Multi-State Solar installer: SEO Case Study
See how an integrated PPC and SEO strategy lifted conversions 40% and cut cost per lead 25% for a regional residential and commercial solar installer. The same work doubled ad click-through rates and captured more than 1,500 tracked phone leads.
Project Overview
As one of the largest and most established full-service solar and energy storage providers in the Intermountain West, this regional contractor has spent over a decade designing, permitting, and installing custom renewable energy solutions. Offering everything from residential solar panels to advanced battery backup systems and EV chargers, the company built its reputation on end-to-end, in-house quality control. To sustain lead flow across core markets in Utah and Idaho, specifically the Salt Lake City and Boise metro areas, the company partnered with our agency to audit, overhaul, and scale its multi-channel digital acquisition engine.
The Challenge
Despite investing heavily in search engine optimization and digital advertising, the client was facing declining efficiency, rising cost-per-lead numbers, and uncertain channel attribution.
Prior to our engagement, their marketing operations suffered from critical operational drag:
- Ad Spend Inefficiencies & Keyword Cannibalization: Paid search campaigns lacked tight targeting parameters, allowing budget to bleed into low-quality clicks and irrelevant queries. Internal campaigns were actively competing and bidding against each other for the same geographic search volume.
- Slipping Organic Authority: Organic rankings for core revenue-driving services (such as home battery backup and commercial solar) had dropped significantly due to loose internal linking structures and a lack of high-authority backlink acquisition.
- Attribution & Conversion Tracking Gaps: The business lacked full visibility into offline lead conversions, making it difficult to pinpoint which digital channels were generating high-value phone inquiries versus unvetted web form submissions.
Our Approach
We executed a unified, multi-channel strategy centered on paid ad consolidation, intent-based SEO restructuring, technical web optimization, and granular call-tracking deployment.
- Paid Search Restructuring & Wasted-Spend Elimination: We audited and overhauled the client’s Google Ads account, eliminating broad, low-intent keyphrases and campaign overlaps. We reallocated budget toward high-intent service terms, specifically residential solar installations and Tesla Powerwall/Enphase battery integrations, across prime Utah and Idaho zip codes.
- Targeted Content & Authority-Building SEO: We developed a consistent publishing cadence of targeted content hubs designed around core regional search intents. Concurrently, we launched a high-authority backlink campaign, restructured internal link silos across service pages, and optimized local listings to capture high-value Google Map Pack real estate.
- Full-Funnel Web Development & UX Optimization: Our development team provided continuous site support, building high-converting landing pages, refining conversion funnels, enhancing site security, and eliminating technical bugs that slowed down mobile visitors.
- Call Tracking Infrastructure: We implemented CallRail integration to bridge the gap between initial ad clicks or organic visits and inbound phone inquiries, giving both teams complete visibility into lead source, call duration, and closing rates.
- Ongoing Strategy & Executive Governance: We established a monthly performance cadence to review channel-by-channel KPIs, reallocate budgets based on lead quality, and pivot strategy in response to shifting industry conditions.
Results
Within twelve months of strategy deployment, the integrated campaign drastically improved acquisition efficiency across both paid and organic channels, delivering higher lead volume without increasing overall ad spend.
| Performance Metric | Result | Growth Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Google Ads Conversions | +40% | Year-over-year conversion growth on an essentially flat advertising budget |
| Cost Per Conversion | -25% | Driven by aggressive negative keyword management and bid optimization |
| Paid Search Click-Through Rate | ~2x | Roughly 100% CTR increase across primary paid search campaigns |
| Average Organic Position | Cut by half | Top 10 placements for roughly 20 critical regional searches |
| Tracked Phone Inquiries | 1,500+ | Captured in roughly nine months at an 88% answer rate |
- 40% Increase in Conversions on Flat Budget: Google Ads conversions jumped by roughly 40% year-over-year while keeping total advertising spend essentially flat.
- 25% Reduction in Cost-Per-Lead (CPL): Through aggressive negative keyword management and bid optimization, the average cost per conversion dropped by approximately 25%.
- Doubled Ad Click-Through Rates (CTR): Ads reached significantly higher intent audiences, resulting in a roughly 100% increase in CTR across primary paid search campaigns.
- First-Page Dominance for High-Value Search Terms: Organic search rankings improved dramatically, reducing the site’s average position by half. The client now holds Top 10 organic placements for roughly 20 critical regional searches, with Top 3 positions for competitive terms like “home battery,” “solar panels in Utah,” and “Tesla Powerwall installation.”
- High-Volume Lead Attribution: The new tracking infrastructure captured over 1,500 qualified telephone inquiries in roughly nine months, achieving an extraordinary 88% phone answer rate across paid and organic channels.
- Uncompromised Traffic Quality: Despite broader industry headwinds and softening nationwide demand, conversion rates on site traffic held completely steady, ensuring lead quality remained premium.
40% Increase in Conversions
25% Lower Cost Per Lead
2x Ad Click-Through Rate
1,500+ Tracked Phone Leads
Takeaway
Scaling a regional service business requires rigorous budget efficiency and tight cross-channel alignment. When paid ad spend is shielded from negative keyword bleed, organic content is aligned with explicit customer search intent, and backend conversion tracking is fully integrated, companies can capture significant market share without simply throwing more money at the problem.
What’s Next?
As macroeconomic conditions shift, including changes to federal solar tax credits and the rise of AI-driven search engines, we are evolving the client’s growth roadmap. On the SEO front, we are building deep, conversational Q&A content architectures designed to capture AI Overview placements alongside high-authority backlink campaigns. On the paid side, we are consolidating top-performing campaign structures, refreshing creative assets, and scaling budgets into newly emerging regional territories.