SEO For Solar Companies - The Ultimate Guide
In an era craving sustainable solutions, solar companies hold the key to a brighter future.
But how can they stand out amid the digital noise? Enter SEO – the beacon guiding customers to your doorstep and propelling your solar venture to new heights.
The urgency to master SEO has never been greater as we teeter on the brink of environmental change.
Join us to unlock the secrets of solar SEO and light the way to a greener tomorrow.
What Exactly is SEO
SEO, also known as “Search Engine Optimization” is a digital marketing technique. It’s a process that allows your content to rank higher in search engine results. (like Google)
Moreover, it is designed to improve the overall usefulness and appearance of pages, posts, images, videos, etc.
SEO aims to bring money to the table by making you one of the first results to show up.
I like search engine optimization so much because:
- if you are the No. 1 result, it means you are the most trusted and experienced one in the solar energy business,
- it drives great leads to you, who are ready to buy.
Why Does my Solar Company Need SEO?
There are more than 10,000 solar companies in every state across the US. That means competition.
But here is the good thing: If you want to become a giant, want to increase revenue, or attract potential customers, this SEO expert is here to help you.
1. Increased Web Traffic
We can generate organic traffic that’s worth every cent. The more people find you, the more leads you get.
SEO for solar companies is not very different from other forms of SEO, but it’s a highly competitive market, so pay good attention!
2. More Customers
Let’s say I’m interested in solar panel installation. Most likely, I will Google something like this:
“Best solar company near me”
“solar panel company”
“solar business”
“solar contractors”
“solar installers”
Wouldn’t it be awesome if it was you, who showed up first? Well of course it would. They click, read, and if they like what they see, they will contact you.
3. More Brand Awareness
The biggest advantage compared to Google ads or Social media marketing is brand awareness.
If you rank first you signal authority, expertise, and trust. This is great because the potential customers love this.
How to Start an SEO Campaign
In this section, I will show you how to start a campaign for solar SEO.
Step 1: Keyword Research
The first step is brainstorming. Use the very popular Google Keyword Planner tool and start typing in some common-sense keywords, such as I mentioned before.
Fire up Excel or your preferred program, and extract these keywords. Google Keyword Planner is great because you can see how many people are searching for these terms.
Once you have your list, pick one keyword or keyphrase and type it into Google to see what the search engine results (also known as “SERPs”) look like.
Other than that, look for more possible keywords in the “People Also Ask” or “Related Searches” areas in Google.
Another great technique for keyword research is to insert the topics into Answerthepublic.com. Tough with limited access, you can use it for free and it gives you a great map of ideas and connecting topics.
The easier but more expensive way is to use paid software such as Ahrefs or SEMRush, which I will cover later.
Step 2: Competition Research
Many overlook this part but I promise you this is a gold mine. Chances are you know perfectly who your competition is.
If don’t, start typing in keywords such as: “solar system”, “solar solutions”, “solar installation” etc.
Look up their website and check out what keyword or keywords they are targeting. For this process, I recommend using Ahrefs.
From here you might find easy-to-target, low-effort solar energy keywords!
Step 3: Content Creation
Creating content for a given keyword is one of the best ways to get organic traffic.
There is a concept called E-E-A-T, that Google loves. It stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.
Why is this great? If you completely cover the given topic, Google will see you as an expert and will give you great rankings.
Welcome to content marketing!
Step 4: Clean HTML (Code)
Make sure that your website is completely readable in HTML format because that’s how Google does it. Any hidden text in Javascript, CSS, or text in pictures will be invisible in Google’s eyes. (Or for more technical readers, in the crawler’s eyes.)
Step 5: Backlink Profile
A trustworthy website has all kinds of backlinks and social signals pointing to it.
A backlink is a link pointing to another website, citing its content, service, product, professional opinion, case study, etc.
It works like this:
You just wrote the best article regarding solar power. It’s all optimized for the given keyword, it contains all the information Google wants to see. Great, what’s next?
Well, If it’s that great, other sources will link to it. At least, that’s how Google thinks. (You got to hand it to him, he’s right.)
But don’t get too upset. You don’t have to write articles so great that The New York Times links to them. They just have to be a bit better than the first, and after that, a good link-building professional can take it over.
Step 6: Web Design (UX)
Although Web Design is not a direct SEO ranking factor, a good SEO service contains it.
I will tell you why…
Let’s say you have the best solar marketing strategy, but your website is an outdated, crappy-looking site from 2007.
Even if your design won’t scare anybody off (which it will), there is no way anyone is going to read through a wall of text.
From an SEO standpoint, it is very important to monitor how your viewers interact with your site. If they leave almost immediately, and you don’t answer their question, your site will take a big hit.
That’s why a good SEO company or SEO Agency does UX.
Step 7: Local SEO
Local SEO is a killer. By customizing your Google Business Profile (or Google my business), you can attract a lot of local customers.
If you have been doing business for a while, chances are you already have one, without ever creating it.
I can already hear the confusion. Wait, really? – You might ask.
Well, definitely. Google is very smart, so he does it for you. The great thing is that you can take over these already existing accounts and customize them.
The most important factors are good reviews and a correct business setup.
Also, by customizing your Google Business profile you become visible in Google Maps, so the customers can find you easily. A good SEO company handles this for you.
Step 8: Featured Snippet Optimization
When you are searching for something, Google often gives you answers in the search results without you clicking on a single website. It looks like this.
This is called a featured snippet. You can do this too.
If you would want to replicate it, you would need to write the answer in your article, but in the same format, you see in the search result. After that, you need to place the answer under a Heading. The heading title should contain the keyword you see in the search bar.
The Most Helpful SEO Tools in the Solar Industry
Now I will give you the best SEO tools for everyday SEO work. I would like to point out that I have no affiliate programs running, so all mentions will be based on my own experience.
Ahrefs
Ahrefs is a superb SEO-focused marketing tool. It has many features, such as Keyword Explorer, Content Explorer, website audits, Site Explorer, and even content gap and competitive analysis. This tool is heavily SEO-focused, which makes it an absolute beast. It gives you an edge over your competitors, and it’s great for sniffing out your competition.
This is not the cheapest one, and for more intermediate users, I do not recommend the cheapest plan. But if you are in the renewable energy sector and want to look for good SEO keywords, the basic plan will do for $99/month.
SEMRush
SEMRush is another great tool, but it’s not so heavily focused. If you are looking for an overall killer digital marketing tool, SEMRush is the way to go. I used it for months when I started my first SEO strategy. In my opinion, the keyword planner tool is a bit better than Ahref’s. For basic search engine optimization, it’s a question of preference.
Both are great marketing tools.
I would advise you to check out other comparisons, before deciding!
It starts from $129.95/month.
Google Search Console
This is a free tool by Google himself. You can get access to a lot of important information, for example:
- when in the middle of link building, you can see what sites already link to you,
- you can get noticed if you get penalized,
- it gives you valuable information about whether your pages are indexed, or not,
- your overall performance,
- you can enter your sitemap,
- etc.
Overall, you should always connect your website to Google Search Console, because it is completely free, and gives great feedback.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is all about user interaction. Remember when I talked about how bad it is when users leave your site immediately? Well, in Google Analytics, you can find the source of the problem.
It also gives you a lot of important data which can be further used to develop a more user-friendly website.
WordPress plugins
If you have a website, you are probably using WordPress as your CMS or “Content Management System”. There are some great plugins ready to help you in WordPress. If not, do not worry.
For a common website, I mostly recommend using WordPress, but there are other great alternatives out there!
Yoast SEO/AIOSEO
Google Analytics for WordPress by MonsterInsights
This plugin allows you to connect your website to Google Analytics. It is great if you are not too tech savvy because using this you only have to click a few buttons instead of pasting a code in your website.
Jetpack
Jetpack is a great plugin for overall website security and performance. This plugin helps the users and yourself to be less threatened by hackers.
W3 Total Cache
Yes, site speed is very important in 2023. This plugin helps you with that. If you have a site with a lot of media and animation, you need to optimize its load speed. If not, install it anyway because this is a numbers game. The lower the overall load spread, the better.
Remember, you don’t want the customers to wait.
Redirection
Redirection allows you to redirect older, irrelevant, or duplicate pages. The key to a successful redirection is doing a 301 redirection. Why?
Let’s you have a page about solar panels from 2012, but it’s very outdated. At the time you wrote it, it was excellent and attracted a lot of good-quality backlinks. You forgot about it and now you have two pages regarding the same topic. That’s not great.
In this case, redirect the old one to the new one using a 301 redirect. This way, every link pointing to that old page will point to the new one. This means that the “link juice” will benefit the new page, which will result in better rankings.
Who thought redirecting pages is good for marketing? Well, I certainly didn’t until I started doing it.
Does Your Solar Company Need Help with an SEO Campaign?
After reading this, I’m sure you realize how important SEO for solar companies is.
Whether you are a solar contractor or solar installer, we can help you achieve the next level you have been dreaming about.
If you have a digital marketing team that needs a bit of edge, or you aim to install or sell more solar panels, RelevanceIT is here to help you.
I hope you enjoyed our roundup about Solar SEO.
Solar power is booming, and I’d like your business to do the same.
Article by:
József L. Toth
“I am the owner and founder of this website. I started doing SEO in 2022, and I fell in love with the concept almost immediately. If you have questions regarding the article, I’m available!”