28 September 2026 · 7 min read · Oscar Markham
Where a solar installer's Google Ads budget leaks
Solar has an unusually bad ratio of interested searchers to actual buyers, because a government grant brings a large number of people into the market to look rather than to buy. On a default Google Ads setup you pay for all of them equally. On most solar accounts we review, a substantial share of the spend is going to searches that could never have become an install.
Grant-only searches are the biggest category
'SEAI grant', 'solar grant application', 'how much is the solar grant', 'grant calculator' — these people want information about money, and a sizeable share of them are years away from buying anything.
This is genuinely arguable, and it depends on your budget. Some installers do well capturing them with a useful page and an email sequence. On a small budget they crowd out people ready to buy, and the honest move is to block them and revisit when there is room.
What is not arguable is that they should be a deliberate decision rather than something that happens to you.
DIY, wholesale and equipment searches
'Solar panel kit', 'panels for sale', 'solar panel price per panel', 'inverter wholesale' — somebody is buying equipment, not an installation.
There is also a steady stream of caravan, shed and off-grid searches that look relevant and are not.
- kit, kits, diy, self install, wholesale, supplier, distributor
- caravan, motorhome, campervan, boat, shed, off grid, 12v
- second hand, used, ebay, amazon, done deal
Jobs, courses and training
Solar is a growing trade and a lot of people are searching for a way into it. 'Solar installer jobs', 'PV training', 'solar course Ireland', 'safe electric registration'.
Easy to block, frequently a fifth of a poorly set up account's traffic, and no loss whatsoever.
- jobs, vacancy, hiring, apprentice, career, salary, wage
- course, training, qualification, certificate, college, diploma
The commercial and utility confusion
'Solar farm', 'solar field', 'ground mount acre', 'PPA' — these are utility-scale searches and they are expensive.
If you do domestic and light commercial work, block them. If you do want farm work, that is a separate campaign with separate terms, not a stray keyword in the domestic account.
Location settings and the obvious geography
Set locations to presence rather than presence-or-interest, or you will pay for people abroad reading about Ireland.
Add UK and US geographic negatives, and the counties you genuinely will not travel to. A Dublin installer paying for Cork clicks is common and entirely avoidable.
What to keep and bid properly on
The terms worth real money are the ones with a place and an intention in them. 'Solar panel installers [town]', 'solar PV quote', 'solar installation cost [county]', 'battery storage installer near me'.
Those are people who have moved past the grant and are choosing a company. They cost more per click and they are the only clicks that reliably become installs.
Then read the search terms report weekly for the first month. The lists above are a starting point; your own report is the actual answer, and most installers have never opened it.
Written by Oscar Markham, founder of Dublin Growth Digital. We run lead generation for Irish estate agents and trades, reported every Friday in enquiries and booked work.