Solar and
AI search.

Solar buyers use AI tools the way they used to use a knowledgeable mate: to get the gist before they talk to anyone selling. The questions are long, specific and often local. These are typical of the kind of thing people type, not data on volumes:

• 'How much is the battery rebate in NSW right now?'
• 'Is a 13 kWh or 20 kWh battery better for a family of four in Newcastle?'
• 'Can I get the NSW battery rebate and the federal one together?'
• 'Best solar battery installers on the Central Coast'
• 'Should I replace my 2012 solar panels when I add a battery?'
• 'Do I need to join a virtual power plant to get the rebate?'

Google describes AI Mode and AI Overviews as issuing multiple related searches across subtopics to build one answer. Take 'is a battery worth it in Newcastle'. Behind it sit smaller questions: how much the discount is this month, how it changes with size, what feed-in tariffs pay, whether a VPP pays extra, and how long payback takes. A page that answers only one of them can be cited for that one.

That's why a single 'battery rebate' blog post rarely does the job. Each of those follow-up questions deserves a clear section, or its own page, with the answer in the first line. Our Fan-out Mapping method is built around listing them before you write.

Google is plain that there's no trick to it. Its guide says AI features run on the same ranking and quality systems as Search, that a page must be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet, and that structured data and llms.txt files aren't needed to appear.

Paste in your battery or rebate page. The check flags the facts that changed in 2025 and 2026 and are still sitting on a lot of solar websites.

Solar has more moving facts than most industries. The battery factor was 8.4 STCs per usable kWh until April 2026, then 6.8 from May, falling to 5.7 on 1 January 2027, and it keeps stepping down until 2030. NSW suspended its battery installation incentive. The Approved Solar Retailer program was replaced by the New Energy Tech Consumer Code, and installer accreditation moved to Solar Accreditation Australia.

Each of those is a line that an AI tool can lift from an old page and repeat as current. The buyer reads it, believes it, and then hears a different number from you. Either they think you're the one who's wrong, or they think the whole industry is making it up. Neither helps.

The fix is unglamorous: a 'last updated' date on every rebate page, one URL you update rather than a new post each time, and a calendar reminder for 1 January and 1 July.

For 'installers near me' questions, start with the local data you control, and keep your Google Business Profile exact. Google's guidelines say a service-area business should hide its address if customers don’t visit it, and that the service area shouldn't stretch beyond about two hours' drive from the base. The business name must be the real name, without service descriptions or locations added.

Then make the facts that set you apart easy to read on your own site, in plain text: the suburbs and regions you install in, your licence number, your accreditation, any New Energy Tech Approved Seller status, and the battery brands you install. A buyer who asks an AI tool for 'licensed battery installers near Wyong' can only be given your name if the page that says so exists.

Write about real installs, too. Google's people-first guidance asks who made the content, how and why. A short write-up of a job in Bateau Bay, with the system size, the roof and what was tricky, shows first-hand experience that no comparison site can copy.

Google counts traffic from AI Overviews and AI Mode inside the Search Console Performance report, under Web, and its newer guide also points to a Generative AI performance report in Search Console. Other tools report differently, and none of them shows you every answer that mentions you.

So keep it simple and repeatable:

• Once a month, ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI Mode the same five questions your buyers ask. Note who gets named and which pages are cited.
• Add 'How did you find us?' to your quote form, with 'ChatGPT or another AI tool' as an option.
• Watch Search Console for growth in long, question-style searches landing on your rebate and sizing pages.
• Recheck every rebate figure on the site on 1 January and 1 July.