[This is part 1 of a two-part series on how we find and understand information today.]
For colleges and universities, online search has long been a critical front door for student discovery and decision making. It’s how many prospective students discover institutions, explore programs, compare pathways and begin to imagine their futures, but that front door is changing.
Recent data reported by Axios, drawing on Chartbeat analytics (a tool that tracks how people read and engage with content online) shows a sharp decline in search-driven traffic to smaller publishers, down as much as 60% over the past two years. Larger publishers have also seen declines, but those dips have been less severe. At the same time, AI-driven tools are beginning to reshape how people find information. Even if AI chatbots have not yet replaced traditional search as a major source of traffic, the rise of AI could account for some of the declines in search-driven traffic.
Chartbeat’s data point is important on its own, but it is also worth noting where the data comes from. Media organizations like Axios are not just reporting on changes in the information environment; they are often among the first to see those changes reflected in their own metrics, such as page views. This is not just a media story. It is also a student behavior story. It reflects a broader shift in how people experience information—one that is already changing how students make decisions about education and careers.
From Exploration to Answers
Until recently (we’ll call this “before”), searching for information felt a bit like walking through a well-organized library. A prospective student might search for colleges, compare programs, visit multiple websites, read about outcomes and piece together a direction. It took time, but that process helped build understanding. Increasingly, we’ve moved to a different model—one centered on answers rather than exploration.
Searching feels less like exploration and more like asking a knowledgeable assistant for an answer. A student might ask, “What is the best degree for a job in healthcare?” Rather than being pointed to sources, as was the case with traditional search, an AI chatbot would give them an already assembled response. It’s like a vending machine, but instead of snacks, it dispenses information. Fast. Convenient. Frictionless.
The Information Vending Machine and Student Behavior
There’s a lot to like about this model: It lowers barriers, creates an intuitive starting point and reduces the need to navigate dozens of websites or decode institutional language. But it also changes behavior. It changes how students engage with institutions—and how quickly they make decisions.
Forgoing traditional search means students are less likely to compare institutions in depth, explore lesser-known programs, engage with long-form content and follow a multi-step discovery process. Rather than do the legwork themselves, students are willing to accept a synthesized answer and stay within a single interface. They may also opt to make quicker, earlier judgments rather than exploring information to form their own opinions. And that shift has consequences.
What Institutions Risk Losing
The Axios data adds another layer: smaller, specialized sources are seeing the largest drops in visibility. These are often where more detailed, niche or emerging ideas live.
For higher education institutions, this reality raises several risks:
- Reduced visibility for niche programs: Specialized or emerging programs—often critical to workforce needs—may be less likely to surface in AI-generated responses to broad questions.
- Loss of narrative control: Institutions no longer fully shape how their program descriptions. AI tools interpret and summarize on a school’s behalf.
- Flattening of differentiation: Unique institutional strengths can be compressed into generalized descriptions, making varied institutions look more similar than they are.
These risks could directly impact engagement and enrollment across the U.S. If students are making earlier decisions based on synthesized answers, institutions have fewer opportunities to influence consideration and choice. In short, the shift in search is not just about traffic. It’s about who gets seen, how they are understood and when decisions are made.
From Learner to Earner: What’s at Stake?
This shift also affects how students understand pathways, not just institutions. Questions about credentials versus degrees or short-term versus long-term value are rarely simple. Answering these questions requires context, comparison and sometimes iteration—something information vending machines don’t naturally provide.
Instead, these systems dispense a single answer, simplified pathways and general recommendations. These may be good starting points, but they are not always enough to support informed, long-term decisions that can have life-changing impacts on a person’s career and future earnings. AI-generated answers can provide clarity but not always context. We may be getting better at answering questions, but AI may not necessarily be better at helping students understand how education connects to work over time.
What AI Search Means for Institutions
If the way students find and engage with information is changing, institutions will need to adjust accordingly. A few considerations:
- Designing for interpretation, not just information: People are no longer the only ones reading content—AI is as well. Program, outcome and pathway descriptions matter more than ever, as AI systems are likely to take descriptions at face value and may draw conclusions based on a single program page. One practical step: Ask an AI chatbot what takeaways it draws from your website.
- Making pathways explicit and connected: Students need help understanding how credentials build over time. Clearly articulate progression from entry point to career outcome.
- Differentiating beyond program titles: Generic labels are easily flattened. Institutions may need to more clearly signal what makes their offerings distinct through outcomes, experiences and partnerships.
- Balancing speed with depth: Short, accessible content can draw students in, but institutions still play a key role in supporting deeper exploration once interest is established.
A Shift in Responsibility
When you no longer see the shelves—or the full set of options—it’s harder to know what you’re not seeing. In the past, the effort required to search was part of what helped build understanding. Now that effort is being reduced, the responsibility shifts, not just to the user but to institutions themselves. Colleges and universities are not just information providers; they are guides for understanding and using that information.
Looking Ahead
The decline in search traffic is often framed as a challenge for publishers, but it is also a signal for higher education. As the experience of finding information changes, so does the experience of learning from it and deciding what comes next. We have entered what might be called the information vending machine stage. While it brings speed and accessibility, it also introduces new questions about gaps in information with implications for understanding and decision making. Colleges and universities have the opportunity to help students move beyond quick answers toward a clearer, more connected understanding of their education and career pathways.
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Source: Axios, based on Chartbeat data on global search traffic trends (2024–2026)