This ChatGPT change is another reason why your MSP’s website must have a pricing page

This is a deeper dive into a post I made last week.

Something significant happened in AI search last month, and I don’t think many MSPs have noticed yet. Which is good news, because it presents a big opportunity for your MSP to be recommended more by the major AI engines.

You want that?

I subscribe to several paid marketing newsletters to keep on top of this stuff. It changes fast. One of them last week flagged something worth talking about.

For the last couple of years, Reddit has been one of the most heavily cited sources whenever ChatGPT answers a question. Someone asks “how much does X cost” or “is Y any good” and ChatGPT would often quote a Reddit thread back at them.

Why Reddit? Because that’s where a lot of honest opinion lives online.

In August, that changed dramatically. Independent tracking firms monitoring millions of ChatGPT citations recorded Reddit’s share of citations falling from around 3.8% to roughly 0.5% in the space of about a week. An 86% drop. This has been covered by Forbes, Axios, and several other outlets since.

Nobody’s entirely sure why. It looks like ChatGPT changed how it searches, going directly to official websites using targeted site searches rather than casting a wide net across the open web.

(there’s also a theory that Reddit itself blocked AI crawlers from parts of its site. Both could be true)

What matters most for your MSP is what replaced Reddit.

Look at the sentence in bold above. Official websites replaced Reddit. When someone asks “how much does Notion cost,” ChatGPT now quotes Notion’s own pricing page instead of a Reddit thread discussing it.

Why this matters enormously for MSPs

Think about what a business owner does when they’re fed up with their current IT company. Increasingly, they’re NOT typing “IT support near me” into Google.

They’re opening their AI tool of choice and asking something like “how much does IT support cost for a 30 person company” or “what should I expect to pay for managed IT services.”

Until recently, the answer to that question was quite possibly being pulled from a Reddit thread with no connection to your MSP whatsoever. Now, if your website has clear, specific pricing information, ChatGPT is far more likely to quote your site directly.

Can you see why I'm excited about this? It's an opportunity for you... but only if you have the relevant information on your website.

Three pages every MSP needs right now

1) A pricing page with real numbers

ChatGPT can’t and won't use “contact us for a quote” in its answer. It needs something specific to cite. A per-user price range, or at the very least a starting figure. Better, a pricing calculator with a clear output. If you’ve been avoiding putting any pricing information on your website, this is a strong new reason to reconsider.

2) A comparison page

Buyers are increasingly asking AI tools to compare their options. “Company A vs Company B, which is better for a manufacturer.” When that comparison content doesn’t exist anywhere neutral, the AI has to work from whatever it can find, and it will quote whoever actually wrote something. A well-written, honest comparison page between your MSP and the kind of alternative your prospects are weighing up gives the AI something specific to reference. Don't be scared to write about your competitors. In a second I'm going to recommend a book that dives into this subject and will convince you it's the right thing to do

3) An FAQ that answers each question in the first sentence

AI tools favour content structured to directly answer a specific question rather than three paragraphs of preamble before the actual answer arrives. Write your FAQ so the first sentence under each question is the complete answer, in plain language, ideally using the same words your clients actually use when they ask you these things.

A caveat to this

Reddit hasn’t disappeared from AI search entirely, of course. Threads where a real person, using a real name, gives a detailed and specific answer are apparently still finding their way into AI chatbot responses. What seems to have dropped out is the anonymous, low-effort stuff.

So this isn’t really a story about Reddit losing relevance. It’s a story about AI tools getting fussier about where they pull information from, and rewarding sources that are specific, credible, and easy to verify. Your own website, done properly, now qualifies more than it used to.

What to do about it

Go and check right now...

• Does your website have a pricing page with actual numbers on it?
• A comparison page?
• An FAQ that gets straight to the point?

If not, that’s worth spending some time on in the next week. AI search changes fast, and being ready before your competitors catch on is exactly the kind of advantage that’s worth having.

Does your MSP have a pricing page right now? Let me know. I read and reply to every email😃

PS If you need more convincing about why it's so important to put these things on your website, go read or listen to the book Endless Customers by Marcus Sheridan. It wasn't written specifically for MSPs but it could have been. Incredibly relevant to you.

PPS I can help you get a proper pricing page live quickly, thanks to MSP Price Guide. This is my collaboration with Marcus and his partner Steve Auchettl. It gives your prospects a real, interactive pricing estimate and captures leads at the same time. Have a look at MSPpriceguide.com.

PPPS Dave Sobel talked about the importance of this on his Business of Tech podcast last Friday, including some specific advice to check how well your MSP's pricing information is performing in different AI models. Listen here.