaways Site Search Is a High-Intent Goldmine: 43% of website visitors use the search bar. For a school with 1 million monthly visitors, that's nearly half a million people every single month telling you exactly what they want to know. Yet 31% of digital teams have no access to this first-party data. The Gap Is Massive: 93% of students use websites when evaluating schools, but only 19% of digital teams believe they're delivering a great website experience. There is a huge opportunity to differentiate through search alone. Confused Students Don't Enroll: Borrowing from Donald Miller's marketing principle—"confused people don't buy"—Leslie argues that the same applies to higher ed. If students and parents can't quickly find clear answers about program length, cost, scholarships, or transfer credits, they won't move forward. Site Search Has a Cyclical Halo Effect with AI: Improving your on-site search (cleaning up outdated content, surfacing the right answers) also improves how external LLMs like ChatGPT and Gemini understand and represent your institution. Students may learn about you elsewhere, but they come to your site to validate—and that's where you convert or lose them. AI-Powered Search Goes Beyond Keyword Matching: SearchStax uses a re-ranking algorithm that understands semantics—so a search for "undergraduate business degree" automatically surfaces bachelor's degree content without the user typing "bachelor's." Keep a Human in the Loop: AI may suggest synonyms that don't fit higher ed contexts. Human oversight prevents costly, embarrassing errors and preserves institutional nuance. Generative Answers Reduce Friction: Instead of forcing users to dig through PDFs or links, AI-powered site search can generate a direct, natural-language answer to questions like "How many years is your architecture degree?" This is what modern users expect. No-Results Searches Are Strategic Intelligence: Most schools don't track what people search for when they get zero results. That data can reveal unmet demand and inform program development or content strategy. Site Search Closes the Last Mile: You've already invested in getting prospective students to your website—through mailers, high school visits,... Chapters (00:00:00) - Graduating with a Google Plugin(00:00:49) - Leslie Weller on EdTech Connect(00:02:31) - Tim Kreider: Starting Out in Product Marketing(00:04:56) - What's The Challenge of Technology?(00:06:10) - How to Sell SaaS to Enterprise Companies(00:09:57) - How SearchStacks is improving the higher ed search experience(00:14:49) - How Website Search Affects Recruitment and Retention(00:18:48) - Should Colleges Prioritize AI?(00:25:36) - Teaching sites get access to Search Stacks(00:28:26) - Jeff Knizley: Higher Ed's Digital Experience(00:31:10) - The Signal: Higher Ed Tech Insights