Local SEO for Solar Companies – How To Drive Exclusive Leads Consistently

Do you need local solar leads? Local SEO for a solar company is an overlooked and underutilized strategy that generates results.

In the United States alone, there are more than 560,000 monthly searches for ‘solar panel’ related keywords.

Why Does Local SEO For Solar Companies Work?

Many solar companies don’t have a solar local SEO strategy. 

Whether they don’t understand the importance or think it will happen without lifting a finger – it’s an excellent opportunity for you to capitalise.

Local SEO for a solar company requires work and knowledge. This blog post will give you the basics, but you need to consistently post and gain reviews for Google to trust your business.

What Is Local SEO For Solar Panel Installers?

A Local SEO strategy for a solar company has the goal of getting your business to show in the local search results.

“Local search results” is also known as the “3 pack” or “map pack results” as well. 

Here’s an example of solar local search results, for the keyword “solar company in San Diego”.

For this one keyword, there are ~600 monthly searches. That means these companies show up 600+ times a month. 

There are links to their website and directions. You can also optimize to allow phone calls directly from the search results.

At the bottom of the image above, you can see a “More Places” button. This expands to show that the rest of the companies are not doing as well in local search results. 

You really want to break into that top #3 results – consistently.

What Does The Local Solar SEO Results Look Like For My Area?

It is straightforward to see how your company does on local search results. 

Here’s how to find your results.

1 – Open up an incognito or private browser. If you don’t and have a history of visiting your website, Google will skew the results and show you higher than usual.

2 – Go to a search engine. Google is the main player in the industry, but other search engines such as Bing and Duck Duck Go can also be an interesting test.

3 – Type in “solar company in [enter your location]”.

4 – View the results. Do you show the top 3? If not, click “More Places” and scroll to you find your company.

The lower your company is, the fewer leads you’ll be generating every month. If you don’t show up, you have even more work to do to gain Google’s trust.

What is The Process of a Local Solar SEO Campaign?

Solar panel installer local search optimization is crucial to any complete solar SEO campaign. This should be included to ensure your brand can be found as often as possible.

Your Solar Companies Google Business Profile

The first step is getting your Google Business Profile claimed, verified and optimized. Here’s a quick video on this process directly from Google themselves:

After you’ve claimed and verified the account, it’s time to optimise it.

Ensure all your contact information is correct and identical across the internet. This information is known as Name, Address, Phone Number (NAP). 

When we say identical, we mean identical down to the punctuation and grammar. 

Next, add in all your services/products. Be specific and go deeper than just “solar installations” or “solar panels”. Think more “residential solar installations” or “commercial solar installations”.

You may want to add your products if you’re a solar manufacturer or solar panel distributor. If they are listed separately on your website, add them separately into your profile.

Go through your entire profile and make sure it all sounds right and makes people want to contact you. Generate that trust with your audience.

Building Solar Reviews on Your Profile

Coming from experience, solar companies suck at building consistent reviews consistently. If you can set up a consistent system, you will have a huge leg up on your local competition.

Building solar reviews on your Google Business Profile is one of the most significant ways to crush your competitors in the map pack. 

If your company has under 20 reviews, or under a 4.5-star rating, you won’t generate much trust at all.

Would you trust a company with 4 reviews with a 3.5-star average? I wouldn’t, and neither will your customers.

So, how do you generate more solar reviews? The best and most consistent way is to simply ask. Don’t overthink it, just ask your customers if they could leave a review.

Ask your customer: “How did you find our solar services?”, if they say they are happy, ask flat out for a review. If they aren’t happy, you should work to fix that to keep customers happy.

Make it easy and give people your direct link to your Google review page, follow these two images below to find your unique review URL.

Responding To Your Solar Reviews on Google Business Profile

Whether your Google reviews are positive or negative, you should respond to them.

If they are glowing 5-star reviews, a simple “Thank you, we’re thrilled to hear you enjoyed our services. [Business Name].” is enough to show you’re active and you care.

If your reviews are negative, you need to make sure you respond professionally. Don’t start an argument and don’t trash someone’s comment, no matter how wrong you might think they are, it won’t do you any favours. 

A response that shows you care and want to fix their issues will show others you are willing to help rectify mistakes and issues. People need to trust they are in safe hands when investing $10,000’s of dollars.

If you’re getting fake solar reviews, flag these reviews with Google and fingers crossed that Google will take your side and remove them.

Local Website Content

How does Google (and other search engines) know where you serve? By locally optimized content.

Google is smart enough to link locations together on your website and solar Google Business Profile.

Your website should make it very clear where you serve. This essentially tells Google “hey, we serve these cities and towns, send us solar leads in this area”.

Great content goes a long way to generating trust with the big G and your users.

Building Local Citation Links

Once you’ve set up everything on your end, it’s time to get local links, or citations from other websites pointing to your website.

Building quality links to a website has a wide range of benefits, including ranking better in local SEO search results and generating leads directly.

Some common local citation links you can point to your website include: Yelp, Yellow Pages and local website directories for solar companies.

Make sure that all Name, Address and Phone Number information is identical across the internet, wherever your brand is mentioned.

A warning though, is quality over quantity. Don’t go buying 1000 links from Fiverr. You’ll cause yourself real problems and Google will blacklist your website.

Embed a Map Onto Your Website

Giving people a visual of where your brand is located directly on your website is also a great way to help generate local solar leads.

It’s a simple thing to embed within any website and can really help drive engagement if done right.

Post Your Solar Company Updates on Google Business Profile

Finally, be active on Google Business Profile. Every week or two, go post an article on your profile.

This consistency shows Google you’re trustworthy and looking to help and connect with your customers.

Currently, to post on Google Business Profile, click “Add Update” and choose the option that best suits your post. Keep it simple and add a great-looking photo.

Posting consistently has significant results for your solar company.

Results For Solar Company Local SEO Campaigns

Local SEO for solar companies really does work, but you need to do it right. If you cut corners or post general and boring content, or blurry pictures, you’re not going to see great results.

Follow these steps and in less than 2 months, you can generate more calls consistently.

Here’s a screenshot of a current solar company’s local SEO strategy. In just 2 months, we took Panel Upgrade Experts, from Calgary, Alberta from 7 calls a month to 18 and this is set to grow exponentially in the coming months.

How about another example:

In 3.5 months, we took ECOfootprint Limited from 8 calls a month to 30+. As we maintain this consistency, these calls are only going to increase on a monthly basis.

In 3.5 months, we saw a 275% increase of solar lead phone calls come through for this business.

Video on Local SEO For Solar Companies

Interested in Seeing How Your Solar Company Can Benefit from Local SEO?

Your company can see results like the 225% growth in solar leads through phone calls in just 2 months.

But you need to speak to a Local Solar SEO specialist. We know what sells in the solar industry and will get you results (more exclusive leads) faster than any other agency.

Book a call today to speak with a qualified electrician turned solar marketing specialist today. We’re ready to help you grow.