For years, many service businesses hid pricing behind “call for a quote.” That’s starting to cost them. Larger companies are especially reluctant to publish prices, which leaves an opening for smaller competitors.

The new button: “Have AI check pricing”

Google now offers a “Have AI check pricing” option in Search. Here’s how it works:

Google says it’s working to expand to more services. My takeaway from the talk: pricing informs AI recommendations, so it belongs in structured, visible form rather than behind a contact form.

What my testing found

Any pricing at all improves your odds of being recommended in AI answers, and lower pricing improves them further. That’s an observation from testing, not a published rule, but it matches the incentive: an assistant asked for “a good, affordable option” needs numbers to compare.

How to publish pricing so machines can use it

1. Structure it. Mark up prices with Service and Offer schema so they’re machine-readable, not just a number in a paragraph. Pair it with LocalBusiness structured data so engines can tie the price to your location.
2. Publish it twice. Create a dedicated pricing page, and repeat the same numbers on each individual service page. (One deep page per service, as I covered in go deep, not wide.)
3. Be specific about scope. State what’s included, typical ranges for common jobs, and any trip or diagnostic fees.
4. Add typical-cost context. For a service company, data like “jobs of this type typically run this much” is the kind of information AI answers like to cite.

Expect it to get gamed

Vague “starting at $99” language will probably win comparisons for a while, until AI gets better at normalizing real total cost by trade. When it does, businesses with clear, complete pricing are better placed than those relying on vague teasers.

Why smaller businesses benefit

Big brands protect pricing flexibility, so they often won’t publish it. That’s the gap. A local specialist with a clear pricing page, a narrow specialty and a 4.8-star rating has three signals chains find hard to match at once. (Why the rating matters more than review count is in “plumber near me” now has two rulebooks.)

Want help structuring your pricing for AI search? Get in touch.