July 03, 2025
Leslie Weller
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If you manage a content-rich website, perhaps for a university, health system, government agency or similar, then you’ve probably noticed a shift. Visitors don’t want to dig through drop down menus or click eight levels deep to find program requirements or service availability. They want clear answers, and they want them fast.
At the heart of this transformation is AI-powered search.
The post breaks down what AI-powered search is, how it works and why it’s becoming a key part of the website experience, especially for large, complex sites.
We’ll also look at how organizations are already using AI-powered search to help people find what they need without getting lost.
What Is AI-Powered Search for Websites?
In this context, AI-powered search refers to onsite search technology that uses artificial intelligence, such as machine learning, natural language processing (NLP) and behavior modeling to improve how search works on your website. Instead of just matching keywords, AI-powered solutions understand context, intent and meaning behind what your visitor types into the search bar to surface better results.
This means when a prospective student searches “business degree requirements” or a patient searches “how to manage chronic pain,” it doesn’t just hunt for pages with those exact words. AI-powered search can interpret nuances, recommend related resources and deliver the most useful information based on context.
AI-powered search also means that visitors can type full questions into your search bar, such as, “How many years of foreign language are required to graduate with a business degree?” AI-powered search can scan your site and generate clear, summarized answers based on relevant pages.
When AI is Ignored, Onsite Search Misses Its Full Potential
Here’s the irony with onsite search: that magnifying glass icon is the one of the most visible elements on your website, typically opposite your logo in the website navigation bar. And yet, many organizations treat site search as an afterthought. They expect visitors to do the hard work of guessing the right keywords, clicking through a handful of links and hoping they’ll eventually land on the information they need.
For marketing and web teams, a lackluster search experience represents a missed opportunity.
Take large universities for example. While marketing teams may regularly update program pages and publish new admissions content, prospective students still get frustrated when they can’t find what they want in the site’s search tool. Our recent research showed that 50% of higher ed institutions deliver irrelevant or outdated search results.
Why are the results so poor? Because most traditional search tools rely on exact keyword matches and have little or no control over the web crawl frequency.
If your web visitor doesn’t type the exact right keywords, will the correct results still show up? Without AI-powered search, it’s unlikely.
However, when you add in natural language recognition, for instance through SearchStax Smart Ranking capability to re-rank results based on contextual meaning, the visitor can see the most relevant results quickly.
This isn’t just a higher ed challenge. It shows up across industries when visitors land on sprawling websites and enter specific, high-intent queries like:
- “low-income housing assistance”
- “safety data sheet for XYZ chemical”
- “what’s covered under Medicaid in my state?”
Without AI enhanced capabilities, most legacy search tools fall short.
How AI-Powered Search Works
AI-powered search enhances the onsite search experience in the following ways:
Semantic Search
AI understands relationships between words. So, if a patient types “hip doctor,” the search engine also considers terms like “orthopedic specialist” or “joint pain,” delivering richer and more accurate results on a healthcare site. Semantic search relies on natural language processing (NLP) technology to interpret the meaning behind the words used in order to understand plain language.
Personalization
Some AI-powered search tools personalize results based on user location, previous visits or what is known about their relationship to the brand (e.g., a current student vs. a faculty member), creating a tailored digital journey.
Why Marketers and Web Teams Care About AI Search
1. Your content investment pays off
Organizations like universities invest heavily in content for things like degree pages, research reports, admissions requirements, campus life resources and more, but that content is only valuable if it can be found. AI-powered search ensures that your investment in content creation translates into real visibility.
2. Improve conversion paths
A more intelligent search experience means visitors find answers and resources faster, increasing the likelihood of taking a key conversion action. Whether that’s applying, signing up or downloading a document, smoother search drives more action.
3. Smarter search breaks down data silos
AI can connect content across departments. A health system can unify search across provider and location resources, blog articles and FAQs which helps patients and caregivers quickly find the right information. With AI search, people don’t need to know exactly where something lives to find it.
Real-World Examples of AI-Powered Search in Action
Let’s look at how AI-powered search is already making a difference:
Higher Education
At Texas Christian University the web team rolled out SearchStax’s Smart Ranking to add contextual understanding within their site search, which delivers better results to their students.
“Smart Ranking has made a noticeable difference in our site search experience. Average click position is up 37%, and we’ve seen a 16% boost in click-through rate, thanks to technology that actually understands the intent behind search queries and fine-tunes our relevance model.”
– Corey Reed | Director of Web Management at TCU
TCU’s application of practical AI tools like Smart Ranking is helping them connect their site search outcomes with student intent. They’ve been able to spot gaps in their institutional and campus offerings by listening to the insights uncovered by their site search analytics, then close the loop to meet those needs.
Healthcare
Banner Health, Arizona’s largest health system, revamped their site search to make location and service discovery easier for patients.
“Unless our users can find something within one, maybe two clicks, they’re going to jump to the search.”
– Colleen Weiss-Ramirez | Director, Digital Engagement and Web Development
With AI-powered search in place, they were able to create an omni search experience across their entire domain.
They now average:
- 1.7 searches per session – their AI-powered search connects patients with the resources they need in fewer searches than before.
- Average click position of 2.1 – their search is tuned to return relevant results within the first couple listings, driving better engagement higher up the results page.
Government
The City of Nashville leverages AI-powered search to tune their results based on what residents actually search for. The AI helps prioritize high-click keywords and high-value synonyms to the top of their search results. Visitors looking for diverse services get the right information, without needing to know which department website owns what content.
For example, a site visitor searching for information on property-tax exemptions might surface results that will take them to padctn.org, the website for the property assessor’s office for the Nashville metro region.
“I can’t stress enough how important site search is for our users.”
– Randall Williams | Division Manager, Web-Based Services Metropolitan Government of Nashville & Davidson County.
Getting Started: Where to Focus First
Here’s how to begin your own AI-powered website search:
- Audit your existing search experience. Run sample queries and analyze what content surfaces. Identify gaps.
- Review analytics. Focus on top site searches, no-results queries and bounce rates from search result pages.
- Prioritize high-value content. Ensure your most important resources like academic programs, eligibility criteria or physician services are easy to find.
- Keep tuning. AI works best when paired with human oversight. Use built-in tools to refine relevancy, promote important content and respond to seasonal trends.
AI Search Isn’t Only the Future, It’s the Expectation
For content-rich websites, search is no longer a utility, it’s a first impression. The standard for search is higher than ever, with AI summaries and robust experiences expected everywhere, including on your website.
AI-powered search helps you meet that demand, turning your site into a smarter, faster and more intuitive experience for everyone who visits.
