On this page

1. Where learners meet AI answers
2. Three kinds of question to track
3. See which subjects you own
4. Your share of a crowded answer
5. Pages the engines lean on for courses
6. How you are described
7. Read it the same way every week

A learner choosing a course can now ask an AI assistant where to study and get back a short list of providers, each with a line or two about it. This post is for colleges, universities, online course providers, bootcamps and training firms that want to be on that list, and higher up it.

Where learners meet AI answers

A school leaver asks about degrees. A parent asks which colleges suit a child who wants to study engineering. Someone in work asks which evening course will get them into data analysis. Each can put the question to ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Google AI Overviews or Google AI Mode, and the answer names providers and often links to the pages it drew on. Start by finding out which names come back for your learners' questions, and where yours sits.

Three kinds of question to track

Course and programme questions

The learner knows the subject and wants a place to study it.

• "Which online data analytics courses suit someone working full time?"
• "What are good part-time master's programmes in public health for working nurses?"
• "Recommend a coding bootcamp in [your city] for career changers with no degree."

These show whether the engines connect you with a subject at all. Give them the largest share of your questions, and write in the details a real learner adds: level, mode of study, place and situation.

Comparison questions

The learner has a few names and is choosing.

• "What are the alternatives to [a rival] for evening language classes?"
• "[A rival] or [another rival]: which is better for international students?"
• "Is the online MBA at [a rival] worth the fees?"

Track the ones that name a rival and leave you out: they show whether an engine offers you in its place. A question that names you gets you named almost by definition, so BotSay leaves those out of your headline figures.

Outcome questions

The learner describes a goal and has no provider in mind.

• "How can I move from retail into a project management job?"
• "What qualification do I need to become a dental hygienist?"
• "How do I fund a professional certificate if my employer will not pay?"

The engines answer with advice and name providers along the way, before the learner has started comparing.

Group your questions into topics that match how you recruit, by subject or by kind of learner, and give every topic you want to win at least ten. In BotSay these groups are themes. You add questions one by one, or accept the ones BotSay recommends from your website address. Our guide How many questions do you need to track AI visibility? shows how the number you track sets how precise your figures are.

See which subjects you own

You may be the name engines give for nursing and barely appear for computing. Reading your figures topic by topic shows where you lead and where a rival does. On BotSay's Standing screen, the By theme tab gives your Mention rate in each theme, the change since last week and who leads, and marks a change only when it is bigger than chance would produce.

Start your work on a topic where a rival leads and you teach the subject well.

Your share of a crowded answer

Answers about courses often name several providers at once. Being named is a good start, and your share of those mentions tells you how much of the answer is yours. BotSay reports five measures: Mention rate, Share of voice, Average rank, Your pages cited and Sentiment. The second of them, Share of voice, is that share.

Read it beside Mention rate. If your Mention rate rises while your Share of voice falls, rivals are being named even more often than you. The share is worked out over the brands you track, so keep that list steady when you compare weeks, and start it with the providers your admissions team hears about from applicants. AI share of voice: what it measures and how to raise it goes further.

Pages the engines lean on for courses

To answer a course question, an engine may read course directories, league tables, review sites where students rate their courses, forums, official registers of approved providers and the providers' own pages. Some of these you write, and you can get your name onto the rest.

Your programme pages. Learners ask about entry requirements, fees, length, mode of study, start dates and what graduates go on to do. Answer each near the top of the page, in plain words, under a heading that asks the question. Keep the page public, with no form or login in the way, and update fees and dates as soon as they change: an engine that cites last year's page repeats last year's fees.

Places you could be. BotSay's Where to get in list shows pages on other people's sites that the engines read or linked in answers that named a rival, ranked by how often, with a label for what to do.

• Get listed for an official body or directory: apply, then keep the entry current.
• Claim your profile for a review site: complete it, then ask students and graduates to review you there.
• Take part for a community: answer the questions your courses fit, from an account that says who you are.
• Pitch them for a publisher: offer an expert quote, or data you hold that a journalist would want to cite.

Our post Pages AI assistants cite: how to make yours one covers the kinds of page engines link to.

How you are described

An answer can name you and still steer a learner away with a line about cost or workload. BotSay's Evidence screen lists the answers that named you, least favourable first, with the quote and the engine on each row. Sentiment gives the week's figure from 0 to 100, estimated by a model, and the quotes tell you what to fix on your own pages.

Read it the same way every week

If you recruit from a few countries, ask your key questions as each of them. BotSay asks each engine as the country you choose for each question, except Gemini, which gives the same answer wherever it is asked from. Keep the questions and their wording the same each week too, so each reading compares cleanly with the last.

Answers vary a little from day to day, so note the number of answers beside every Mention rate you report. BotSay shows Mention rate with its likely range and the number of answers behind it, and calls a change real only once it is bigger than both weeks' uncertainty put together. Our guide Is my AI visibility score real? shows how to check any number yourself.

A learner settles on a course before it starts, often months before, and a new page needs time to be read and cited. Publish and update programme pages well ahead of your main intake.

Four topics of ten questions on six engines is 240 answers to read and count every week. BotSay asks your questions on all six engines every week, through each provider's official developer access or a licensed search-data provider, works out the five measures with your rivals beside you, and ranks your work by how many questions each piece could win. Your reading arrives in the weekly email.

Keep reading

Industries

AI visibility for travel and hospitality: get chosen

See where your hotel, tour or travel brand stands when travellers ask AI assistants where to stay and what to book, and how to be the name they choose.

28 Oct 2026 · 6 min readRead →

Industries

AI visibility for ecommerce brands: get recommended

The questions shoppers ask AI assistants before they buy, how to see whether your products are named, and the pages and places that get you recommended.

21 Oct 2026 · 6 min readRead →

Industries

AI visibility for financial services: earning trust

See where your firm stands when buyers ask AI assistants money questions: the questions to track, how you are described, the pages cited.

12 Oct 2026 · 5 min readRead →