GUIDE · FOR UK SOLAR INSTALLERS · 10 MIN READ

Solar Advertising: Running Google and Facebook Ads for Commercial Solar Enquiries

Platform rules and ASA guidance come from the official pages listed at the end. No invented click costs or conversion rates: your own account data is the benchmark.

Who paid ads suit for commercial solar

Paid ads are one of the channels in our comparison of nine ways to get commercial solar leads: fast to switch on, but they need running. They amplify a business that can already deliver, so if you're still becoming a solar installer, get certified and set up with UK solar wholesalers first.

Why "free solar quote" ads attract the wrong people

Domestic solar ads are built for volume: a free quote, a bill-saving headline, a three-field form. Copy them and you get the same audience — homeowners, renters, grant-hunters. A business buyer wants to know you do roofs like theirs, that you'll handle the DNO application — usually a G99 application, as only the smallest systems fit under G98 — and that the numbers work for their usage. Ads that say "commercial", name building types and ask about the business filter out homeowners before you pay for the click.

Google Search ads, step by step

1. 1

   Define a good enquiry

   Building type, rough system size, the regions you cover, and a decision-maker. Keywords, form questions and the qualifying call all follow from it.

2. 2

   Split campaigns by intent

   Google says broad match can show ads on searches that 'don't contain the direct meaning of your keywords'; phrase match needs 'the meaning of your keyword'; exact match 'the same meaning or same intent'. Start business terms on phrase and exact, and widen only once you know what converts.

3. 3

   Load negatives, then mine search terms weekly

   Negatives don't match close variants or synonyms, so add plurals yourself. Google advises adding irrelevant terms from the search terms report as negatives; low-volume terms are hidden for privacy.

4. 4

   Set location and schedule

   Google's default, 'Presence or interest', includes people merely interested in your area. If you install within a radius, consider 'Presence'. Ad scheduling keeps ads to hours when someone can answer.

5. 5

   Write ads that filter

   Responsive search ads take up to 15 headlines (30 characters) and 4 descriptions (90). Say who it's for so homeowners don't click.

6. 6

   Use a business landing page

   Quality Score includes landing page experience: 'how relevant and useful your landing page is to people who click your ad'.

Only say "MCS certified" if you are; see MCS certification for solar installers.

Keyword themes: business buyers vs homeowners

Keyword tools generally show solar terms as competitive, so check Keyword Planner's volume and cost estimates for your own regions rather than anyone's averages.

Check negatives against your offer: drop "battery" only if you don't fit storage. Negative broad match blocks a search only when it contains all the negative's words; phrase and exact are stricter.

Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and LinkedIn

Meta lead ads use instant forms built on "information people already shared with Facebook", so submitting is easy — too easy. Add custom questions (business type, own or lease, annual electricity bill) and turn on the step where a person "reviews and confirms their answers". Meta finds people, not companies, so let the creative target: a warehouse roof, "for business owners in [county]". A plain solar ad isn't a Special Ad Category, but a finance offer may count as "Financial products and services", which Meta's documentation says restricts age and gender targeting, lookalikes and location radius in the US, Canada and Europe.

LinkedIn targets by job title, company name, industry and seniority. Its Lead Gen Forms prefill profile details, take up to three custom questions and cost nothing beyond the ad spend. Use it for named sectors, not volume.

Lead forms, speed to lead and the qualifying call

Native forms (Google lead form assets, Meta instant forms, LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms) raise volume; a landing page lets you show commercial projects and ask harder questions. Either way, get leads out daily: Google lets you download lead form leads from the last 30 days only, so connect a webhook or CRM. Then call every enquiry the same working day. Example opener:

Book the survey with the decision-maker present, then use our commercial solar survey checklist and how to sell commercial solar.

Tracking: from click to signed job

Google tracks website actions and calls as conversions and lets you import offline ones; enhanced conversions for leads matches closed leads from your CRM, hashed, back to campaigns. Feed it attended surveys and signed jobs, not just form fills.

Cost per attended survey is the figure to compare with other channels — see how much commercial solar leads cost.

UK rules: ASA, CAP Code and data

• B2B ads are covered. The CAP Code applies to paid search listings, promoted social posts and your own website, and defines a consumer as 'anyone who is likely to see a given marketing communication, whether in the course of business or not'.
• Evidence first. Rule 3.7: hold 'documentary evidence' for objective claims before the ad runs. Payback, bill savings and generation figures are objective.
• 'Up to' must be achievable. The ASA wants evidence that 'a significant proportion of customers can actually achieve the maximum saving'. In March 2026 it ruled against Centrica Hive's 'up to 94%' solar claim: 44% of customers were expected to reach it, and the assumptions weren't disclosed.
• Green claims need a basis. CAP advises explaining the basis of environmental claims and holding robust evidence; claims mislead through 'omission, exaggeration or ambiguity'.
• Forms collect personal data. The ICO says privacy information is due 'at the time you collect their personal data'. Google's lead form assets require a privacy policy link.

Base any generation or savings figure on a proper estimate — MIS 3002 and solar design software — and state its assumptions. Not legal advice.

Budgets, as the platforms describe them

• Google: an average daily budget. For most campaigns a day's spend can reach twice it; a month's charge won't exceed 30.4 times it.
• Meta: daily or lifetime; a lifetime budget spends more on days with better opportunities.
• LinkedIn: daily or lifetime, with a minimum shown in Campaign Manager.

What it really takes

Where it usually goes wrong

• Domestic-style copy. 'Free solar quote' attracts homeowners, and you pay for every click.
• Broad match, no negatives. Budget leaks into jobs, grants and DIY kits.
• Optimising for cheap form fills. Show the platform only form fills and it finds more of them. Import surveys and signed jobs.
• Slow call-backs. A lead left in an inbox overnight is spend thrown away.
• Unprovable savings claims. The pattern the ASA keeps ruling against.
• Judging too early, or never. A fortnight teaches nothing; an unwatched quarter loses money.

Do it yourself vs have it done

Run ads yourself if someone can own the account every week, sales calls back the same day and you can test for months; the control is worth having, alongside SEO for solar companies and solar partnerships and referrals. If your time is better spent surveying and installing, paying for the click, the call-back and the qualifying rarely beats paying for the appointment. Solar Surveys UK books qualified commercial survey appointments with business owners, from £400+VAT to £1,000+VAT per lead by system size, no retainer. See the commercial solar leads available, or why booked surveys beat form fills.

Solar advertising: FAQ