Meta Ads or Google Ads: which should you run?

What’s the difference between Meta Ads and Google Ads?

Google search ads appear when someone searches for what you sell, and Meta Ads appear on Facebook and Instagram to people who match an audience you choose, usually before they’ve looked for anything. A Google ad answers a search the buyer has already made. A Meta ad has to interrupt someone scrolling and get noticed.

On Google you choose keywords and bid on them, and an auction decides which ads show.

On Meta you define the audience instead. Meta’s page for advertisers lists age, gender, location and interests as ways to build one, and Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Audience Network as places the ads can run.

How do they compare side by side?

Google Ads are stronger on intent, because a search ad only appears after a search, and Meta Ads are stronger on reach, because they can find people who haven’t searched yet. Which costs less depends on your market and offer, so the table leaves price out.

When should you start with Google Ads?

Start with Google Ads when people already search for what you sell, especially local services, urgent needs and high-value B2B purchases. Someone searching for an emergency plumber or a GST accountant is close to choosing one. Google can’t create that search, though, so if nobody searches for your product, your ads have nowhere to show.

Local services suit Google Ads, because people search when they need someone nearby, as in “dentist in Noida”, and ads can be limited to searchers in your area. We run local campaigns as part of our search and shopping work.

For high-value B2B purchases, one new client can be worth more than months of ad spend, which makes a higher cost per click easier to carry.

Online stores can use Shopping ads, which show a product photo, title, price and store name. Google’s guide to Shopping ads explains that Google places them using your Merchant Center product data instead of keywords, so feed management is part of running them.

The other limit is price. Every click is priced in an auction, and Google’s auction guide counts how competitive that auction is among the factors behind where an ad appears and what it costs. Where many advertisers bid on the same keywords, decide the most you can pay for a lead before launch and pause keywords that go over it.

When should you start with Meta Ads?

Start with Meta Ads when your product sells on how it looks or is new enough that few people search for it yet. Meta can put it in front of the audience you choose before they’ve heard of it. In return, it asks for a steady supply of new ads to hold people’s attention.

A furniture maker can show a sofa in a real room in a Reel, which a line of search text can’t do.

Meta is also a good place to retarget people who visited your site without buying, and its catalogue ads can choose which of your products each person sees. Audience testing and retargeting are part of our paid social work. Google can retarget too, with ads that reach past visitors on sites and apps in its Display Network.

An ad on Meta tends to lose people’s attention once they’ve seen it many times. If your team can’t make or pay for regular replacements, and people already search for what you sell, Google is the easier start.

What does each need from your creative?

Google search ads need a few lines of text and a clear offer, while Meta Ads need images and video that stop someone scrolling, refreshed often. A responsive search ad takes up to 15 headlines and four descriptions, and Google tries them in different combinations.

For search ads, the work is in the words. Headlines should echo what people typed, and the landing page should keep the ad’s promise. The limits are in Google’s guide to responsive search ads.

A Meta account needs static, video and UGC-style ads, made in batches and swapped out as results fall. UGC-style ads are filmed to look as if a customer made them on a phone.

Our team makes these ads. The growth retainer includes a monthly creative refresh, and the full-funnel retainer moves to weekly creative production.

To see how we decide which new ads to keep, read about our Meta creative testing system.

How do Meta Ads and Google Ads work together?

Meta can introduce your product to people who weren’t looking, and Google can catch those who search for it later. Retargeting on either platform brings back visitors who didn’t buy. Judge both against your own sales numbers, since each platform’s report can claim the same sale.

A buyer might see your Reel on Monday, search for your brand on Thursday and buy after clicking a Google ad. Meta’s report may count that sale and Google’s may too, which is how two reports can add up to more sales than you made.

Set spend on each platform against the revenue in your own store or CRM for the same weeks. Our growth retainer includes a live dashboard on revenue, leads and cost per acquisition, and the full-funnel retainer adds attribution and revenue modelling.

If you’re also weighing SEO, read whether to start with SEO or Google Ads.

For what running both costs, see what performance marketing costs in India. For what the audit and each retainer include, see our performance marketing services.