Google Ads is better for your business if:
You want to target specific keywords that guarantee high-intent customers
Your service/product has urgency and requires immediate action
Brand loyalty isn't a huge driving factor when it comes to hiring your service
You have a B2B service/product
Facebook Ads is better for you if:
You are in a very visual niche
You monthly marketing budget is low
Building brand awareness is very important to your business
You are able to leverage social media trends
Google Ads Vs Facebook Ads: Knowing the Difference
The answer to Google Ads vs Facebook Ads really depends on your industry.
B2B businesses that offer necessary or high-priority services and products tend to perform well with Google Ads, as they attract active searchers.
D2C and B2C businesses driven by consumer demand, tend to do better with Facebook Ads, thanks to its passive advertising approach.
But the truth is, Google Ads vs Facebook Ads is not so black and white. If combined, both ad platforms can provide businesses with unparalleled results.
Let’s break down how these advertising platforms work, what are the pros and cons, and how to know which is right for your business.
Already know google ads is the best for your business? Hire a Google Ads Ggency in Dubai to market your business today!
What is Google Ads?
Google Ads, formerly Google Adwords, is a pay-per-click ad platform. It runs on the Google search engine and its extended platforms.
Google Ads allows your businesses to reach customers using the popular Google search engine.
These customers are actively searching for relevant products and services. Placing your ad on Google search provides you with access to a large audience who is actively showing interest.
This factor alone has made it the most popular paid search tool. To the point that, when we think of the term paid search, we directly think of Google Ads.
The platform functions as an auction on the Google search engine. To advertise on the platform, you'll select specific search terms, known as "keywords". These are the words users will search for on Google. Once they make a search, your ad has the potential to appear in the search results.
Unlike social ad platforms, on Google Ads you are only charged when someone clicks on your ads. There is a lot of nuance when it comes to the cost rate of google ads and how much you will be charged per click. If you are interested in understanding the cost of Google Ads ppc you can check out our article, Google Ads Cost in UAE.
Google Ads also allows you to leverage advertising on other Google Platforms, notably, YouTube and Google Maps.
What are Facebook Ads?
Facebook Ads, now known as Meta Ads, is the number one paid social ad platform, with TikTok ads coming in at a close second. Facebook Ads lets you advertise your products on Facebook and Instagram. Two of the largest social media platforms.
Paid social is often referred to as passive marketing. With Facebook Ads, you can target very specific audiences, but your ads aren't displayed to people who are actively looking for your product or service.
This key difference sets Facebook Ads apart from Google Ads. Google Ads shows your ads to users searching for specific keywords, whereas Facebook Ads targets users based on their interests and behaviour.
So, Facebook Ads targets users based on demographics and interests.
Many B2C and D2C businesses, like Shopify ecom stores, thrive on Facebook Ads. They use UGC content and viral trends in their ads to attract many, many customers.
Why choose Google Ads over Facebook Ads?
Okay, now the question you have been waiting for. Is Google Ads better for your business?
If you are looking for new customers who are actively looking for the product or service that you offer, then Google Ads is right for you.
Google Ads can also be seen as a shortcut to SEO. Working like a fast track ticket to a theme park. It allows you to skip to the front of the line of search results for specific searchers and show your product/service to people who are actively interested.
Let’s break down some further strengths and benefits to the Google Ads platform.
Audience reach based on search intent
Google Ads paid search allows you to showcase your ad to the 85 billion daily searchers on the Google search engine. The potential this holds is ginormous.
These 85 billion searches have active intent. At this current time they are looking for something specific. By taking advantage of this you can present your product/service to searchers who are already in the market.
Specific ad placement control
When we think of Google Ads, we often think of the sponsored results that show up in search.
But that's not the only place your ads can appear. Google Ads offers a range of ad placement options to choose from.
Google Search
Your standard Ad placement on Google search where your ad will appear based on what a user searches.
Google Search Partners
This allows your ad to be placed on the rest of the Google platform.
Google Sites: Google Maps, Google Play, Google Images, Google Shopping
Some of the Non-Google Sites: 247 Sports, Amazon, Ask.com, BizRate.com, Dogpile.com, Excite.com, Lycos.com, Target, The New York Times, W3Schools, Walmart
Google Display Network
The Google Display Network is a highly controversial ad placement. It is known to waste budget and bring in junk leads. This is because Google is very loose with the type of sites that present the Google Display Network ads.
When running a standard search campaign, it is advised to disable Google Display Network.
Standard Shopping
The holy grail ad placement for ecommerce brands. A strip of products ads that sits directly at the top of google search results.
This placement can be achieved by creating a shopping campaign or performance max campaign and connecting it with your google merchant center account. Your products will then have a chance to appear at the top of google search results in a carrousel strip.
Shopping ads have a lack of control compared to search placements. For shopping ads you do not select a group of keywords for your products to appear again. Your ads will appear based on the information in your product listing, such as the title, description and price.
YouTube Display Ads
Last but not least, your ads can be displayed on YouTube videos. This placement is possible with a display campaign.
Your advertisement will appear based on the target settings your chose in your campaign.
Cost-effective for targeted actions
Google Ads enables detailed tracking of conversions from specific actions. This helps you see how your campaign spends its ad budget. Moreover, it shows which areas yield the highest ROI revenue.
We can then use this conversion tracking data and feed it back into Google Ads smart bidding algorithms.
Smart Bidding is, as the name suggests, a bidding method that is automated with AI by Google.
Feeding conversion tracking back to a campaign that has Smart Bidding enabled allows Google to paint a picture of our ideal customer and start targeting them in our campaigns.
Why choose Facebook Ads over Google Ads?
Now, before you decide to dive headfirst into Google Ads, I would like to kindly ask you to hold your horses. Let’s first break down and understand if Facebook Ads are a better fit for your business.
Facebook Ads allows potential customers to find your business. Facebook Ads appear in front of potential customers as they scroll through their feeds, thanks to the nature of social media. This lets you spark interest in your product or service, even when they're not actively looking for it.
Many businesses play into viral content and social media trends to help their products and services reach an audience of millions around the world.
Here are some strengths and benefits that make Facebook Ads so powerful.
Advanced demographic targeting
On Facebook and Instagram, people share everything. They post about their day, their favourite music, and their interests. They even share their wedding news.
Facebook Ads allows us to use this extensive set of data to target our ideal audience.
Additionally, we can use the Facebook Pixel. A versatile tracking tool, it attaches to websites, landing pages, and apps. It collects valuable data on visitor demographics and behaviour, enhancing your understanding of audience engagement across digital platforms.
Targeting then gets taken to the next level with “lookalike audiences”. This feature allows you to upload customer data right into the platform. Facebook will then look for similar audiences on the platform. This strategic design allows you to target customers that are similar to customers who have already purchased from you, potentially taking out all the guesswork from targeting.
Creative and interactive ad formats
Whilst Google Ads can be pretty tame in terms of creativity with your ads, Facebook allows you to get really creative.
If anything, creativity is essential. People scroll through so much content that it often blends together. By creating something unique, you can make your content stand out and grab users' attention.
Facebook Ads provides multiple visual methods to showcase your ads. From image carousels, to Instagram reels, to news feed posts. If you are a business where your product is inherently visual then Facebook Ads is a must for you.
Higher user engagement rates
The combination of ad options and the nature of social media will lead to high user engagement. This can come in the form of likes, shares, comments, and more.
The more people engage with your Ad the more likely facebook will show your Ads to more relevant people. In the end, providing you with more customers that you want.
How do Google Ads work?
Okay, so you are considering Google Ads as an advertising option for your business. But you are still wondering, how does it work?
Well, Google Ads can be quite complex. But when understood and executed correctly can provide great results.
Here are the key components of how Google Ads works.
Keyword targeting for relevance
Google Ads offers active and direct marketing. What sets it apart from other platforms is that you can target a specific action taken by a user, such as a search. This gives you much more control and eliminates the need to guess who our ideal customer is.
Let’s use our client, Upkeep Building Maintenance, as an example. They are a smart home fitout and maintenance company based in Dubai, UAE.
They provide a range of services, including complete home solutions and individual ones. When they approached us, they wanted to specifically promote their smart thermostat installation service.
With Google Ads, we could accurately target their audience, eliminating any guesswork.
By focusing on keywords related to smart thermostat installation in Dubai, we were able to filter out irrelevant traffic.
Bidding for ad positions
Paid Search runs like an auction. We set a max bid amount for our campaign or individual keywords. When it is time to run your ad Google will base your ad position on how your bid amount compares to other competing advertisers.
While your bid amount is the main contributor to ad position, it is not the only factor.
Other factors that contribute to this include ad relevance, optimising landing pages, and how well they relate to the ad.
Ad extensions for more info (data analytics)
Your standard search ad on Google looks like the following:
Your ad includes your landing page URL, business name, and logo, as well as up to 3 headlines and 2 descriptions. This provides a solid foundation for a strong campaign.
Google search ads also offer additional features called ad extensions. This feature allows you to occupy more space on search results, share more information with customers, add visuals, or highlight ongoing deals and discounts.
Here is an example of an Ad with fully loaded ad extensions:
With just a few ad extensions, we can already see the benefits.
The ad becomes more appealing, providing more information and additional links that searchers may want to visit. It even offers a discount promotion.
How do Facebook Ads work?
Facebook Ads are more passive compared to Google Ads, but that doesn't mean they're less effective. In fact, Facebook Ads can often outperform Google Ads.
Detailed user data for precise targeting
Instead of selecting keywords we select a group of interests and behaviours. If a user matches our selection, your ad will have the potential to show in their social feed.
Facebook Ads allows us to use their abundant platform data to target very granular aspects. Other than your standard demographic settings on all pay-per-click platforms we are able to target people who have visited certain profiles, follow certain accounts, watch certain content and so much more.
Cost per mille (CPM) bidding models
Paid Social does not work on the standard pay-per-click model. Due to the visual nature of social platforms instead of paying per click you will pay per 1000 impressions. This is called cost per mille (CPM).
When to use Google Ads?
The reality is, as long as you offer a product or service, Google Ads is going to work.
However, there are certain types of business where Google Ads will provide a much larger ROI. Let’s break down some of the main factors.
Seeking immediate action or purchase
Google Ads is fantastic if your product or service has urgency and your ideal customer is usually looking to take immediate action.
When someone needs to take urgent action, they usually head to Google to find a business that can provide a solution.
For example, let’s take a pest control business. If you were to wake up one day with rats in your house, you wouldn't just shrug your shoulders and carry on with your life. You would immediately pull out your phone and find the first pest control company for hire to handle the situation for you.
With the power of Google Ads you can ensure that your company appears at the top of the search result. Making you the first business your ideal customer sees when they need you the most.
I can already hear the cash…
Targeting specific search queries
Google Ads allows you to be really specific on what ad is shown where. By tying products/services to specific keywords you can provide hyper relevant ads to your searchers.
Imagine you are a florist. You offer many variations of flower bouquets, from roses, to tulips, to orchids. We can now target specific keywords like “buy rose bouquet”, “buy tulip bouquet” and “buy orchid bouquet” and showcase an ad with the respective product.
This allows the searcher to find exactly what they are looking for.
Geotargeting for local businesses
Geotargeting allows us to target our ads to specific locations. This does not even need to be a city, it can be a radius around a shop. This granularity allows local businesses to only show their ads in areas which they serve.
Google Ads also allows dynamic location insertion into your headline. This can take the city the searcher is in and dynamically enter it into the headline. Increasing the relevance of the ad.
When to use Facebook Ads?
Facebook Ads will work for your business, do not listen to people if they tell you otherwise.
However, there are certain types of business where Facebook Ads become a lot more lucrative. Let’s break down some of the main factors.
Building brand awareness and loyalty
Facebook Ads is passive marketing. We are showing our ads to users when they are not actively looking but they share specific types of behaviours and interests.
By reaching our ads to the same demographic over time we can rapidly increase the awareness of our brand. This is a really common tactic for fashion and retail brands.
By creating memorable and eye-catching content you can build an association of your brand with a certain feeling. With the hopes of the user thinking of your business when they are finally in the market.
Targeting based on interests and behaviours
If you are looking to entice customers who are interested in similar products or services then Facebook Ads is a game changer.
For example, let's say you're a smaller fashion brand that creates clothes similar to Balenciaga. You can target your ads to people who already like brands like Balenciaga. This way, you can connect with customers who didn't know your business existed.
Engaging community with User Generated Content
User Generated Content (UGC) Ads have single handedly generated millions of dollars in revenue for many businesses on Facebook Ads.
By using existing customers or influencers to create content, businesses were able to fully utilise the power of advertising on social media.
People do not connect with businesses. They connect with other people. That is why UGC ads are so successful.
Combining Google Ads and Facebook Ads
The truth is, the best results come from combining both Google Ads and Facebook Ads. Both platforms allow you to tap into a different set of users and take advantage of different advertising strategies.
Leveraging strengths for comprehensive coverage
Facebook Ads can be used to build awareness of your brand and engage with the community. Google Ads can help you target customers who are already in market for your product or service.
Using both platforms allows you to cover all the bases.
Sequential messaging across platforms
Sometimes it takes a person to see your ad across multiple platforms before they decide to make a purchase. Sequential messaging across platforms reinforces credibility and can be the defining factor to convert a user.
Optimising budget for conversion and reach
When combining Google Ads and Facebook Ads, it's important to allocate your budget strategically to maximise both reach and conversions.
Traffic on facebook ads is much cheaper. This makes it ideal for generating awareness and driving top-of-funnel traffic to your business.
With the correct setup you can enable a retargeting campaign on Google Ads to try and move the customers down the funnel.
Remarketing can also be done in the opposite direction. Facebook pixel allows you to track the data of website users. By placing the pixel on the landing page of your Google Ads campaign you can then retarget them on their social feed.
By using both platforms, you can generate more leads. Use Facebook Ads for potential customers. Use Google Ads to target high-intent searchers. This approach makes your ads efficient, cheap, and aligned with your goals.
Which is better: Google Ads or Facebook ads?
If you have reached the bottom of this article you should now have the knowledge to decide which platform is right for your business.
If you're still unsure which is best, here is a tldr that will help you.
If your business aligns with one of the following then Facebook Ads is for you:
You have a low monthly budget
Your marketing strategy relies on visuals
You are looking to build brand awareness at the top-of-the-funnel
You are able to leverage social media trends
If your business aligns with one of the following then Google Ads is for you:
You are looking for high-intent customers
You want to target very specific keywords
Your service/product has urgency and requires immediate action
You have a B2B service/product
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