AUIB
Modernizing AUIB’s Digital Presence for Continued Academic Growth
The American University of Iraq – Baghdad (AUIB) is a private, not-for-profit institution that opened in 2018 and began classes in early 2021. Since launching with three founding colleges, the university has expanded to seven, adding programs in Pharmacy, Dentistry, Health Technologies, and Law while continuing to grow the university’s academic presence.
As AUIB expanded, its existing NET-based website no longer reflected the university’s scale, prestige, or visual character. The institution needed a more modern digital experience that could showcase its campus, including the iconic Al-Faw Palace, while making information easier to find and giving internal teams greater control over ongoing content updates.
AUIB needed a website that could better support prospective students, current students, faculty, and visitors while presenting the university in a more polished and modern way. The goal was to improve navigation, surface key academic and admissions information more clearly, and create a stronger visual experience around the campus and university brand.
The new platform also needed to be easier to manage internally and better positioned for search visibility and engagement. Moving away from the existing .NET framework created an opportunity to build a more flexible, scalable foundation that could support AUIB’s continued growth.
- Digital Strategy
- UX/UI Design
- Web Design
- Web Development
- WordPress Development
- SEO Strategy
Lounge Lizard migrated AUIB’s website from its legacy .NET framework to WordPress, creating a more flexible platform serving both users and internal administrators. The site architecture and navigation were reworked around a dynamic mega menu, making it easier for visitors to move between academic programs, admissions information, registration content, and other key resources.
The visual experience was also elevated to reflect the university’s character better. Campus imagery was brought forward throughout the site, while course and registration information was simplified and reorganized to improve discoverability. Tracking pixels were also implemented to give AUIB greater insight into how visitors interact with the experience. In contrast, the new content management system gave internal teams more independence over day-to-day updates.
The redesigned website gave AUIB a digital presence that better reflects the university’s growth, prestige, and visual identity. Visitors can now navigate academic and admissions information more easily, while stronger campus imagery creates a more compelling introduction to the institution and its environment.
The results were immediate: organic traffic increased by 116%, with stronger engagement, more pageviews, longer time on site, and a lower bounce rate. The move to WordPress also gave AUIB a simpler and scalable platform, allowing internal teams to update content more efficiently while supporting continued SEO growth and future expansion.
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