Google Ads for a solar company means buying the searches of people who are already comparing installers and systems. In the UK, "solar panel quote" averages $28.44 a click, "solar panel installers near me" $14.16 and "commercial solar panels" $48.70, according to Google Ads data pulled with DataForSEO on 11 November 2026 (in dollars, as the tool returns them).
The same day we read 13 Google results pages on a smartphone for solar searches in six Italian cities, where we run campaigns. Search ads found: 2, on a single page, both at the bottom. Italian clicks are cheaper than British ones, but the mistakes are the same.
Most installers who try it alone get three things wrong:
- they buy "solar panels" and "kit" searches, where Google already shows DIY kits with a price;
- they put homeowners, businesses and battery storage in one campaign, with the same ad and the same page;
- they count anything that moves on the site as a conversion, so automated bidding learns from the wrong contacts.
Does the third mistake really cost that much?
We measured it on one of our clients. Valore Solare installs solar and battery systems for homes and businesses in northern and central Italy. When we took over the account in October 2025, the conversions column held 15,267 technical site events against 5,467 clicks, and every real enquiry cost €212. In August 2026 the account brought 250 enquiries at €49 each.
General costs, management included, are in how much Google Ads costs; channels beyond ads are in lead generation for solar companies. This guide is about the account: searches, campaigns, banned promises, tracking and budget.
Let's start.
Who advertises on Google when someone searches for solar panels (2 ads on 13 Italian pages)
Almost nobody, at least on the day we looked. On 11 November 2026 we pulled 13 Italian mobile results pages with DataForSEO: "impianto fotovoltaico" (solar PV system) in Milan, Rome, Turin and Naples, solar with battery storage in Milan and Rome, "solar quote" in Milan and Naples, "solar installer" in Turin and Rome, "solar for businesses" in Milan and Bologna, "solar system price" in Bari.
- 2 search ads in 13 pages, both in Rome and below the organic results: one promised "zero upfront investment", the other a quote;
- a product block on 8 pages out of 13, with 5 to 8 DIY kits and prices, even on "solar installer";
- a local pack on 6 pages out of 13, always with 4 listings: in Rome the first installer had 389 reviews;
- an AI Overview on 7 pages out of 13, including every "solar quote" and "solar for businesses" search;
- the comparison site Facile.it in the organic results on 8 pages out of 13, more than any installer.
So the auction is empty and clicks are cheap?
Not quite. Average CPCs say these searches are contested over the year, especially in spring: in Italy "solar installer" went from 1,000 searches in December 2025 to 2,900 in April 2026. Ours is a snapshot of a Wednesday in November. Starting in the low season means fewer competitors and a few months to fix tracking before the peak.
How much a solar click costs (from cents for a DIY kit to $50 for a UK business)
It depends on who is searching: a DIY buyer costs cents, a business that wants panels on a warehouse roof costs the most. The UK numbers first.
| Search | Monthly searches | Average CPC | What to do with it |
|---|---|---|---|
| solar panels cost | 3,600 | $6.68 | buy, send to a price page |
| solar battery storage | 4,400 | $4.63 | battery campaign, add "installation" |
| solar panel installers | 880 | $16.77 | buy, exclude jobs and courses |
| solar panel installers near me | 2,900 | $14.16 | buy, tight location targeting |
| solar panel quote | 1,000 | $28.44 | buy first |
| commercial solar panels | 1,000 | $48.70 | business campaign |
| solar panels for business | 880 | $50.48 | business campaign |
The Italian picture follows the same logic at lower prices: "preventivo fotovoltaico" (solar quote) $8.57, "installatore fotovoltaico" $4.50, "impianto fotovoltaico aziendale" (business system) $9.76, while "kit fotovoltaico" costs $0.38 and "pannelli fotovoltaici" (solar panels) $0.82 with 40,500 searches a month.
The price of a click follows intent. "Solar panels" has huge volume and a low CPC because most people searching it want a product, not a visit from an engineer.
Cities do not cost the same. In Italy, "fotovoltaico roma" averages $6.59 and "fotovoltaico bari" $2.31; in the UK, "solar panels london" averages $13.35.
Which searches to buy and which to exclude (a plug-in kit never becomes a site survey)
Buy the searches that contain a buying act (quote, installer, cost, a town) and exclude the ones from people who want to do it themselves, work in the sector or just learn.
Negative keywords to add before the first pound
- kit, plug in, balcony, DIY: in Italy "kit fotovoltaico" and balcony solar add up to 11,000 searches a month, and Google answers with products for sale;
- jobs, course, training: in Italy "solar installer course" gets 170 searches a month at $3.30, and on "solar installer" in Rome Indeed was in the organic results (we saw the same pattern in SEO for solar companies);
- free: in Italy "fotovoltaico gratis" (free solar) gets 320 searches a month, mostly from people looking for an incentive rather than an installer;
- used, diagram, how it works: textbook searches, not quote requests.
Put them in a shared negative keyword list applied to every campaign, updated weekly from the search terms report.
Town in the keyword or in the targeting?
Both. Valore Solare covers northern and central Italy excluding Piedmont, Liguria and Aosta Valley, where it does not install: an out-of-area lead costs as much as a good one and never becomes a quote. In location options, limit targeting to people who are in or regularly in your area: by default Google also includes people who have only shown interest in it.
How to structure a solar company's campaigns (homes, businesses and batteries)
Three customers, three campaigns: someone searching "solar panel quote" for a house and someone who wants a system on a warehouse have different budgets, timelines and objections.
- Homeowners. Quote, cost, installer plus town. The ad states the area covered and survey times; the page gives an indicative price by system size.
- Businesses. "Commercial solar panels" ($48.70 in the UK), "solar panels for business" ($50.48). Few clicks, high value: the form asks for annual consumption or a bill.
- Battery storage. People who already have panels. Buy it with installation words, because "solar battery storage" is often a product search.
Valore Solare runs five campaigns: a Search campaign on northern Italy for general demand, an exact match one on high-intent searches, one only for quote requests, one for a single product segment and a Performance Max covering homes and businesses. What to put on the landing pages is in how to build a website for a solar company.
Search or Performance Max? (one brings contacts, the other brings customers)
You need both, for different jobs. On Valore Solare, from October 2025 to August 2026:
| Campaigns | Spend | Enquiries | Cost per enquiry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search | €84,889 | 665 | €127.74 |
| Performance Max | €21,709 | 842 | €25.80 |
| Whole account | €106,599 | 1,506 | €70.78 |
Performance Max brings more than half the enquiries on a fifth of the budget.
So why not move everything there?
Because it picks up warmer, earlier demand, and it works precisely while Search captures the high-intent searches, the ones the sales team closes most often. Move everything to Performance Max and three months later you have plenty of contacts and few contracts. What you can still control in that campaign type is in Performance Max.
What not to write in solar ads ("free panels" and "zero bills")
Promises of guaranteed returns. The Google Ads policy on unreliable claims bans unrealistic promises of large financial returns for minimal risk, effort or investment, and claims that present an improbable result as the likely outcome.
In solar the temptation has specific names: "free solar panels", "zero energy bills", "pays for itself in two years". One of the two ads we found in Rome opened with "zero upfront investment".
It only works if the page explains straight away who pays, how (instalments, lease, finance) and for how long. That reading is ours: the policy does not mention solar, but it describes exactly that kind of promise.
The same goes for "cut your bill by 60%" without consumption, system size and location: show a real case, with numbers and a date.
How to track real enquiries (from €212 to €49 in the same sector)
Only track what the sales team can call back: a submitted form, a call from the ad, clicks on phone and email. Scrolls, page views and menu clicks come out of primary conversions.
On Valore Solare the order was data first, spend second. Once primary conversions were redefined, leads flowed from the form into the CRM via webhook, each one tied to the campaign that brought it. Only then did the budget rise in steps, from about €2,000 a month in October to December 2025 to about €14,000 in July and August 2026, while the quarterly cost per enquiry fell from €103.20 to €62.36.
Of the 1,506 enquiries, 1,188 came from the landing page form, 112 from email clicks, 112 from phone clicks and 60 from calls placed from the ads. Phone and email make up 19% of contacts: some customers want to talk to a person before leaving their details. Call-only ads, though, can no longer be created since February 2026 and stop serving in February 2027: the number belongs in a call asset on responsive search ads.
The next step is feeding surveys, quotes and signed contracts back into Google Ads, so bidding stops rewarding easy forms. If leads arrive but never turn into appointments, read website not generating leads?
Is your account counting enquiries or events?
Valore Solare paid €212 per enquiry while Google counted 15,267 technical events a month as conversions. Let's check together what your account measures, how your campaigns are split and which searches you are paying for without meaning to.
Book a strategy callHow much budget you need to start (worked out on measured CPCs)
Enough to give each campaign the conversions it needs to learn, or fewer campaigns. With about €2,000 a month spread across several campaigns, none of Valore Solare's gathered enough enquiries for automated bidding to work, and the cost per enquiry swung between €82 and €212 from one month to the next.
The sum on measured UK CPCs, with $100 a day:
- on "solar panel quote" ($28.44) you buy 3 or 4 clicks;
- on "solar panel installers near me" ($14.16) about 7 clicks;
- on "solar panels cost" ($6.68) about 15 clicks.
And how many contracts come from those clicks?
That depends on your quote close rate, which only you know. So start with one campaign for the customer worth the most, measure for six to eight weeks and widen only when the cost per enquiry holds. The rules that apply to any small business are in Google Ads for small businesses.
Google Ads and AI answers: who ChatGPT names when you look for an installer
On 11 November 2026 we asked ChatGPT, with web search on, to recommend a company to install solar with battery storage in Bologna. It named three installers, each with address, rating and review count taken from their Google listings (23 to 78 reviews), plus their services: storage, maintenance, paperwork.
Advertising does not buy a citation: ChatGPT and AI Overviews read the listing, the reviews and the pages that say clearly what you do and where. Campaigns only help indirectly, by bringing customers who then leave reviews. How AI picks the businesses in a town is in our local AI visibility test.
Asked the business owner's question (how to use Google Ads for solar in Italy and what a lead costs), ChatGPT estimated €15 to €40 for a "raw" residential lead and €40 to €110 for a qualified one, citing agency blogs and calling them "commercial estimates". A real account says otherwise: €25.80 from Performance Max, €127.74 from Search, €70.78 on average. The gap between those numbers is why you track contracts, not forms.
Google Ads for solar companies: FAQs
It depends: according to DataForSEO (Google Ads UK, 11 November 2026) "solar panel quote" averages $28.44 a click, "solar panel installers near me" $14.16, "solar panels cost" $6.68 and "commercial solar panels" $48.70.
It depends on tracking and structure. On Valore Solare, an Italian installer, the average was €70.78 across 1,506 enquiries between October 2025 and August 2026, with Search at €127.74 and Performance Max at €25.80. In the first month, with broken tracking, one enquiry cost €212.
No, not unless the page explains who pays and how. The Google Ads policy on unreliable claims bans promises of large returns for minimal investment and improbable results presented as likely.
Yes. Google Ads supports lead form assets in Search and Performance Max campaigns: people fill in the form without visiting your site, but you should qualify them with questions on location and system type.
Google Ads for solar, in short (and the check to run today)
2 search ads on 13 Italian pages: the November auction was almost empty.
"Solar panel quote" costs $28.44 in the UK, a DIY kit search cents: price follows intent.
Kits, jobs and courses are excluded before you spend.
Homes, businesses and batteries are three campaigns.
Tracking first, budget second: from €212 to €49 per enquiry.
The check to run today: compare this month's conversions in Google Ads with the forms your sales team actually received. If the first number is higher, your campaigns are learning from something that is not a customer, and every extra pound buys more of it, faster.
If you want campaigns and tracking set up this way from day one, that is what our Google Ads service does. Paid versus organic, search by search, is in SEO vs PPC.
