Priced on clicks, not consults
The agency reported cost-per-click and impressions. Nobody could tell you what a booked consult actually cost, so on a five-figure system you were flying blind.
GOOGLE ADS · FOR SOLAR
Google Ads for solar companies, priced by the booked consult
Solar is a five-figure decision a homeowner chews on for months, and paid has to survive that long cycle. Search Ads, Local Services Ads, and remarketing built so a click on "is going solar worth it" turns into a booked consult, run on cost-per-booked-job math by a shop managing local-service accounts since 2008.
THE CAMPAIGN SPEC
- Campaign typesSearch, LSA, remarketing
- LSA badge setupGoogle Guaranteed
- We measureCost per booked consult
- MethodSince 2008
Ad spend goes to Google, not to us. You keep the account and the login.
- Since 2008
- LSA badge setup
- Long-cycle remarketing
- You own the account
- Cost-per-consult math
QUICK FACTS · GOOGLE ADS FOR SOLAR COMPANIES
At a glance.
The whole engagement on one ticket. Read it in a minute, then bring us the hard questions on the call.
- What it is
- Paid acquisition on Google for solar companies: Search Ads, Local Services Ads (Google Guaranteed), Performance Max, and remarketing, built so the clicks you pay for become booked consultations for full rooftop systems and battery storage, not tire-kickers pricing a hobby install.
- Timeline
- Campaigns can go live in days once the account, budget, and service area are set. LSA badge screening (solar license and insurance checks) is on Google's clock and can take a few weeks, so we start it early. A stable cost-per-consult takes longer because the solar buying cycle runs long.
- Investment
- Management is quoted at the strategy call once we see your service area, target system size, and average ticket. Ad spend is separate and paid straight to Google. No flat price posted here.
- What you get
- Solar keyword and negative-keyword lists, ad copy on the tax credit and savings angle, LSA setup, a landing page built to convert clicks, remarketing tuned for a long consideration window, and monthly reporting on cost per booked consult.
- What's not included
- Organic solar rankings, on-page SEO, Google Business Profile map-pack work, and AI-search visibility live in other silos. Paid is paid; earned is earned. Those cross-link here, not live here.
- Managed how
- In-house, in Orlando, on a Google Ads and LSA account you own and can log into. No shared agency account you lose the day you part ways with us.
- Who it's for
- Established solar installers who want quote requests coming in this week while SEO climbs, shops chasing the high-ticket battery and full-system jobs, and owners who tried Ads, got burned on tire-kickers, and want the math run honestly.
- Who it's not for
- Brand-new outfits with no reviews and no crew to run installs, and owners chasing clicks instead of tracked consults. If nobody follows up on a lead through a months-long decision, paid ads waste money.
PAID ACQUISITION
Google Ads for solar companies, measured in booked consults
A homeowner thinking about solar does not act on the first search. They open their phone, ask whether going solar is worth it, price the federal tax credit, wonder if a battery is worth adding, and search for solar installers near me, all over a decision that can run weeks or months. Google Ads for solar companies is how your shop shows up at each of those moments, above the fold, while your SEO is still climbing. The wedge is not the click. It is the booked consult, and whether the lead was worth what you paid for it.
Solar makes paid different from most trades, and the difference is the ticket and the timing. A full rooftop system with storage is a five-figure job, so a booked consult is worth far more than a $150 service call, which means paid math works here when it fails for low-ticket trades. But the sales cycle is long. A homeowner researches the credit, gets three estimates, waits on financing, and often sits on the fence for weeks before signing, so remarketing and call tracking matter as much as the first click. And the search terms run hot on intent that never books: people writing a school report on solar, DIY panel hobbyists, and job-seekers looking for installer work all type the same words your buyers do. Broad match with no negatives burns budget on every one of them.
Most agencies bid these same solar terms, then hand you a dashboard full of impressions and a retainer. We run the other math. What did a booked consult cost, which keywords brought homeowners who signed, which ones burned budget on students and hobbyists. Local Services Ads put the Google Guaranteed badge above the paid line and charge you per lead, not per click, but only after Google screens your license and insurance. Since 2008 we have managed local-service accounts, so we speak service area, ticket size, and cost-per-consult, not vanity impressions.
[ 01 ] THE PROBLEM
Why solar PPC gets a bad name
Most solar owners who call us already tried Ads once. Here is what went wrong.
Paid the students and hobbyists
Broad keywords with no negatives meant you paid for people writing solar reports, DIY panel searches, and job-seekers hunting installer work. Budget gone, no consult booked.
Gave up before the long cycle closed
Solar buyers research for weeks and wait on financing. With no remarketing, the homeowner who clicked once wandered off and signed with the competitor who stayed in front of them.
No LSA badge, no trust
You competed on the paid line while the Google Guaranteed badge sat empty above you. On a job this expensive, the installer with the badge and the license screening took the call first.
[ 02 ] THE METHOD
What we actually build
Every campaign is wired to how homeowners actually buy solar.
Local Services Ads setup
We stand up your LSA profile, walk the solar license and insurance screening for the Google Guaranteed badge, and set lead disputes so you're not paying for junk leads.
Tax-credit and savings ad copy
Ads written in the language a solar buyer searches: the federal credit, energy savings, battery backup, and financing. The angles that pull the homeowner who is ready to book a consult.
Solar keywords and negatives
We bid solar installation, panel cost, battery storage, and tax-credit intent, and write negatives against DIY, school-report, hobbyist, and job-seeker searches that never book a system.
Landing pages that convert
Paid clicks hit a page built for one job: solar, service area, the credit and savings math, financing, and a phone number above the fold, loading in under 2 seconds.
Cost-per-consult reporting
Call and form tracking ties spend to booked consultations. Monthly, you see what a consult cost by campaign and keyword, not a wall of impressions.
Remarketing for a long cycle
The homeowner who clicked but is still pricing the credit and waiting on financing gets a reminder as they browse, so a slow-cooking solar decision comes back to you, not a competitor.
[ 03 ] THE DIFFERENCE
Run by ticket size, not by dashboard
Be Seen, Contractors!
Receipts, not impressions
- Reported on cost per booked consult, by campaign
- LSA badge screened, remarketing built for a long decision
- You own the account and keep it if we part ways
the churn-and-burn PPC shop
A dashboard and a retainer
- Cost-per-click charts, no line to a signed system
- Broad match, no negatives, students and hobbyists eating budget
- Their shared account, gone the day you cancel
[ 04 ] DELIVERABLES
What ships with a paid engagement
Account audit or clean build
We inherit and fix your existing Google Ads account or build a fresh one you own outright.
LSA profile and screening
Local Services Ads set up and walked through Google Guaranteed solar license and insurance verification.
Keyword and negative lists
Solar bidding on installation, cost, battery, and tax-credit intent, with a negative list that blocks the students, hobbyists, and job-seekers who waste spend.
Ad copy and extensions
Search ads and call extensions written in solar language, with the tax credit, savings, battery, and financing angles wired in.
Conversion landing page
A single-purpose page for paid solar traffic, credit and savings math up top, phone above the fold, loading in under 2 seconds.
Call and form tracking
Tracking that connects a click or a lead to an actual consult request so we can price the booked consult.
Long-cycle remarketing
Remarketing built to follow a homeowner through weeks of research and financing, instead of writing off anyone who didn't sign on the first click.
Monthly cost-per-consult report
Plain reporting on spend, leads, and booked-consult cost by campaign, not vanity metrics.
[ 05 ] THE PROCESS
From plan to booked work.
-
WEEK 1
Account Audit
We map wasted spend, weak landing pages, and the searches actually worth buying.
-
WEEK 1-2
Build
Campaigns, ad groups, call tracking, and Local Services Ads set up to ring the phone, not just get clicks.
-
MONTH 1
Optimize
Search-term pruning, bid tuning, and landing pages that turn clicks into booked jobs.
-
ONGOING
Manage
Weekly hands on the account. We spend your budget like it is ours.
-
MONTHLY
Report
Cost per lead and cost per booked job, in plain numbers, no agency spin.
[ 06 ] THE HONEST CURVE
What to expect from paid
Paid is the fast lane, but it is not a slot machine. Solar leads can come within days; a stable cost-per-consult takes longer to settle because the buying cycle runs long and the negative list, bids, and remarketing all need tuning.
Days
To first live campaigns
Once account, budget, and service area are set
Weeks
LSA badge screening
Solar license and insurance checks on Google's clock
30-60d
To a settled cost-per-consult
As bids, negatives, and remarketing tune to your market
0
Vanity metrics reported
We report booked-consult cost, not impressions
[ 07 ] STRAIGHT ANSWERS
What contractors ask us most.
The questions solar owners ask before they hand us a budget.
01What's the difference between Google Ads and Local Services Ads for solar companies?
Search Ads charge you per click and show as text ads at the top of results. Local Services Ads charge you per lead, show the Google Guaranteed badge above the paid ads, and require Google to screen your solar license and insurance first. Most installers run both: LSA for the badge and the trust a homeowner needs before a five-figure system, Search for coverage on the tax-credit, battery, and cost terms LSA doesn't reach. We build and compare them for your market.
02Is PPC worth it for solar companies?
For most established installers, yes, because the tickets are high. When a booked system with storage is worth five figures, you can pay real money for a consult and still come out ahead, which is exactly where paid works and where it fails for low-ticket trades. The catch is spending it on buyers, not students and hobbyists. That is why we price on cost-per-booked-consult and tell you honestly if paid is the wrong lever for your service area.
03Solar buyers take months to decide. Can Google Ads handle that?
Yes, and remarketing is the reason. A homeowner clicks, prices the federal credit, gets three estimates, then waits on financing for weeks before signing. Paid remarketing keeps your shop in front of that homeowner while they browse, so the slow-cooking decision comes back to you instead of the competitor who caught them on a later search. Call and form tracking ties the eventual signed system back to the click that started it.
04I tried Google Ads before and it didn't work. Why would this be different?
Most burned installers were sold clicks, not consults. Broad keywords with no negatives paid for students and DIY hobbyists, traffic got dumped on a slow homepage, and there was no remarketing to carry a homeowner through a months-long decision. We rebuild around negatives, call tracking, long-cycle remarketing, and a landing page built to convert, then report what a booked consult actually cost. If the numbers still don't work for your market, we tell you to stop.
05What is Google Guaranteed and do I need it as a solar installer?
Google Guaranteed is the green badge on Local Services Ads. To earn it, Google verifies your solar license, insurance, and background, and backs qualifying jobs with a limited guarantee to the homeowner. On a five-figure system a homeowner is nervous about, that badge wins the call over a competitor without it. We handle the screening setup so you get the badge instead of stalling in it.
06How do you keep from paying for people who aren't real buyers?
Negatives and tracking. Solar terms pull a lot of intent that never books: students writing reports, DIY panel hobbyists, and people looking for installer jobs all type words your buyers do. We build a negative-keyword list that blocks those searches, then use call and form tracking to see which keywords bring homeowners who actually book a consult, and cut the ones that don't. You stop paying for tire-kickers and the budget goes to real quote requests. We write the ad copy around the tax credit, savings, and battery angles the real buyer is searching, and let the landing page carry the math (we don't give tax or financial advice).
07Do I own the ad account or do you?
You do. We build campaigns inside a Google Ads and Local Services Ads account in your name, and you keep the login. If we ever part ways, the account, the history, and the data stay with you. No shared agency account that vanishes the day you cancel. Ad spend goes straight to Google, and we never mark it up.
08Can paid ads run alongside my solar SEO?
Yes, and they should. Paid gets quote requests coming in this week while SEO and AI-search visibility climb over the next several months. Run together, paid catches the buyer in the research window today and organic lowers your cost per lead over time. We keep them from competing for the same clicks and the same budget.
[ 08 ] WHAT COMES NEXT
What comes next.
The rest of the build works alongside this.
→
Local SEO for Solar Companies
Own the three map pins a solar shopper calls, with the profile and reviews that win the consults you shouldn't have to pay for.
→Websites for Solar Companies
The conversion solar site your paid clicks deserve, hand-coded and loading in under 2 seconds.
→SEO for Solar Companies
Organic solar rankings that lower your cost per lead over time, so paid isn't carrying the whole load.
BOOK YOUR FREE STRATEGY CALL
See if paid is worth it for your installs
We'll run a free audit of your solar market and current Ads setup and deliver it in 1-3 business days, with honest cost-per-booked-consult math before you spend a dollar.