"Solar panels" gets 74,000 searches a month on Google UK, "heat pump" 40,500, "compare energy prices" 33,100. Those are big-sector numbers, but the first page for "compare energy prices" opens with an AI Overview that cites MoneySavingExpert, MoneySuperMarket, Compare the Market, Confused.com and Uswitch, followed by comparison sites and Citizens Advice. There's no room for a small supplier.
In the energy sector, supply contracts are sold through comparison sites, while solar panels, batteries and heat pumps are still sold by town and by price: that's where an installer can beat the national brands. On "solar panels bristol" the first listing in the map is a firm with 33 reviews whose website ranks for five keywords, and page one includes an installer with "From £5500 Fixed" in its title.
Below are the data: where the market is closed, what the word "installer" actually brings up, what a local first page looks like, price searches and the sector's two calendars.
Gas and electricity deals are a closed market
"Gas and electricity deals" gets 9,900 searches a month at £11.07 per click, "energy suppliers" 6,600 at £13.83 and "switch energy supplier" 9,900 at £14.49 (DataForSEO data, Google Ads, United Kingdom, October 2026). Anyone paying that knows what a customer who stays for years is worth. Business searches cost far more: £100.83 per click for "business energy comparison" and £104.22 for "business energy suppliers", the highest figures we found in the sector.
In organic search the game is already decided. Above the results sits an AI-generated answer, then the comparison sites. Uswitch appears twice on page one: the domain ranks for 81,306 UK keywords (broadband and mobile included) with an estimated 2.3 million visits a month. Citizens Advice is fourth, with a league table of suppliers' customer service. On "business energy comparison" it's the same picture with brokers: Love Energy Savings shows 5.0 stars from 16,500 ratings right in the snippet, next to Compare the Market, Uswitch, MoneySuperMarket, Bionic and a guide from Ofgem.
So for a small supplier or broker, business supply isn't an easy way in either. The open ground for B2B is on-site generation: "commercial solar panels" gets 1,300 searches a month at £35.99, "solar panels for business" 1,300 at £56.61, and the first two organic results for "commercial solar panels" are installers' own sites, not directories. A comparison site helps less here, because the customer wants a named contact and a site survey. This is B2B SEO territory: a few pages, each built around one sector or type of building (warehouses, farms, factories), and a form that asks for the last electricity bill.
"Solar panel installer" is a buyer's search, and the directories got there first
"Solar panel installer" gets 6,600 searches a month at £15.03 per click, and in the UK it really is a buyer's query: "solar panel installer jobs" gets only 590 searches and "solar panel installer salary" 110. The questions Google shows underneath are a homeowner's, such as "Which solar company has the best reputation?". The problem is who's already there. Above the map sits a row of directories (Checkatrade, Yell, Yelp, Europages, a Facebook group). Of the ten organic results, only two belong to installers writing about their own work: Evolve Renewables in Ilford, and Simple Green Energy, which lists itself in its own top five for London. The rest are Checkatrade twice, Kilowatts UK twice, Otovo's list of the best installers, a Facebook group and lead-generation sites. Checkatrade alone ranks for 187,698 UK keywords, with about 2.5 million estimated visits a month.
Buyers also phrase it in other ways: "solar panel installers near me" (2,900 searches a month), "solar panels near me" (1,600), "solar panels london" (720), "solar panels bristol" (480, but at £20.83 per click), or by product: "solar battery" 6,600, "solar panels with battery" 3,600. That's why keyword research in this sector starts with the results page, before the volume: the volume tells you there's demand, the page tells you whether you're up against the firm down the road or against Checkatrade.
The first page of "solar panels bristol"
We read Google's first page for "solar panels bristol" on 10 October 2026, on desktop with the location set to Bristol. At the top there's a local block with three firms:
- Nimbus Solar Ltd, 5.0 stars and 33 reviews;
- Bristol Solar and Roofing Services, 5.0 and 30;
- Solar Sun & Air, 4.8 and 62.
Above it, a "Find results on" row with five directories (TrustATrader, Yell, Cylex, MapQuest, Yelp). Below it, ten organic results and two Google Shopping carousels selling everything from a £19.99 panel to a fully installed 7 kW system from Costco at £4,999.99. One of the ten organic results is a national operator (Otovo). Four are installers: Geo Green Power and Evans Electrical with commercial solar pages for Bristol, EcoFlex Solutions with an area page, and evoenergy with a news story about a Bristol project. The other five are directories and cost guides (TrustATrader, The Renewable Energy Hub twice, a "best installers in Bristol" guide, solarworth.co.uk). Between the third and fourth organic result there's a block of four questions, starting with "Is it worth installing solar panels in the UK?".
EcoFlex Solutions does something worth copying: one page per area, under an "areas" folder, with the price in the title ("Solar Panels Bristol | From £5500 Fixed | MCS Installers"). The domain ranks for just 52 UK keywords with an estimated 106 visits a month, and it's still on page one for Bristol. Otovo has city pages too, but the Bristol one dates from February 2023 and shows no price in the snippet. Nimbus Solar, first in the map, ranks for 5 keywords and about 3 estimated visits a month: in organic search its site barely exists, yet on the query for its own city it sits above everyone in the map.
The bar for getting into the local pack in Bristol runs from 30 to 62 reviews, with ratings between 4.8 and 5.0. That's lower than for a garage: in Leeds the three garages in the local pack have 671, 598 and 94. Fewer jobs a year means fewer reviews all round, which makes the gap easier to close for a firm that asks every customer. In London the bar is lower still, and odder: the three listings have 3, 5 and 13 reviews, and two of them are named after the search itself ("Solar Panel Installers London", "Solar Panels London"). Searched at UK level with no city, "solar panel installer" shows firms from Cardiff, Castleford and Harrow with 206 to 228 reviews. A Google Business Profile kept up to date with photos of real installations, and reviews that mention the system size and the town, are worth more than any blog post.
The price page is the one that wins
"Solar panel prices" gets 4,400 searches a month, "solar panel cost" 3,600, "how much do solar panels cost" 2,900 and "heat pump cost" 4,400. The questions Google shows under "solar panel cost" are "How much does it cost to put solar panels on your house in the UK?" and "What is the cost of each solar panel?". Under "solar panels bristol" it's "Is it worth installing solar panels in the UK?".
Whoever answers with a number takes the space. On "solar panel cost" the AI Overview quotes the Energy Saving Trust (about £7,600 for a typical 4.5 kWp system), E.ON Next (from £4,995 for six panels) and Octopus (from £6,663). Below it, after a GOV.UK cost table and Which?, installers put a figure in the snippet: Shawton Energy ("The average cost of solar panels is £7000"), Upvolt Energy ("£6,000 to £9,000") and Everyone's Energy ("from just £4,000"). Two of those pages date from 2024 and still rank. Checkatrade does the same on its installer pages: "£9779 on average" for Islington. None of these installers is a big brand: they wrote the figure down.
Many installers don't, for fear of being ruled out before the survey. The result is that the sector's most common question gets answered on competitors' sites. One page per system size, with the fully installed price, what's included (scaffolding, battery, DNO notification, MCS certificate), lead times, whether VAT applies (installations in homes are zero-rated until 31 March 2027 and go to 5% from 1 April 2027, according to HMRC VAT Notice 708/6) and the date of the last update answers the same questions Google puts in the block under the results. It's also the kind of content AI Overviews can cite, because it contains a fact: every source in the cost overview above has a price on the page.
Two calendars: solar in spring, heating in winter
Solar panels and heat pumps peak at different times. "Solar panels" goes from an average of 74,000 searches to 110,000 in March and April 2026. "Solar panel installer" reaches 8,100 in March, against an average of 6,600. Its 12-month high, 14,800, came in September 2025: a one-month spike that also shows on city searches and on "solar panels for business" (8,100) and did not come back in 2026. "Plug in solar" jumped from 480 searches in February 2026 to 40,500 in March, when the government committed to legalising plug-in panels, and was back at 33,100 in August, the month they became legal (from 27 August, up to 800 W, as reported by pv magazine). People who want panels working by summer start looking at the end of winter.
"Heat pump" instead reaches 49,500 searches in January and March 2026, against an average of 40,500. "Heat pump cost" hits 6,600 in the same months. "Boiler upgrade scheme", the £7,500 grant (£9,000 off the gas grid until March 2027) run by Ofgem, reaches 6,600 in November 2025 and January 2026 and drops to 2,900 in August 2026. "Warm homes plan" spiked to 49,500 in January 2026, when the government published it. You can check this in a few minutes on Google Trends by comparing the last five years.
For a company that does both, that means two content seasons: solar pages ready by January, heat pump and grant pages ready by October. A new page takes weeks to rank, so one published in the peak month arrives late.
| Keyword | Average monthly searches | CPC | Peak month (searches) |
|---|---|---|---|
| solar panels | 74,000 | £5.29 | Mar-Apr 2026 (110,000) |
| heat pump | 40,500 | £5.34 | Jan and Mar 2026 (49,500) |
| compare energy prices | 33,100 | £7.52 | Sep 2025, Jun and Aug 2026 (40,500) |
| plug in solar | 12,100 | £0.60 | Mar 2026 (40,500) |
| gas and electricity deals | 9,900 | £11.07 | Nov 2025 and Jun 2026 (12,100) |
| switch energy supplier | 9,900 | £14.49 | Sep-Oct 2025 and Mar 2026 (12,100) |
| warm homes plan | 8,100 | £4.49 | Jan 2026 (49,500) |
| solar panel installer | 6,600 | £15.03 | Sep 2025 (14,800) |
| solar battery | 6,600 | £3.29 | Mar 2026 (9,900) |
| heat pump cost | 4,400 | £4.98 | Jan and Mar 2026 (6,600) |
| boiler upgrade scheme | 4,400 | £7.34 | Nov 2025 and Jan 2026 (6,600) |
| solar panel prices | 4,400 | £8.00 | Mar 2026 (6,600) |
| solar panels with battery | 3,600 | £7.07 | Mar 2026 (6,600) |
| solar panel installers near me | 2,900 | £14.04 | Sep 2025 (5,400) |
| balcony solar panels | 1,900 | £0.93 | Jul 2026 (6,600) |
| business energy comparison | 1,900 | £100.83 | Mar 2026 (5,400) |
| commercial solar panels | 1,300 | £35.99 | Sep 2025 (3,600) |
| solar panels london | 720 | £11.80 | Sep 2025 (1,900) |
| solar panels bristol | 480 | £20.83 | Sep 2025 (1,600) |
CPC also tells you where it pays to buy clicks and where it doesn't. On informational searches like "plug in solar" (£0.60) or "balcony solar panels" (£0.93) clicks are cheap because the searcher isn't ready to buy. Searches with a town cost £11.80 in London and £20.83 in Bristol, those for businesses £36 to £104: these are the queries to cover with Google Ads while the organic pages grow.
Recommended reading: our guide to local SEO, with the factors that decide who gets into the map.
Frequently asked questions
In Bristol, in October 2026, the three firms in the local pack for "solar panels bristol" had 30, 33 and 62 reviews, rated between 4.8 and 5.0. In London the three had 3, 5 and 13. The bar changes from town to town: you measure it by searching your category plus the name of your town on your phone.
Yes, as long as the prices are kept up to date and say what's included. "Solar panel prices" gets 4,400 searches a month and Google shows questions about the cost of putting panels on a UK house. Pages with a figure in the snippet are already on page one, some of them written in 2024.
By October. "Heat pump" goes from an average of 40,500 searches a month to 49,500 in January and March, and "boiler upgrade scheme" reaches 6,600 in November and January. A page published in January arrives after the first peak.
In practice, no: page one belongs to comparison sites such as Uswitch, MoneySuperMarket and Compare the Market, with an AI answer at the top. Business supply is no easier, with brokers bidding over £100 a click. The open ground is on-site generation, such as "commercial solar panels" (1,300 searches a month, £35.99 a click), and the area you serve.
It depends on the query: from £0.60 for "plug in solar" to £20.83 for "solar panels bristol", and over £100 for "business energy comparison" (£100.83) and "business energy suppliers" (£104.22). Searches with a town or aimed at businesses cost more because the people making them are close to buying.
Where to start
On your phone, search "solar panels" followed by the name of your town, then the nearest city. Note the three firms in the map and how many reviews each has, then open the first five organic results and count how many show a price in pounds and how many are directories. If the third firm in the map has fewer reviews than you, the work to do is on your profile. If none of the five sites gives a price, that's the first page to write.
If you'd like us to do this with you across every area you cover, get in touch: we start from the map of searches and the profiles, before the website. Here's our SEO service.
