The Numbers Behind Solar SEO — What the Data Actually Says About Lead Costs, Rankings, and Click-Through Rates

Before citing any figure from this page, understand what the data represents and where it comes from.

The benchmarks here draw from three categories of sources: publicly available industry research (SEIA's U.S. Solar Market Insight reports, EIA electricity data, EnergySage consumer research), third-party digital marketing studies (search industry CTR research, Google Ads benchmark reports), and observed ranges from campaigns we've managed for solar companies — noted clearly when that's the source.

No single statistic here should be taken as a universal truth for your business. Solar SEO performance varies significantly based on:

• Market competition: A solo installer in a mid-size Midwest city faces a fundamentally different competitive landscape than a regional installer in Southern California or New Jersey
• Firm size and service mix: Residential-only installers, commercial-focused firms, and hybrid operations have different keyword universes and conversion funnels
• Starting domain authority: A two-year-old domain with thin content will see different timelines than an established brand with existing backlinks
• Seasonal demand patterns: Solar search volume has meaningful seasonal variation in most U.S. markets

Use these benchmarks to set realistic expectations, identify where your own metrics are underperforming relative to industry norms, and prioritize SEO investment. Don't use them as guarantees.

Disclaimer: These are educational benchmarks, not individualized marketing projections. Your results will vary.

Understanding search demand in solar starts with recognizing that the buying journey is longer and more research-intensive than most home services categories. EnergySage consumer research has consistently found that solar shoppers take weeks or months to move from initial interest to signed contract — and they conduct multiple searches along the way.

This multi-session behavior has important implications for SEO strategy:

• Informational queries drive early-funnel volume: Terms like 'how much does solar cost,' 'is solar worth it in [state],' and 'solar tax credit 2024' generate substantial search volume and represent real prospective buyers — just earlier in their decision process
• Local intent queries dominate conversion-stage searches: 'Solar installers near me,' '[city] solar company,' and 'solar panel installation [city]' signal high purchase intent and are the most commercially valuable keyword targets
• State-specific policy queries create SEO opportunities: Net metering changes, state incentive programs, and utility rate increases regularly generate search spikes that solar companies with established content can capitalize on

SEIA's market data shows continued growth in residential solar installations across most U.S. states, which has expanded the total search demand pool year over year. More homeowners researching solar means more potential organic traffic — but also more competitors publishing content to capture it.

Industry keyword research tools consistently show that solar-related search volume is concentrated in states with strong incentive programs and high electricity rates. California, New Jersey, Texas, Florida, and Massachusetts tend to show the highest absolute search volumes, though secondary markets often have less competitive organic landscapes.

Click-through rate (CTR) data in search varies by query type, SERP layout, and device — so solar-specific CTR figures require some interpretation from broader search industry research.

Search industry studies (including analyses from Backlinko, Advanced Web Ranking, and SparkToro over multiple years) consistently show that position one organic results capture between 25-35% of clicks for most non-branded queries, with positions two and three capturing progressively smaller shares. By position ten, CTR typically drops below 3%.

For solar queries specifically, SERP layouts introduce complexity:

• Local pack results appear prominently for geo-modified queries ('solar installers Denver') and often for implicit local queries, capturing clicks before the traditional organic listings
• Featured snippets and People Also Ask boxes appear frequently for informational solar queries, which can pull clicks away from position-one organic results
• Google Ads dominate above-the-fold for high-commercial-intent solar queries in competitive markets, pushing organic results lower on the page

In our experience working with solar companies, ranking in positions one through three for local installation queries produces meaningfully more lead form completions than positions four through ten — not because of CTR alone, but because top-ranked pages in this vertical tend to have more trust signals and better conversion optimization.

For informational content (cost guides, incentive explainers, comparison articles), position doesn't need to be top-three to generate value — these pages build brand familiarity and retargeting audiences even at lower traffic volumes.

Lead cost is the benchmark solar companies care about most — and it's also the most context-dependent figure in solar digital marketing.

Solar PPC costs are among the highest in home services. WordStream and Google Ads benchmark reports have consistently placed solar in the top tier for cost-per-click, with some competitive markets showing CPCs well above the home services average. As residential solar adoption has grown, more national installers and lead aggregators have entered paid search auctions, driving costs up.

Lead aggregator platforms (including EnergySage, EnergyBin, and solar-specific lead brokers) sell solar leads at prices that reflect this PPC cost inflation — and shared leads are typically sold to multiple installers simultaneously, which pressures close rates.

Organic search leads behave differently on every measurable dimension:

• Cost-per-lead through organic search is front-loaded (SEO investment happens before traffic arrives) rather than per-click
• Organic leads tend to show higher intent and trust signals — the homeowner chose your website rather than clicking an ad
• Once rankings are established, incremental lead costs decrease over time as the same content continues generating traffic
• Organic leads are exclusive — you're not competing with four other installers who bought the same lead

Industry benchmarks suggest that solar companies with established organic programs report lower 12-month cost-per-lead figures than those relying primarily on paid search — though the timeline to reach that crossover point varies significantly by market and starting domain strength. Based on campaigns we've managed, the break-even point typically falls somewhere in the 6-18 month range.

This isn't an argument against paid search — it's an argument for not relying on it exclusively.

Local search performance is particularly important for residential solar installers because the service is inherently geographic — you only install panels in areas you can physically reach.

Several patterns emerge consistently across the solar engagements we've run and from broader local SEO research:

• Google Business Profile completeness correlates with map pack visibility. Installers with fully built-out profiles (complete service categories, regular posts, photo updates, Q&A responses) tend to rank in local packs more consistently than those with minimal profiles
• Review volume and recency matter more in solar than in many home services categories. Because the purchase is high-ticket and requires trusting someone to work on your home, prospective buyers read reviews carefully. Industry data from BrightLocal and similar sources consistently shows that the majority of consumers check reviews before contacting a home services provider
• Service area page architecture drives organic visibility across a region. Installers serving 10-20 zip codes or cities need dedicated pages for each major market — a single homepage rarely ranks competitively for city-specific queries outside the installer's primary business address
• Local citations (NAP consistency across directories) remain a baseline ranking factor for map pack positions, even as Google's algorithm has evolved

In competitive markets, map pack positions one through three capture a substantial majority of local search clicks — making the difference between a first and fourth position more significant than equivalent positions in national organic results.

For solar companies serving multiple counties or a regional footprint, local SEO complexity scales quickly. Each market has its own competitive set, its own review ecosystem, and its own search demand profile.

The broader solar market context matters for SEO strategy because search demand and competitive intensity move together.

SEIA's residential solar market data shows consistent installation growth over the past decade, with periodic acceleration tied to federal incentive programs (the Investment Tax Credit has been a notable driver), state-level policy changes, and utility rate increases. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 extended and expanded the federal solar tax credit, which triggered a measurable increase in consumer search activity around solar incentives and installation.

What this market trajectory means for SEO:

• Search demand is growing, which means the total opportunity from organic rankings is expanding — but so is the field of competitors publishing content and building links
• National installers and private equity-backed regional players have increased SEO investment significantly, raising the authority bar for ranking in competitive markets
• Content gaps still exist in most secondary and tertiary markets, where local installers have relatively little competition from large national players for location-specific queries
• Incentive-driven search spikes create time-sensitive content opportunities — solar companies with established content infrastructure can publish quickly when new state programs launch or federal rules change

The practical implication: solar companies that start SEO investment now are building authority during a period of rising demand. Those that wait until their market is fully saturated will face higher costs and longer timelines to achieve comparable rankings.

Industry benchmarks typically show that solar SEO programs take 4-9 months to produce consistent lead flow, with earlier gains in less competitive markets and longer timelines in high-density metro areas. This timeline makes starting earlier — not later — the financially rational choice for most installers.