How to structure pricing pages for SI search
Why do brands with hidden pricing fall behind in SI answers? Learn how to structure plans, VAT, currency and the “request a quote” model for SI.
Pricing pages for SI search should be structured so that plans, prices and the conditions that determine those prices are clear enough for an SI model to read and compare directly. Users now ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity questions such as “what does this software cost per month?”, “how much should I expect to pay for this service?” or “which plan is enough for me?”. When answering, the model uses the easiest-to-read pricing page as its source. If the price sits inside an image, in a component loaded later with JavaScript or only behind a “talk to sales” button, the model cannot pass on the brand’s price and describes the competitor who publishes its price openly. Worse, it may piece together pricing from third-party comparison sites or old press coverage and give a wrong figure. In this guide, we cover what happens when prices are not published, how plans should be presented, how businesses working on a “request a quote” model can still describe pricing and which conditions must always be stated.
What does SI do when pricing is not published?
When pricing is not published, SI either avoids giving a price or tries to fill the gap from third-party sources. In the first case, the user gets an answer such as “contact the company for pricing” and, because they want to compare, often turns to an option that shows its price clearly. In the second case, the model may use old plan information from software comparison platforms, estimates from forum comments or a figure mentioned in a press release from years ago.
The phrase “this vendor has not provided pricing information”, common on comparison platforms, is the most visible example of this gap. Because these pages list competitors’ prices on the same screen, a brand that hides its price is put at a disadvantage both on that platform and in SI answers that use it as a source. The assumption that hiding the price will bring the sales team more meetings can reverse in an SI-mediated research process: users do the shortlisting with SI before requesting a meeting, and an option without pricing information never makes the shortlist.
How should plans be presented so an agent can compare them?
Plans should be presented in an HTML table that shows each plan’s name, price, billing period and scope in the same order and with the same units. Cards laid out side by side, each with a different design, may appeal to users, but they make it harder for a model to match the information across them. Especially when one plan uses a phrase like “unlimited users” and another uses “ideal for teams”, comparison becomes impossible.
The example below shows the plans of a fictional project management software in a form the model can read easily:
| Plan | Monthly Price (Excl. VAT) | Monthly Price When Billed Annually | Users | Storage | Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 490 TRY | 390 TRY | Up to 5 users | 10 GB | |
| Team | 1,490 TRY | 1,190 TRY | Up to 25 users | 100 GB | Email and live chat |
| Enterprise | From 4,900 TRY | Set through consultation | 25 users and above | 1 TB and above | Dedicated account manager |
In this structure, it is notable that even the enterprise plan has a starting price. Even when the full price is set through consultation, stating a lower bound allows the model to say “the enterprise plan starts from 4,900 TRY”. Adding a short explanation after the table about who each plan suits also makes it easier for the model to recommend the right plan based on the user’s team size. Marking up price information as structured data also helps different SI systems read the same information consistently.
How can service businesses that say “request a quote” describe pricing?
Service businesses whose prices vary by project can appear in SI answers by publishing price ranges, starting prices and the factors that determine price instead of an exact figure. For a law firm, an architecture practice, a dental clinic or a digital marketing consultancy, every job may be priced differently. But users still ask “how much does this service cost on average?”, and sources that answer that question stand out in the response.
A pricing page for service businesses can be strengthened with the following elements:
- Starting prices: A lower bound such as “our website design projects start from 150,000 TRY” allows users to pre-assess their budget.
- Typical price ranges: “Usually within this range” information for the most common types of work clarifies expectations without giving an exact price.
- Factors that determine price: Explaining factors such as scope, duration, materials and level of expertise allows the model to explain price differences to users accurately.
- Example scenarios: Concrete examples such as “a typical budget for a 10-page corporate website” help users compare their own situation.
- Free initial consultation information: Whether the consultation is paid and how long it takes makes it easier for users to evaluate the next step.
In regulated fields such as health, law and finance, pricing information needs to comply with the relevant professional rules and legislation. In these fields, emphasising process, scope and factor information instead of price also makes the business a reliable source in SI answers.
Which conditions should be stated clearly alongside the price?
The billing period, whether VAT is included, the currency, the minimum contract term, cancellation terms and any trial period should be stated clearly alongside the price. A price given without this information can mislead users and be included in wrong comparisons by the model. Presenting the discounted monthly price that applies to annual billing as if it applied to monthly billing is one of the most common mistakes.
What users really want to know is often not the listed price, but the total cost. Information such as setup fees, per-user fees, overage charges and the price of add-on modules should sit right next to the plan price. Spreading this information across separate pages or footnotes leads SI to pass on only the headline price and users to face surprises later.
Why does ambiguity about VAT and currency lead to wrong comparisons?
Ambiguity about VAT and currency leads the model to compare prices built on different bases as if they were on the same basis. If one brand shows its price excluding VAT and a competitor shows it including VAT, and this is not clearly stated, the model may present the price excluding VAT as cheaper. Similarly, in markets where prices in dollars and Turkish lira are used together, not stating the currency clearly next to every price can make the comparison meaningless. Brands serving Türkiye that set prices in foreign currency also provide clarity by stating which exchange rate is used for the lira equivalent.
How is outdated information cleaned up when prices change?
When prices change, outdated information is cleaned up by visibly showing the pricing page’s last-updated date, updating information on third-party platforms and editing pages that contain old prices. When SI models see a price with different values across multiple sources, they struggle to decide which one is current. A “last updated” date on the pricing page helps the model prefer the most recent information.
The places to check after a price change are often more numerous than expected: vendor profiles on software comparison platforms, promotional pages on partners’ websites, old prices mentioned in the brand’s own blog posts, the FAQ page and press releases. Updating these sources reduces the risk of the model passing on an old price as “current information”. Even if old information in a model’s training data does not change immediately, SI answers that run real-time searches adapt to current sources faster.
How do you check how the pricing page is reflected in SI answers?
How the pricing page is reflected in SI answers is checked by regularly asking price- and cost-focused questions across different platforms and recording which figure the brand is mentioned with. Questions such as “how much does X software cost?”, “what is the price difference between X and Y?” or “which tool is more affordable for a 10-person team?” form the basis of this check. The brand being mentioned with the correct price, a wrong price or no price at all in answers requires three different actions.
In its GEO consulting work, Webtures treats the pricing page not just as a conversion page, but as a source that determines which budget segment the brand is positioned in within SI answers; the page’s structure, pricing information on third-party platforms and figures passed on in answers are audited together. When price-focused prompt sets are tracked with a GEO tool such as Brantial, it becomes clear on which platforms the brand starts to be mentioned with the correct figure after an edit to the pricing page, and where outdated information is still circulating. This visibility also makes it possible to prioritise the external sources that need updating.
