45 original solar marketing statistics from October 2026: who ChatGPT and four other AIs recommend in 26 US cities, what Google's AI Overviews cite on 60 solar searches, and what the installers they pick do differently.
In October 2026, 70.3% of the 411 solar installers that ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Google AI Mode recommended across 26 US cities did not appear in Google's top 20 map results for "solar installer" in the same city. That finding and the 44 other statistics below come from Orkkid's own research: 130 AI answers, 520 Google Maps listings, 60 homeowner solar searches and 335 installer homepages, all collected on 7 and 8 October 2026. Every number here is original to Orkkid, and each one traces back to the method at the end of the page.
Orkkid is an SEO and GEO agency for solar companies, and we sell search and AI marketing services to solar installers. We ran this study to learn how homeowners now find an installer, and you are welcome to quote any figure with credit. For installation volumes and market size, SEIA's solar industry research data is the standard reference; this page covers the marketing questions those reports leave open.
TL;DR
- In October 2026, 70.3% of the 411 solar installers recommended by five AI engines across 26 US cities were missing from Google's map top 20 for the same city.
- EnergySage was cited in 81.5% of 130 AI answers recommending a solar installer, more than any other website.
- Google showed an AI Overview on 86.7% of 60 common homeowner solar searches, and those searches carried 76.6% of the group's monthly search volume.
- Solar installers in the Google Maps top 20 with 500 or more reviews were named by AI 58.8% of the time, against 4.6% for installers with fewer than 25 reviews.
- 62.7% of the installer websites AI recommended had a battery or storage page, against 33.9% of the installer websites AI skipped.
How to cite these statistics: "Orkkid Solar AI Study, October 2026", linking to https://orkkid.com/blog/solar-marketing-statistics. Statistics 41 to 45 come from the cross-industry Orkkid AI Recommendation Study, October 2026, whose raw records you can download as a CSV file.
AI recommendations
These figures come from 130 answers to one question, "Who is the best solar installer in {City}, {State}? Give me your top picks.", asked of five AI engines in 26 US cities on 7 and 8 October 2026.
What AI tells homeowners who ask for the best solar installer
70.3%
of the installers AI recommends are missing from Google's map top 20
81.5%
of AI answers cite EnergySage
55.5%
of named installers were picked by only one of the five AIs
Source: Orkkid Solar AI Study, October 2026 (130 AI answers across 26 US cities)
- In October 2026, 70.3% of the 411 solar installers that ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Google AI Mode recommended across 26 US cities did not appear in Google's map top 20 for "solar installer" in the same city (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, 81.5% of 130 AI answers recommending a solar installer cited EnergySage (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, 55.5% of the 411 solar installers recommended by five AI engines in 26 US cities were named by only one of the five (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, only 17 of 411 solar installers (4.1%) were recommended by all five AI engines asked about their city (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, five AI engines named 778 solar installers in 130 answers, an average of 6.0 installers per answer (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, Claude named an average of 8.1 solar installers per answer, the longest shortlists of five AI engines, while Google AI Mode named 4.8 (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, 53.6% of the solar installers recommended by Google AI Mode were in Google's map top 20, the highest share of five AI engines, against 30.4% for Perplexity (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, 38.5% of 130 AI answers recommending a local solar installer named at least one national brand such as Sunrun or Palmetto, and Claude did so in 88.5% of its 26 answers (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, Sunrun was the national solar brand AI recommended most, named as a pick in 24 of 130 AI answers (18.5%), ahead of Palmetto with 15 and Blue Raven Solar with 11 (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, ConsumerAffairs was cited in 46.2% of 130 AI answers recommending a solar installer, the second most cited site after EnergySage (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, solar review and quote sites made up 32.7% of all sources five AI engines cited when recommending a solar installer, while installers' own websites made up 9.3% (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, Gemini drew 25.7% of the sources it cited for solar installer recommendations from installers' own websites, more than three times the share of the next engine, Claude, at 7.1% (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, 44.7% of the sources Google AI Mode cited for solar installer recommendations were Google's own pages, and it cited EnergySage in 23.1% of its answers against 100% for Perplexity and Claude (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
Where each AI gets its solar recommendations
Share of cited sources by type
Solar review and quote sites supplied 32.7% of everything the AIs cited; solar companies' own websites supplied 9.3%.
ChatGPT
46%11%11%12%14%Perplexity
37%27%21%Gemini
19%26%23%14%12%Claude
33%21%9%14%16%Google AI Mode
40%45%
Source: Orkkid Solar AI Study, October 2026 (130 answers, unique domains per answer)
The five engines behave differently enough that a solar company should check each one separately:
| Engine (model) | Installers named per answer | Sites cited per answer | Picks in Google Maps top 20 | Answers naming a Maps top-3 installer | Answers citing EnergySage | Answers naming a national brand |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT (gpt-5.5) | 5.9 | 3.1 | 37.3% | 38.5% | 96.2% | 30.8% |
| Perplexity (sonar-pro) | 6.2 | 8.3 | 30.4% | 42.3% | 100% | 23.1% |
| Gemini (gemini-3.8-flash) | 5.0 | 6.4 | 35.7% | 30.8% | 88.5% | 23.1% |
| Claude (claude-sonnet-5-5) | 8.1 | 5.9 | 33.8% | 50% | 100% | 88.5% |
| Google AI Mode (Google) | 4.8 | 1.8 | 53.6% | 34.6% | 23.1% | 26.9% |
What it means for a solar company: your profile on EnergySage and ConsumerAffairs now shapes AI recommendations more than your map rank does, so complete those profiles and keep reviews coming in there. To see which sites AI reads in your market, use our breakdown of the sites AI reads before recommending a solar installer and the installers AI recommends in each of the 26 cities.
Google AI Overviews on solar searches
These figures come from 60 common homeowner solar searches checked on Google (US, desktop) on 8 October 2026, with monthly search volumes and cost per click from Google Ads.
How often Google shows an AI Overview on solar searches
Share of queries with an AI Overview, by what the homeowner is asking
52 of 60 homeowner solar searches (86.7%) showed an AI Overview.
- Cost and pricing87.5%
8 queries
- Is it worth it100%
7 queries
- Financing100%
5 queries
- Incentives100%
5 queries
- Choosing an installer71.4%
14 queries
- Equipment90%
10 queries
- How solar works81.8%
11 queries
Source: Orkkid Solar AI Study, October 2026 (60 US desktop searches)
- In October 2026, Google showed an AI Overview on 86.7% of 60 common homeowner solar searches in the US, 52 searches in all (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, the solar searches that showed a Google AI Overview carried 76.6% of the 247,260 combined monthly US searches in our 60-search sample (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, 100% of the 17 homeowner searches we checked about whether solar is worth it, how to finance it or which incentives apply showed a Google AI Overview (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, searches about choosing a solar installer showed a Google AI Overview least often of seven search types, on 71.4% of 14 searches (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, the two biggest "near me" solar searches in our sample, "solar companies near me" with 14,800 monthly searches and "solar installers near me" with 12,100, showed a Google map pack and no AI Overview (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, EnergySage and YouTube were each cited in 63.5% of 52 Google AI Overviews on homeowner solar searches, and Reddit in 46.2% (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, 21 of 52 Google AI Overviews on homeowner solar searches (40.4%) cited at least one solar installer's own website (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, only 33.2% of the sites cited in a Google AI Overview on a solar search also ranked in Google's organic top 10 for the same search, on average (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, Reddit ranked in Google's organic top 10 for 68.3% of 60 homeowner solar searches, more than any other website (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, Google Ads cost per click averaged $13.70 on searches about choosing a solar installer, against $8.05 on other homeowner solar searches, and "best solar installers" was the most expensive at $31.52 (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
The same few sites feed both AI answers and AI Overviews, but best-of lists that AI chatbots read often never appear in Google's summaries:
| Site | Type | AI answers citing it (of 130) | AI Overviews citing it (of 52) | Searches where it ranks in Google's top 10 (of 60) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| energysage.com | Solar review and quote sites | 106 (81.5%) | 33 (63.5%) | 18 (30%) |
| consumeraffairs.com | Solar review and quote sites | 60 (46.2%) | 7 (13.5%) | 5 (8.3%) |
| ecowatch.com | Media and publishers | 35 (26.9%) | 5 (9.6%) | 6 (10%) |
| reddit.com | Reddit, YouTube and social | 35 (26.9%) | 24 (46.2%) | 41 (68.3%) |
| serviceagent.ai | Best-of lists | 34 (26.2%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) |
| expertise.com | Best-of lists | 32 (24.6%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) |
| homeadvisor.com | Solar review and quote sites | 24 (18.5%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) |
| todayshomeowner.com | Media and publishers | 21 (16.2%) | 0 (0%) | 2 (3.3%) |
| yelp.com | Directories | 21 (16.2%) | 4 (7.7%) | 6 (10%) |
| trustanalytica.org | Best-of lists | 17 (13.1%) | 0 (0%) | 1 (1.7%) |
What it means for a solar company: homeowners researching cost, financing and incentives now read an AI summary before any link, so publish pages that answer those questions with your own local numbers, because those are the pages AI Overviews quote. The full breakdown is in our study of AI Overviews on 60 solar searches, and Google explains how pages appear in these summaries in its AI features documentation.
Get your free GEO audit for solar companies
Google reviews and Maps
These figures come from the 520 Google Maps listings that ranked in the top 20 for "solar installer" across the 26 cities, matched against every AI answer for the same city.
The more Google reviews a solar installer has, the more often AI names it
Share of Google Maps top-20 solar installers named by at least one AI, by review count
Installers with 500+ reviews were named 58.8% of the time, against 4.6% for those with under 25.
- Under 25 reviews4.6%
237 listings
- 25-9928.4%
141 listings
- 100-24945.1%
71 listings
- 250-49959.5%
37 listings
- 500+58.8%
34 listings
Source: Orkkid Solar AI Study, October 2026 (520 Google Maps listings in 26 cities)
- In October 2026, solar installers in Google's map top 20 with 500 or more Google reviews were named by at least one AI 58.8% of the time, against 4.6% for installers with fewer than 25 reviews (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, the solar installers in Google's map top 20 that AI recommended had a median of 129 Google reviews, against 16 for the installers AI skipped (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, only 24% of 520 Google Maps top-20 solar listings across 26 US cities were recommended by any of five AI engines (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, solar installers rated 4.8 to 4.99 stars on Google Maps were named by AI 53.1% of the time, against 14.8% for installers with a perfect 5.0 rating (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, 41.9% of 468 rated Google Maps top-20 solar listings showed a perfect 5.0 star rating (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, 45.6% of 520 Google Maps top-20 solar listings had fewer than 25 Google reviews, including 52 that showed no reviews at all (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, solar installers ranked 1 to 3 on Google Maps were named by AI 29.5% of the time, against 18.1% for installers ranked 11 to 20 (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, the median top-three Google Maps listing for "solar installer" had 57.5 reviews across 26 US cities, ranging from 588 in Raleigh to 4 in Boston (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, 16.2% of 520 Google Maps top-20 solar listings had no website link, and 99.2% of the listings AI recommended had one against 79% of the rest (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
What it means for a solar company: review count is the lever you control most directly, and in our data AI named 45.1% of installers with 100 to 249 reviews against 4.6% of those with fewer than 25. Sending a Google review link after every install is the cheapest way to get there, and our city-by-city review benchmarks for solar companies show the count you need in your market.
Solar installer websites
These figures come from the homepages of the Google Maps top-20 installers, checked on 8 October 2026: 335 homepages loaded (102 from installers AI recommended and 233 from installers it skipped) out of 436 listings with a website.
- In October 2026, 62.7% of the solar installer homepages AI recommended linked to a battery or storage page, against 33.9% of the installer homepages AI skipped (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, 70.6% of the solar installer homepages AI recommended showed customer reviews or testimonials, against 48.9% of the homepages AI skipped (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, 41.2% of the solar installer homepages AI recommended stated how many years the company had been in business, against 22.7% of the homepages AI skipped (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, 20.6% of the solar installer homepages AI recommended mentioned NABCEP certification, against 6% of the homepages AI skipped (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, only 19.1% of 335 solar installer homepages showed a contractor license number, and 22.4% put their city name in the homepage title (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, 65.1% of 335 solar installer homepages carried LocalBusiness schema, while 9.9% marked up review stars and 10.1% had FAQ schema (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, 28.4% of 335 solar installer websites had an llms.txt file, and 2.1% blocked at least one AI crawler in robots.txt (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
- In October 2026, the solar installer homepages AI recommended had a median of 1,153 words, against 949 for the homepages AI skipped (Orkkid Solar AI Study).
What it means for a solar company: the installers AI picked were more likely to publish proof a homeowner can check, such as reviews, years in business, a license number and NABCEP certification, along with a dedicated battery page. These are correlations from one snapshot, and our solar installer website study and solar company SEO guide show how to add each signal.
How solar compares with other industries
These figures come from the Orkkid AI Recommendation Study of 7 October 2026: the same prompt, the same five engines and 40 AI answers per industry for solar installers, moving companies and wedding photographers in eight cities (Denver, Austin, Phoenix, Charlotte, Seattle, Tampa, London and Toronto). The raw records are a free CSV download.
- In October 2026, 67.7% of the solar installers AI recommended were missing from Google's map top 20, against 75% of moving companies and 87.6% of wedding photographers (Orkkid AI Recommendation Study).
- In October 2026, EnergySage was cited in 65% of 40 AI answers recommending a solar installer, a higher share than the most cited site in moving, movebuddha.com at 47.5%, or in wedding photography, weddingwire.com at 52.5% (Orkkid AI Recommendation Study).
- In October 2026, the solar installers in Google's map top 20 that AI skipped had a median of 17 Google reviews, against 112 for skipped moving companies and 59.5 for skipped wedding photographers (Orkkid AI Recommendation Study).
- In October 2026, 50% of solar installers in Google's map top 20 with 50 to 199 reviews were named by AI, against 12.5% of moving companies and 17.8% of wedding photographers in the same review band (Orkkid AI Recommendation Study).
- In October 2026, 82.6% of the solar installers in Google's map top 20 that AI skipped had a website on their listing, against 94.8% of skipped moving companies and 96.9% of skipped wedding photographers (Orkkid AI Recommendation Study).
| Measure (40 AI answers per industry, 8 cities) | Solar installers | Moving companies | Wedding photographers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Different businesses named | 127 | 164 | 267 |
| Named businesses missing from the Google Maps top 20 | 67.7% | 75% | 87.6% |
| Named by only one of the five AIs | 57.5% | 61.6% | 83.1% |
| Most cited site (share of answers) | energysage.com (65%) | movebuddha.com (47.5%) | weddingwire.com (52.5%) |
| Median Google reviews, Maps businesses AI named | 142 | 698 | 84.5 |
| Median Google reviews, Maps businesses AI skipped | 17 | 112 | 59.5 |
| Maps businesses with 50 to 199 reviews that AI named | 50% | 12.5% | 17.8% |
| Skipped Maps businesses with a website | 82.6% | 94.8% | 96.9% |
What it means for a solar company: solar is the industry where a modest review count goes furthest, because so many competing installers have very few reviews or no website at all. The full comparison is in our AI recommendation study, and our guide to generative engine optimization covers the work that gets a business named.
How we got this data
- When: AI answers were collected on 7 and 8 October 2026, and the Google searches and website checks on 8 October 2026. Each prompt ran once per engine, so every figure is a snapshot, and a re-run will differ in detail.
- AI engines: ChatGPT (gpt-5.5), Perplexity (sonar-pro), Gemini (gemini-3.8-flash) and Claude (claude-sonnet-5-5), all with web search on and no location setting, through the DataForSEO AI Optimization API, plus Google AI Mode with the keyword "best solar installer in {City}" and the city as location.
- Prompt: "Who is the best solar installer in {City}, {State}? Give me your top picks."
- Cities (26): Denver, Austin, Phoenix, Charlotte, Seattle, Tampa, Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, Las Vegas, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Orlando, Miami, Atlanta, Raleigh, Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, Tucson, Boston, Newark, Baltimore, Chicago, Minneapolis, Honolulu.
- Sample: 130 AI answers (26 per engine) naming 778 installers, 411 of them different; 520 Google Maps listings (the top 20 for "solar installer" in each city); 60 homeowner solar searches on Google US desktop with search volume and cost per click from Google Ads; 335 installer homepages checked for 23 signals.
- Maps matching: an installer counts as named when an answer recommends it by name as a pick for that city. We matched every name against the same city's Maps top 20. Review sites, directories and marketplaces such as EnergySage and Yelp count as sources, not picks.
- Installer citations in AI Overviews: statistic 20 uses a hand check of every cited domain, published in our AI Overviews study.
- Limits: one run per engine and city, US cities only for the solar study, and correlations rather than causes. Website signals were read from homepages and linked pages a crawler could load.
The full method and the earlier cross-industry results are in How AI Recommends Local Businesses.
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Tested across ChatGPT · Perplexity · Google AI Overviews · Gemini
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What share of solar installers recommended by AI rank in Google Maps?
In our October 2026 study of 130 AI answers across 26 US cities, 29.7% of the 411 installers that five AI engines recommended appeared in Google's map top 20 for the same city, and 70.3% did not. Google AI Mode followed Maps most closely, with 53.6% of its picks in the top 20.
Which websites do AI engines cite most when recommending a solar installer?
EnergySage was cited in 81.5% of 130 answers, followed by ConsumerAffairs (46.2%), ecowatch.com (26.9%) and reddit.com (26.9%). Solar review and quote sites made up 32.7% of all citations.
How often do Google AI Overviews appear on solar searches?
On 8 October 2026, 52 of 60 common homeowner solar searches (86.7%) showed an AI Overview. Searches about cost, financing, incentives and whether solar is worth it almost always did, while "near me" installer searches showed a map pack instead.
How many Google reviews does a solar company need to be recommended by AI?
There is no fixed threshold, but the naming rate rose steeply with review count: 4.6% for installers with fewer than 25 reviews, 28.4% for 25 to 99, 45.1% for 100 to 249 and 59.5% for 250 to 499. The median top-three Maps listing had 57.5 reviews, and that number varies widely by city.
Can I use these solar marketing statistics in my own article?
Yes. Quote any statistic with the credit "Orkkid Solar AI Study, October 2026" and a link to this page. For the cross-industry figures, credit the Orkkid AI Recommendation Study and use the CSV of raw records.
