Are we approaching Google zero?

Dear higher ed,

It's awareness season. An entire cohort of college-going students is being made aware of institutions of higher education around the country.

When they are aware, they do many different things. Some visit the .edu directly; I know that because direct traffic from new users is often the first or second path into the site.

The data says the other way they get to the .edu is via organic Google search.

You'll hear a lot this enrollment cycle from higher education influencers that fewer people will visit the .edu.

You can listen to them and look at your data. Check organic traffic via direct and search in August '25 and compare it to August '24 and August '23.

At 3E, we use Looker Studio to do this. It's a simple Google-owned tool that lets you look at data without logging into, or even understanding GA4.

You could also ask for a report from your web team.

Can you give us June 1 2024 to June 1, 2025 data on NEW USER traffic to the .edu via direct and search.

Ask for the report with monthly data, in an Excel or Google sheet.

Then, get the monthly report from the web team.

If you attend a conference like the American Marketing Association Higher Ed conference, you can go armed with data.

What have I seen in the data?

Good question. I've seen some 3E partners who are up in YoY organic traffic. I've seen some who are down. One is down 44%, but one is up 10%.

What does this mean as we move forward?

Well, if new users are not coming to the .edu as often as they did in the past, then it is critical to keep them in a nurture stream that has empathy and understanding of the enrollment cycle. That's what 3Ei Conversion Apply 2025 is all about, BTW.

It's also important to know where the databases are pulling the responses from.

Do you know where the answers are coming from?

This is what I'm studying. This is the AI Roadmap I'm delivering to our partners.

What are you seeing in the data?