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Sola UK Hit #1 Local Pack In Hertfordshire In 16 Days
31 reviews beating Chiltern Solar's 165 and Everyone's Energy's 163. Watch the full 25-minute conversation with Sola UK.
The Problem
Ryan Williams runs Sola UK from St Albans in Hertfordshire. A growing solar installer with a good reputation but a common problem: his competitors had been building their online presence for years. Chiltern Solar had 165 Google reviews. Everyone's Energy had 163.
Sola UK had 31 reviews. Conventional wisdom says that is not enough. Every marketing guru, every agency says the same thing: get more reviews than the competition and you will rank higher. It sounds logical. It is also wrong.
We Recorded The Whole Thing
Ryan from Sola UK recorded this himself. 71 seconds, no script, no retakes. His words on what changed since they signed with SEO Dons and why he'd recommend it to any solar installer still sitting on the fence.
How 31 Reviews Beat 165
Sola Renewable Company
- 31 Google reviews, 4.9 stars
- St Albans, Hertfordshire
- Position #1 Hertfordshire Local Pack
- Position #1 organic
- 39 form submissions/month
- 102K Google impressions
Chiltern Solar
Ranking below Sola UK165 reviews — outranked by a company with 5x fewer.
Everyone's Energy
Ranking below Sola UK163 reviews — outranked by a company with 5x fewer.
"The numbers speak for themselves. Search 'solar panels hertfordshire' and see the result with your own eyes."
— The proof is live on Google right now
The Strategy
We did not chase reviews. We built the technical foundation.
Sola UK's website was rebuilt on our Astro SSG framework with proper schema markup, optimised location pages, clean internal linking, and content that demonstrated genuine local expertise in the Hertfordshire solar market.
The key insight — and the reason this case study matters — is that we focused on the signals Google actually weights most heavily. Content relevance. Technical health. Schema accuracy. Page experience. Local landing pages with genuine depth.
Reviews are one signal. They matter. But they are one of dozens. When you get the other signals right, 31 reviews can outrank 165.
Before & After
| Metric | Before SEO Dons | After SEO Dons |
|---|---|---|
| Google Local Pack position | Not ranking | Position 1 |
| Time to Position 1 | — | 16 days |
| GSC clicks (3 months) | Not tracked | 428 |
| GSC impressions (3 months) | Not tracked | 102,000 |
| Form submissions/month | Low | 39 (+30% calls/emails = 50+) |
| Google reviews used | 31 | 31 (unchanged — did not need more) |
Your Region Is Probably Still Available
If you have been told you need hundreds of reviews before SEO is worth pursuing — look at Sola UK. If you have been told it takes 6–12 months to see results — look at 16 days.
The technical foundation matters more than the review count. The question is whether you have an agency that understands that.
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