Optimizely
AMA Virtual Conference:
Marketing in Higher Education
April 30th at 9:35am PT/12:35am ET
How GVSU's Smarter Site Search Drove a 49% Engagement Boost
Grand Valley State University (GVSU) transformed its website search into a strategic marketing asset, increasing search click-through rates (CTR) by 49% and making key content more accessible to current and prospective students, faculty and staff. With nearly 40% of web visitors using search, GVSU’s marketing team recognized a major opportunity to improve engagement, support enrollment efforts, and enhance the user experience.
This session will reveal how GVSU leveraged real-time search analytics and user behavior insights to surface the most sought-after content and ensure students found the information they needed faster – all without relying on developers. By the end of the session, you’ll know how to optimize your own university’s search function to improve content discovery, support enrollment efforts, and strengthen brand perception.
Key Takeaways:
- Data-Driven Search Optimization: Learn how GVSU used search analytics to identify visitor intent and surface the most sought-after content.
- Marketing Agility in Action: See how the marketing team quickly adapted search results, promoted key content, and made real-time updates—without waiting on developers.
- Immediate Impact on Engagement: See how simple search enhancements led to a 49% increase in CTR and improved user satisfaction.
Speakers
Josh Isaak
Associate VP of Web Development and Content Strategy at Grand Valley State University
Josh Isaak is the Associate Vice President of Web Development and Content Strategy in the marketing department at Grand Valley State University. He leads a team responsible for the university’s custom CMS, web development, content strategy , and web analytics.
Josh has over 20 years of web-based experience in the realms of design, development and leadership. Before joining the web team at GVSU, Josh was the Director of Web Services at Davenport University.
Jeff Dillon
Digital Strategist at SearchStax
and Founder of EdTech Connect
Jeff Dillon is the Digital Strategist for Higher Education at SearchStax and is the founder of EdTech Connect, a technology marketplace designed exclusively for the higher education community.
Jeff has more than 20 years of leadership experience in the higher education technology sector with expertise in search engines, artificial intelligence, digital experience platforms, personalization strategies and communication tools.
Additional Higher Education Resources
Grand Valley State Improves Site Search with SearchStax
Since implementing SearchStax, GVSU has seen their search click-through rate improve dramatically, rising from 35% to over 52%. This nearly 50% increase in CTR indicates that users are finding more relevant and accurate results, leading to faster content discovery and overall better user satisfaction.
Higher Education Website Search Best Practices
One of the major ways colleges market themselves to prospective students is through their website. While most of these websites contain flashy images of happy students on photogenic campuses, many colleges have ignored the basic needs of the prospective students using their websites – specifically in the area of website search best practices for higher education.
3 Reasons Site Search Should Lead Your Higher Ed Website Redesign
With so little margin for error, intelligent site search is a non-negotiable component of a successful online experience. Instead of treating it as the last item on your checklist, make it your top priority. Here are the three reasons why you should prioritize search in your next website redesign project.
SearchStax Site Search is the easy, out-of-the-box search tool for your website. Site Search is engineered to give marketers the agility they need to optimize site search outcomes. Get full visibility into search analytics and make real-time changes with one click.