A Graduate Student Survey brought to you by Carnegie, CollegeXpress, and NAGAP
SEO + Website Impact on Prospective Graduate Students' College Search
In the spring of 2022, Carnegie asked 2,008 prospective graduate students to weigh in on the journey from search engine to higher education website. They told us how SEO factors—such as where and how a school appears in Google Search results—impact their likelihood to click through to a website. They also told us how website structure, design, and content affect where they decide to apply and ultimately enroll.
HomeHow search engines and higher ed websites impact prospective graduate students’ college/university search
In spring of 2022, we asked 2,008 prospects to weigh in on the journey from search engine to higher education website. They told us how SEO factors—such as where and how a grad program appears in Google Search results—impact their likelihood to click through to a website. They also told us how website structure, design, and content affect where they decide to apply and ultimately enroll. We asked questions such as:
- What is one piece of advice you’d give to graduate schools for how they’re appearing in search results and the information they provide in those search results?
- How many times do you visit a school’s website prior to requesting information about the school or program?
- What information do you wish that degree and program pages provided up front/provided more detail on?
Thousands of free-form responses unearthed all of the information prospects need but don’t find on higher education websites. We’ve compiled it all here with actionable insights!
Be sure to check out our corresponding Undergraduate Student Survey white paper.
“There is no excuse to not have every bit of information readily available online; anything else looks deceptive.” Survey Respondent
Download the white paper.