Google is answering questions about your solar company on its own now. What to give it.
Google is replacing the Q&A box on Business Profiles with AI answers built from your profile, site and reviews. What solar installers should feed it.
A homeowner looking at your Google profile used to be able to ask a question in a small Q&A box, and you or a stranger would answer it. Google has been phasing that box out. On more and more profiles, questions about a business get answered by Google's AI instead, using whatever it can find: your profile, your website and your reviews.
For a solar installer, that matters more than it does for most businesses. Solar buyers ask a lot of questions before they ever call. Do you install batteries? Do you handle permits? Do you service systems someone else put in? If Google cannot find a clear answer, it may say something vague, or nothing at all, and the homeowner moves on to the next listing.
What changed, in plain terms
Google's help pages and product updates over the past year point in one direction. The old public questions and answers feature on Business Profiles is being retired, and AI-generated answers are taking its place in Maps and Search. The exact look varies by device and region, and Google tests things constantly, so do not expect every profile to look the same.
The practical change is this: you no longer control the answer directly. You control the sources Google pulls from. That means the job now is making sure those sources are complete, current and specific.
Why solar is exposed
Three things make this a bigger deal for installers than for, say, a pizza place.
The questions are technical. "Do you install Tesla Powerwall?" "Do you do ground mounts?" "Do you offer a lease or only purchase?" A vague website cannot answer those.
The answers changed recently. Incentives, financing and battery options have shifted a lot. If your site still talks about rules from two years ago, Google may repeat old information as if it were current.
Reviews carry weight. AI answers often lean on what reviewers say. If none of your reviews mention batteries, permitting or service after install, Google has less to work with when someone asks.
What to give it this week
None of this needs new software. It needs an afternoon of filling in blanks.
1. Complete every field on your profile. Primary category, secondary categories, service area, hours, services with descriptions, and products if you sell specific panels or batteries. Our Google Business Profile guide walks through each one. In our benchmark report, 24.8% of solar installers list no hours at all. That is an easy blank to fill.
2. Write a real FAQ page on your website. Ten to fifteen questions homeowners actually ask, each answered in two to four plain sentences. Pull them from your sales calls. Good ones to include:
- What brands of panels and batteries do you install?
- Do you handle permits and the utility interconnection?
- Do you offer cash, loan and lease options?
- Do you service or add batteries to systems you did not install?
- How long does a typical install take from signing to turning on?
- What does your workmanship warranty cover, and for how long?
Use specific answers. "Yes, we install [brand] batteries, and we add them to existing systems" is something an AI can quote. "We offer a wide range of solutions" is not.
3. Date your incentive information. If your site mentions tax credits, rebates or net metering, add a "last updated" date and a link to the official source. Out-of-date incentive claims are the fastest way to get misquoted. When in doubt, point to the government or utility page rather than restating the rules yourself.
4. Ask reviewers to mention the details. When you ask for a review, give the customer a nudge on what to include. For example:
"If you have a minute, a short Google review helps a lot. It's especially useful if you mention what we installed, like the battery, and how the permitting and inspection went."
Do not script their words or offer anything in return. Just remind them what future buyers want to know. Our reviews guide covers timing and follow-up.
How to check your work
Search your own company name on your phone and look at the profile. If you see a prompt to ask a question or an AI summary, try a few of the questions above and read what comes back. Note anything wrong or missing, then fix the source: the profile field, the FAQ page or the service page.
Do the same in ChatGPT or Perplexity. Ask "Does [your company] install batteries in [your city]?" The answers will not be perfect, but they will show you where your public information is thin. Our AI search guide explains how those tools find and cite local businesses.
What not to do
Do not stuff your profile description with every keyword you can think of. Do not post fake questions and answers on other platforms to game it. Do not make promises about savings on your FAQ page that you would not put in writing in a contract. AI answers tend to repeat the boldest claim they find, and that becomes your problem when a customer quotes it back.
Clear facts, current dates and real reviews. That is the whole job.
If you want help rewriting your FAQ page and profile, try any service free for 14 days, no card, text or call (801) 751-4071.
Steven has spent the last several years running growth campaigns for local service businesses, solar installers among them, and builds the benchmark datasets on this site from public Google listings. About the editor