UW MBA Consortium
AI SEO & Digital Advertising Proposal
A focused plan to improve online MBA visibility, lead quality, tracking clarity, and enrollment-driven campaign performance.
What's inside
A concise proposal built from the standard Search Influence template, with the custom points limited to the decisions that matter most.
Why search, AI visibility, and paid campaigns need to support enrollment outcomes.
Where UW MBA Consortium can strengthen visibility, conversion paths, and measurement.
Standard strategy, setup, management, reporting, and landing-page modules.
One competitive budget, modeled on the UNT Health package approach.
Prospective MBA students are comparing options before they ever inquire.
UW MBA Consortium needs to be clear, consistent, and easy for search engines, AI tools, and prospective students to understand.
Online MBA prospects compare programs by format, credibility, outcomes, cost, flexibility, and regional fit.
AI tools summarize program choices from repeated, trusted signals across websites, citations, rankings, and third-party sources.
The goal is not traffic alone. Reporting should connect visibility and campaigns to qualified inquiries, applications, completed applications, and enrollments.
This matters because UW MBA Consortium has already seen campaigns generate traffic without the downstream engagement or application movement the team needed.
The brand story needs to be unmistakable.
UW MBA Consortium is a distinct online MBA partnership, not simply UW-Eau Claire, UW Oshkosh, or UW La Crosse alone.
The consortium has a differentiated University of Wisconsin partnership story, an online format, and regional credibility for Wisconsin and nearby states.
Search and AI systems may blur the consortium with partner institutions or nearby UW MBA options unless entity signals are consistent and repeated.
Clear entity, program, partner-school, geography, FAQ, schema, and comparison content that reinforces what the degree is and who it is for.
Online MBA
UW-Eau Claire, UW Oshkosh, UW La Crosse
Wisconsin + bordering states
Qualified applications and enrollment
Paid media should not repeat the old failure mode.
The next campaign should be built around quality signals, dedicated landing paths, and visibility into Slate/GA4 outcomes.
- Prior campaigns increased traffic but did not create the enrollment impact the team wanted.
- Traffic went to the main site rather than dedicated campaign landing pages.
- Campaign reporting did not give the program enough visibility into quality and funnel movement.
- Campaigns start with strategy, tracking, and conversion definitions.
- Two focused landing pages align ad intent with inquiry/application paths.
- Dashboard reporting ties work to inquiries, applications, completed applications, and enrollment signals where available.
Goal: build measurable enrollment demand for the online MBA.
Search Influence will connect visibility, paid media, landing pages, and analytics into a monthly operating rhythm focused on qualified prospects.
Focus on the online MBA audience, Wisconsin and nearby-state demand, and high-intent comparison/search behavior.
Improve AI/organic search clarity around the program, partners, geography, outcomes, and differentiators.
Set up campaigns, landing pages, conversion tracking, and reporting before optimizing spend.
Use search, ad, landing-page, GA4, AI visibility, and Slate feedback to adjust priorities.
SCALE the Search Influence Way
A practical operating model for strategy, campaign launch, reporting, and ongoing optimization.
For UW MBA Consortium, SCALE means starting with outcome definitions, building the right visibility and campaign foundation, and using monthly performance data to improve lead quality over time.
Onboarding & Goal Setting
Confirm the goals, stakeholders, access, timelines, and reporting expectations needed to start cleanly.
- Website/CMS process
- GA4, Google Search Console, GTM, ad accounts, Slate reporting inputs
- Brand, program, audience, and prior campaign materials
- Stakeholder introductions
- Day-to-day contacts and reviewers
- Publishing, campaign, and landing-page approval workflow
- SMART goal setting
- Funnel definitions and KPI hierarchy
- Launch milestones and monthly reporting cadence
AI SEO Initial Analysis & Strategy
Initial analysis connects entity, content, technical, authority, and baseline visibility work into an actionable roadmap.
Entity, keyword, and topic research & analysis; collaborative prioritization based on goals and potential ROI.
Content review & competitive analysis across priority pages, search results, and AI answer patterns.
Technical website analysis: crawlability, structured data, indexation, site architecture, and internal linking.
Link profile and citation analysis; SEO baseline: organic rankings and AI visibility for targeted prompts.
Custom AI and organic SEO plan with targeted entities, keywords, and near-term/long-term initiatives.
Execute AI SEO Strategy
Specific tactics are customized to UW MBA Consortium's goals, access, and implementation model.
- Align content with key entities and search intent
- Optimize title tags, headings, and metadata
- Strengthen entity connections through internal linking and structured data
- Differentiate with information gain and subject matter expert insight
- Lean into content freshness
- Secure backlinks and citations
- Optimize directories and industry listings
- Publish digital PR with strategic links/language
- Optimize/create YouTube videos and LinkedIn articles
- Implement schema
- Improve crawlability, speed, and mobile health
- Improve navigation, internal linking, and URL structure
Google Paid Search Setup & Management
Show up for high-quality online MBA searches and drive qualified prospects through dedicated conversion paths.
- 4-6 weeks from kickoff
- Keyword research
- Campaign and ad group strategy
- Setup campaigns and ad groups
- Responsive search ads for each ad group
- Ad extensions: callout, sitelink, location, etc.
- Connect Google Ads & Analytics
- UTM tracking
- Google Ads conversions / import GA goals or key events
- Integrate available lead-quality feedback into optimization decisions
- Campaign analysis and updates
- Conversion optimization recommendations
- Ad copy and landing page testing/tuning
- Budget pacing and lead-quality review
LinkedIn Advertising
Reach professional audiences who are actively evaluating career growth, graduate education, and flexible MBA options.
- 4-6 weeks from kickoff
- Audience targeting research
- Campaign and ad group strategy
- Campaign creative: ad copy and imagery
- Up to 4 target messages
- Targeting groups, including custom audiences from first-party data
- Select landing pages
- Conversion tracking
- CallRail / LinkedIn Ads and URLs if relevant
- UTM discipline for landing page and funnel review
- Campaign analysis and updates
- Monitor performance relative to goals
- Ongoing optimizations
- Creative rotation when appropriate
Conversion Optimized Landing Pages
Two campaign landing pages to align ad intent with focused inquiry and application paths.
- Focused calls to action
- Lead generation elements
- Landing page experience aligned with ad messaging and design
- Design/development of up to 2 campaign landing pages
- Conversion-focused page separate from main website
- Conversion-optimized copy and title tags
- Key calls to action
May include contact form placement/design or clear inquiry/application option.
Dashboard, Analytics & Reporting
Reporting should connect strategy, completed work, visibility, traffic, and lead/funnel signals in language the team can use.
Analytics assessment, GA4, GSC, Bing Webmaster Tools, conversions, events, and Looker Studio dashboard setup.
SMART goal attainment, inquiries, keyword rankings, overall and organic traffic, and content performance.
AI traffic, AI visibility, prompt/citation trends, pages cited in AI answers, and other sites appearing for tracked prompts.
Emailed insights report by the 15th, completed deliverables/tactics, and a monthly meeting to review results and discuss optimizations.
AI Visibility Tracker
Track presence in AI-powered conversations and identify where content, citations, and authority signals should be strengthened.
Overall presence in AI-powered conversation and visibility across tracked AI platforms.
Presence, position, sentiment, and competitive context for priority prompts.
Pages cited in AI answers and other sites that appear for tracked prompts.
Recommended Investment
One competitive budget, modeled on the UNT Health package approach, with setup shown separately from recurring management.
Third-party media spend is billed directly by the ad platform unless otherwise specified. Final setup line items should be confirmed against the package/pricing sheet before client delivery.
Payment Terms & Billing Practices
Standard Search Influence billing terms, with university payment exceptions available when required.
- Payments are made by credit/debit card
- Credit card authorization is standard, though exceptions to pay by ACH or check are available for universities
- One-time/setup charges are billed upon contract signing
- Digital advertising monthly charges near campaign launch, then on the 1st monthly thereafter
- First partial month ad spend/management fee prorated with minimum $1,000 management fee
- Third-party providers such as Google, LinkedIn, Meta, and CallRail are billed directly where applicable
- Monthly reporting and strategy review are included in the recurring engagement
Why Search Influence
Search Influence brings higher-ed digital marketing experience, AI search leadership, and practical reporting discipline.
Experience supporting institutions and programs where inquiry quality, application movement, and enrollment matter more than traffic alone.
Research-backed perspective on how prospective students use AI and search during program discovery.
Strategy, tracking, dashboards, and monthly optimization designed to clarify what is working and what needs to change.
Discussion Priorities
The strongest kickoff will settle the decisions that affect campaign quality and reporting confidence.
- Inquiry, qualified inquiry, started application, completed application, enrollment
- Priority recruitment terms and targets
- CMS / website process
- GA4, GTM, GSC, ad accounts, Slate reporting
- Approval workflow across partner institutions
- Priority geography
- Audience profile
- Landing-page topics
- Initial search and LinkedIn launch sequence
Recommended Next Steps
Move from approval to launch with a clean setup, clear ownership, and measurement in place before optimization begins.
Approve the competitive budget, setup fees, and two landing page assumption.
Bring marketing, admissions/Slate reporting, website/CMS, and decision-making stakeholders together.
Start access collection, tracking plan, AI/organic baseline, paid strategy, and landing-page planning.
Thank You
Search Influence
We look forward to helping UW MBA Consortium strengthen visibility, improve campaign quality, and connect marketing activity to enrollment outcomes.