GUIDE · FOR UK SOLAR INSTALLERS · 11 MIN READ

Solar SEO: How Installers Win Commercial Enquiries From Google

Every rule and figure below comes from Google, the ASA, the CMA or the vendor's own page, listed at the end.

Who solar SEO suits

It suits installers with commercial jobs to show, someone to keep publishing them, and patience. It also backs up every other channel: whoever meets you through partnerships and referrals will look you up.

It doesn't suit a business that needs surveys in the diary next month, a newly qualified installer with no commercial portfolio yet (see how to become a solar installer), or one with nobody to follow up enquiries. If you need to show up straight away, paid search puts you in results as soon as your ads are live — see solar advertising with Google and Facebook ads.

The searches commercial customers make

Google's Keyword Planner estimates how often terms are searched, and paid SEO tools offer similar data; use them to compare phrasings, not to chase big numbers. Most searches fall into five themes:

Solar SEO step by step

1. 1

   Pick your patch and your sectors

   The area you will really travel to, and the three or four building types you want more of.

2. 2

   Set up the free Google tools

   Verify your site in Google Search Console and claim your Google Business Profile. Google describes both as free.

3. 3

   Build one strong commercial service page

   Who you work for, system sizes, survey to switch-on, the grid application, accreditations, your own photos, and a short enquiry form.

4. 4

   Add sector and project pages you can back up

   One page per sector you genuinely work in, and a page for every finished job.

5. 5

   Ask every customer for a review

   At handover, using Google's review link, and reply to every review.

6. 6

   Fix the technical basics, then earn links

   Titles, speed, crawlability; links from real relationships, never bought.

7. 7

   Qualify, book the survey, track it

   Call every enquiry back, book the visit with the decision-maker, and log which page it came from.

Service, sector and location pages

Google's guidance on helpful content asks whether a page shows "first-hand expertise and a depth of knowledge", and flags "extensive automation to produce content on many topics" as a warning sign. You have stood on these roofs; an agency template hasn't.

A sector page (warehouses, farms, factories, schools) answers what that owner asks at a first meeting: working around a farm's busy season or a school's term dates, their roof type, the grid connection (see our guides to the G99 application and G98 routes), and who signs it off. Mention MCS only if you hold it (see MCS certification for solar installers and MIS 3002).

Location pages are where it's easiest to cross a line. Google's spam policies define doorway abuse as pages "created to rank for specific, similar search queries", and give "pages targeted at specific regions or cities that funnel users to one page" as an example. A location page needs substance: projects there, who covers it, and which network operator sites there connect to (our DNO application guide explains how to tell). No real work in a town? No page for it yet.

Project pages are your best commercial content: building type, town, roof, system size, photos, the kit (a wholesaler that features installs may link back) and a layout from your design software. Publish savings figures only if real and agreed with the customer.

Google Business Profile and reviews

Google says local results are ranked on relevance, distance and prominence, and that prominence is influenced by links and reviews. For a service-area business:

• Hide your address if customers don't visit it; set up to 20 service areas, within about 2 hours' drive of your base.
• Use your real business name, with no added service or location words.
• Pick categories for what the business is, not as keywords. Virtual offices aren't eligible.
• Keep details complete, add photos of real jobs, reply to every review.

Ask with Google's review link or QR code. Its content policy prohibits incentives for reviews and selectively soliciting positive ones. Ask everyone, at handover.

Technical basics and links

Google's starter guide asks for titles "unique to the page, clear and concise", unique meta descriptions, descriptive URLs and good alt text. Beyond that:

• Crawlability. Link every important page from your menu or homepage. Google says a new site with few links to it likely needs a sitemap; submit it in Search Console and check pages with URL Inspection.
• Speed. Core Web Vitals targets are LCP within 2.5 seconds, INP under 200 milliseconds and CLS under 0.1. Check pages in PageSpeed Insights. Google says good scores align with what its ranking systems reward, but relevance still comes first.
• Structured data. Google's LocalBusiness documentation recommends review and rating markup only for sites that review other businesses, so don't mark up your own testimonials for star ratings.

Links. Google defines link spam as links created "primarily for the purpose of manipulating search rankings", including buying or selling them, excessive link exchanges, automated link building and low-quality directory links. Honest links come from being worth mentioning: a project a supplier or local paper features, a customer announcing their system, a trade body listing its members.

Measuring it, and how long it takes

Search Console's Performance report shows clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position, grouped by query, page, country, device and date. Improve pages with impressions but few clicks, and track what matters: enquiries, booked surveys and signed jobs.

On timing, Google's starter guide says "some changes might take effect in a few hours, others could take several months", so wait a few weeks before judging a change. Its "Do you need an SEO?" page adds: "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google".

Then call every enquiry back fast, confirm the decision-maker, roof ownership and energy use, book the visit, and use our commercial solar survey checklist and how to sell commercial solar.

UK rules that apply

• Advertising rules on your own site. The ASA says the CAP Code covers material on your own website "directly connected with the supply or transfer of goods, services", including product descriptions and comparative claims, so be able to back up what you say about savings, accreditations and performance.
• Fake reviews. The CMA says the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 includes an explicit ban on posting and commissioning fake reviews, and its guidance tells businesses not to offer money or gifts for positive reviews. The CMA can fine up to 10% of global turnover.
• Google's own policies. Spam policies, Business Profile guidelines and the Maps content policy. Google warns that spam techniques can get a site removed from its index.

This is a summary, not legal advice.

What it really takes

Where it usually goes wrong

• Writing for homeowners by accident. A site built around domestic panels ranks for domestic searches.
• Copy-and-paste town pages. Pages that differ only by town name match Google's description of doorway abuse.
• No proof. Stock photos, no projects, no reviews. Decision-makers want a roof like theirs.
• Stopping after launch. Nothing new is added, so enquiries never build.
• Buying links or reviews. Against Google's policies, and fake reviews are banned under UK law.
• Slow follow-up and the wrong measure. Enquiries sit for days, and visits are tracked instead of booked surveys and signed jobs.

Do it yourself vs have it done

SEO is the right call if you have a portfolio, someone with hours to give it every week, and months to wait; every installer should at least claim their Business Profile and publish projects. If you need decision-makers in the diary now, waiting on Google is slow and uncertain. Solar Surveys UK books qualified commercial solar survey appointments with business owners for UK installers. You pay per booked appointment, with no retainer, from £400+VAT to £1,000+VAT depending on system size (see how much commercial solar leads cost). Compare every channel in how to get commercial solar leads, or read why booked surveys beat form fills.

Solar SEO: FAQ