Challenge
As search behavior evolves, brands are no longer competing only for rankings on traditional search engine results pages. They are also competing for visibility inside AI-generated answers, large language models, and conversational search experiences. For organizations like Scholarship America, this shift creates a new opportunity: to meet students, families, donors, and partners at the exact moment they are asking AI platforms for trusted guidance.
Zozimus partnered with Scholarship America to evaluate how the organization was performing across emerging AI discovery channels and whether that visibility was translating into meaningful website behavior. Over a 90-day period, the results showed clear momentum. AI-referred traffic increased, engaged sessions grew, and key on-site events rose significantly, demonstrating that AEO was not just expanding visibility. It was beginning to create measurable business value.
Scholarship America operates in a competitive information environment where students and families are increasingly turning to AI platforms for answers about scholarships, financial aid, and education funding. Traditional SEO remains important, but AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Copilot are changing how users discover, evaluate, and act on information.
The challenge was to understand whether Scholarship America was being surfaced in these AI environments and, more importantly, whether that visibility was bringing qualified users back to the website. Zozimus needed to connect AI visibility signals with real user engagement, moving beyond impressions and mentions to evaluate actual traffic quality and on-site actions.
Strategy
Zozimus built a 90-day AEO measurement framework that combined visibility, referral, and engagement data.
This approach allowed the team to answer two essential questions. First, was Scholarship America gaining traction across AI platforms? Second, was that traction translating into meaningful visits and actions on the website?
By looking at both AI visibility and downstream performance, Zozimus was able to separate surface-level AI presence from true impact. The goal was not simply to appear in AI-generated outputs. The goal was to understand which AI platforms were driving users who engaged, converted, and took meaningful action.
Solution
Over the 90-day reporting period, Scholarship America saw strong growth in AI-referred website activity.
LLM-referred sessions increased to 10,231, representing a 26.4% quarter-over-quarter increase. Total users rose to 6,377, up 10.3%, while engaged sessions climbed to 5,934, a 7.2% increase. Most importantly, key events reached 3,037, growing 34.3% quarter over quarter.
The year-over-year comparison was even more striking. LLM-referred sessions increased 522% from March 2025 to March 2026, signaling that AI platforms are becoming a more meaningful discovery channel for Scholarship America.
The strongest performance came from ChatGPT, which emerged as the dominant AI traffic driver. ChatGPT generated 9,725 sessions, a 23.3% quarter-over-quarter increase, and drove 2,913 key events, up 31.7%. This made ChatGPT the clear primary source of AI-driven website performance.
Gemini also showed early signs of breakout potential. Although its traffic volume was still smaller, Gemini sessions increased 425%, while key events grew by more than 1,000% from a low base. With an average session duration of 8 minutes, Gemini demonstrated that it was not only sending more users, but also users who were spending meaningful time on the site.
Perplexity and Copilot remained smaller contributors during the reporting period, but they provided useful context for future monitoring. Perplexity showed signs of potential zero-click behavior, while Copilot remained a channel to watch as AI search behavior continues to mature.
Campaign Results
The biggest win was not just that AI-referred traffic increased. It was that the traffic became more valuable.
Despite a modest decline in average session duration overall, the increase in key events showed that AI-referred users were taking meaningful actions on the site. This suggests that Scholarship America’s AI visibility was beginning to influence real user behavior, not simply generate passive awareness.
Third part data also showed that Scholarship America had established a moderate but real AI footprint. Total AI mentions increased from 1,100 to 1,500, a 36% increase, while citations rose from 1,200 to 1,600, a 33% increase. At the same time, cited pages declined from 713 to 420, indicating an opportunity to broaden the number of pages AI platforms reference.
In 90 days, Scholarship America moved from AI visibility measurement to AI performance momentum. The organization increased AI-referred sessions, grew engaged traffic, and saw a significant lift in key website actions.
The clearest takeaway is that AEO is already producing measurable value. Scholarship America is being discovered through AI platforms, and those users are taking action once they arrive.
For Zozimus, this is where the magic meets the measurement. By combining data-driven analysis with a forward-looking content strategy, Zozimus helped Scholarship America see where AI visibility is working today and where the next wave of growth can come from tomorrow.
10,231
llm sessions
34%
increase in key events
522%
yoy session growth
