Search Influence will present two sessions on AI search visibility and host a booth at the UPCEA MEMS Conference, held November 30 to December 2 at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando, Florida. The presentations will address how institutions can track whether AI tools cite their programs and how Harvard's Program on Negotiation made AI search a measurable enrollment channel.

The 35th annual MEMS: Marketing, Enrollment Management, and Student Success Conference is an event for leaders and practitioners responsible for online and professional continuing education marketing and enrollment management. Search Influence, a digital marketing agency and Platinum Partner of UPCEA, will take part through two presentations and in-person conversations with attendees.

On December 1 at 10:00 a.m. in the Cancun room, Will Scott, CEO and co-founder of Search Influence, will present "The Blind Spot in Your Reporting: Tracking AI Presence and Citations." The talk is part of the conference's Insights & Innovation format, a series of quick presentations that each introduce a single idea. Scott will share results from Search Influence's own website, where presence tracking showed 37.8% of AI answers citing the site in Google AI Mode and 0.0% in Claude. The difference traced back to crawler access, which standard SEO reporting did not surface.

"AI visibility isn't just a marketing metric, it's an enrollment metric. Our recent data shows prospects are shortlisting schools in AI answers," said Scott. "If you don't know where you stand in AI, you are missing, maybe, the most important metric in the enrollment lifecycle."

Later that day, at 11:15 a.m. in the Coronado MN room, Paula French, director of sales and marketing at Search Influence, and Tara Pope of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, a Search Influence client, will present "The True Value of Visibility: How Harvard Made AI Search an Enrollment Channel." AI tools originally cited the Program on Negotiation for its thought leadership but did not surface its programs. Working with Search Influence, the program built an AI search strategy that made its programs discoverable. The session will cover the steps the program took and the data behind its decisions, drawing on two years of UPCEA and Search Influence research, including the 2026 AI search in higher education study. The study found that 64% of prospective students trust an institution more when AI cites it as a source, up from 56% in the 2025 report.

"Prospective students are building shortlists from AI answers, and institutions want to know whether their programs appear in them," said French. "Working with the Program on Negotiation, we built a strategy that made its programs discoverable in AI search, and our team is glad to share the research and that strategy with the UPCEA community in Orlando."

Search Influence will staff a booth throughout the conference. Will Scott, Paula French, and other members of the Search Influence team will meet with attendees at the booth. Visitors can also review how a webpage scores for AI search readiness with the AI Website Grader, a free tool from Search Influence.

Attendees who stop by the booth can pick up Search Influence sunglasses and talk with the team about AI search visibility for their programs. For more information about the conference or Search Influence, visit the UPCEA MEMS event page or https://www.searchinfluence.com/.

About Search Influence

Search Influence is a woman-owned, ROI-focused digital marketing agency that helps drive prospects into and through the marketing funnel with analytics-backed strategies, including organic and AI SEO and paid digital advertising. Founded in 2006, Search Influence’s core purpose is to optimize potential. The agency collaborates with well-regarded brands and institutions both nationally and locally in New Orleans. Clients include: Harvard University, New Orleans & Company, and Audubon Nature Institute.

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For more information about Search Influence, contact the company here:

Search Influence
Angie Scott
(504) 208-3900
info@searchinfluence.com
1423 Pine St New Orleans, LA 70118