Google Ads · Solar Installers
Google Ads for solar installers, aimed at buyers who have done the maths
Solar has an unusual buyer. They research payback period, export rates and MCS certification for weeks before they contact anyone, and they arrive at your website already carrying a number in their head. A page that will not give them one loses to a page that will.
In short
Google Ads for solar installers in the UK needs a different build from a generic Google Ads account, and this is how PipelineOS structures it. Four campaigns, arranged around how far along the buyer is. Ready-to-buy installation carries the terms that indicate a decision has been made — solar panel installation, solar quote, solar installers near me — and takes the largest budget. The first ad group to build is Solar panel installation: largest budget and the only ad group where generic solar terms belong. The most common way this goes wrong: hiding the MCS certification number.
How we build it
Four campaigns, arranged around how far along the buyer is. Ready-to-buy installation carries the terms that indicate a decision has been made — solar panel installation, solar quote, solar installers near me — and takes the largest budget. Battery storage is separate, because a growing share of enquiries are retrofit buyers who already have panels and want storage, and that is a different conversation, a different price and a different page. Commercial and agricultural rooftop is a third campaign on a wider geography and office-hours scheduling. A fourth, small campaign defends your own brand name, which matters more here than in most trades because national energy suppliers and comparison sites bid on installer names.
The research phase is handled by the landing page, not the bid. Terms like solar panel payback and are solar panels worth it are cheap, high volume and months from a purchase, so we serve them with content and reserve ad spend for intent terms. Where we do bid on research language, it goes to a page carrying a worked payback example with the assumptions stated and your MCS certification number visible. MCS is not a badge for the footer; it is a qualifying criterion for anyone who has read about the export guarantee.
Negatives do heavy lifting. Free solar panels, solar grants, government scheme, ECO4 and similar produce large volumes of people hoping for a free installation. Then there is the equipment traffic — solar panels for sheds, caravans, motorhomes and garden offices — plus DIY kits, panel cleaning, installer training and solar jobs. Match types stay on phrase and exact throughout, and geography is wider than for most trades since a £9,000 install carries a longer drive comfortably. Bids rise predictably after any energy price cap announcement, and it is worth holding budget headroom for those weeks.
Ad groups
The account structure in practice. Ad groups stay tight so the ad can genuinely match the search, which lowers cost per click for the same position.
| Ad group | Example keywords | Bids and handling |
|---|---|---|
| Solar panel installation | solar panel installation [town], solar installers near me, solar panel quote, MCS certified installer | Largest budget and the only ad group where generic solar terms belong. Put MCS certification in the headline; it is the filter informed buyers apply. |
| Battery storage and retrofit | solar battery storage cost, add battery to existing solar, home battery installation | A separate buyer who already owns panels. Different page, different price framing, and a shorter decision cycle because they have already been through the first purchase. |
| Solar with EV charger | solar and EV charger package, charge car from solar, solar diverter installation | Small, precise, high-value, and almost no competition. The buyer usually already has the car, which makes them considerably easier to close. |
| Commercial and agricultural rooftop | commercial solar installation, warehouse roof solar, farm solar panels [county] | Wider radius, office-hours schedule, exact match. Very low volume and contract values that justify a cost per enquiry ten times the domestic figure. |
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Call 07443 392243WhatsAppBudget and the arithmetic
Solar is one of the more expensive trades to advertise in. £800–£2,500 a month is the realistic working range, with clicks at £5–£12 on installation terms and higher during the weeks after an energy price announcement. Cost per enquiry generally lands between £60 and £180.
What makes or breaks it is the two-stage filter. A typical domestic install runs £6,000–£12,000 with something like £1,500–£3,000 of margin. But a meaningful share of enquiries are unsuitable before you begin — north-facing or heavily shaded roofs, listed properties, flats — and then the suitable ones close at perhaps one in five because they are collecting three quotes. Stack those and you might be at £500–£1,200 of advertising per install, which still works against that margin but only if the unsuitable enquiries are filtered on the page rather than on a survey visit. A roof orientation and shading question in the enquiry form is worth more than any bid adjustment.
Four ways this goes wrong
- Hiding the MCS certification number. Informed buyers check it before they call because the export guarantee depends on it, and its absence reads as a firm that does not have one.
- Bidding on grant and free-panel language. Those searchers are looking for a scheme, not an installer, and they will occupy your phone for twenty minutes each.
- Sending clicks to a homepage with no payback figure. This buyer has read three articles about payback periods and will not send an enquiry to a firm that dodges the question everyone else answers.
- Not asking about roof orientation and shading before booking a survey. Driving to a north-facing roof under a horse chestnut is a half day gone, and it does not show up as an advertising cost anywhere.
The two pages behind this one
This page is the intersection. For the wider picture:
Google Ads in general
Everything about marketing for solar installers
Questions
Should I bid on payback and 'are solar panels worth it' searches?
Usually not with ad spend. They are high volume, cheap and full of people who are months from buying, and a click costs the same whether the searcher is ready or not. Rank for them organically instead, with a page that shows a genuine worked example. Then spend the ad budget on the terms that indicate somebody has already decided and is choosing an installer.
How do I compete with national installers and energy suppliers?
Not on budget. On specificity and speed. The nationals cannot say how many systems they have fitted in a particular town, cannot survey next week, and put callers through a sales process. A local installer naming recent installs by area, publishing an installed price range and offering a survey date in the ad is answering the three things the national experience is worst at.
Is battery storage worth its own campaign?
Yes, and increasingly so. A retrofit battery buyer already has panels, understands the technology, and is making a smaller and faster decision than a first-time solar buyer. Mixed into the main campaign they see solar installation ads and pages that do not address them. Separated, they are among the cheapest and most straightforward enquiries in the account.
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