LINKEDIN NOW REWARDS SAVES AND SHARES, NOT LIKES
LinkedIn’s algorithm overhaul is fully in effect: saves and direct shares are now the primary ranking signal for B2B content, and a post with 200 saves and 50 sends can outperform one with 2,000 likes by three to five times in reach. Personal profiles are also still massively outperforming company pages for distribution and document-style “carousel” posts are the top-performing format at roughly 6.6% engagement, ahead of native video. What this means for your MSP: stop posting from the company page as your main channel – post from your own profile and your technical leads’ profiles instead. Write posts people want to save for later (checklists, frameworks, “here’s what I’d tell a client”) rather than posts chasing quick reactions.
GOOGLE’S AI OVERVIEWS ARE REWRITING LOCAL SEARCH, AND MOST MSPS AREN’T READY
AI Overviews now appear on over 40% of local business searches, and the figure is still climbing. The critical detail: 66% of the URLs Google cites inside these AI answers don’t rank in the traditional top 10 organic results and informational-intent searches (“what does an MSP do,” “how much does managed IT cost”) trigger AI Overviews 92% of the time. Ranking #1 the old way no longer guarantees you get cited.
What this means for your MSP: this is a genuine opportunity to leapfrog bigger competitors. Build FAQ-style pages that directly answer the questions your prospects are typing into Google and ChatGPT, keep your Google Business Profile fully completed and consistent with your website, and make sure your service pages read like clear answers, not sales copy.
TRUST AND SPECIALISATION ARE BEATING PRICE AND BREADTH
Two data points worth knowing: MSPs report cyber security climbing from 26% to 31% as a top business priority this year, driven by client demand and rising GDPR/NIS2 pressure and generalist positioning is losing to vertical specialists at every stage of the buying process. Buyers are also doing far more self-directed research with AI tools before ever speaking to a salesperson.
What this means for your MSP: if your website and LinkedIn presence still read “we support any business, any industry,” that’s costing you. Pick one or two verticals (or compliance niches) you genuinely understand and say so everywhere – homepage, LinkedIn headline, case studies. Specificity is what AI search and human buyers both reward right now.
AUTOMATION TIP: LET AI DO OUTREACH RESEARCH, NOT OUTREACH WRITING
The 2026 MSP Marketing Report from ConnectWise found an increasing use of AI and automation to scale outreach and personalise it without adding headcount. The winning pattern isn’t AI-written mass emails (buyers can spot these instantly); it’s AI-assisted research – summarising a prospect’s tech stack, recent news, or compliance exposure – that a real person then uses to write one genuinely relevant line.
Quick win: before your next round of outbound work, do you know you ICP, is your message on target when reaching out. Most of what we see is not on point and misses engagement. Do your research find the relevant fact about each prospect (a recent hire, a compliance deadline, a tech vendor they use) and reference it in your first line! Or talk to us about how we can help identfy your ICP and target them with briliant copy that books meetings.
YOUR ACTION FOR THIS MONTH
Pick one thing from this issue and do it before our next email lands: rewrite your LinkedIn headline and top-of-profile summary around the one vertical or niche you want to be known for, and post one “save-worthy” document or checklist post from your personal profile this week.