Google Ads vs Facebook Ads: What You Need to Know
Google currently holds a staggering 91% share of the global search market. That level of market dominance is incredible – particularly when you think of the volume of searches made across the world every day.
Meanwhile, Facebook is the world’s most widely used social media network, with 3 billion active users. Add to that Instagram’s 2 billion active users, and the number of people you can reach via Meta-owned social media apps becomes even more mind boggling.
These two tech behemoth’s advertising platforms, Google Ads and Facebook Ads, offer access to audiences that advertisers in previous decades could barely dream of – whilst at the same time allowing you to target the exact users most likely to buy your products.
But how do these two mega platforms work, and how can you use them to drive leads, ramp up sales, and find the audiences most likely to connect with your brand?
Here’s what you need to know.
Google Ads vs Facebook Ads: Where and when they appear
Google Ads display across Google’s network of services – Google Search, Google Shopping, Google Display Network, and YouTube. Facebook Ads appear on Meta’s social media network.
You might be ahead of us there – but it’s worth thinking about how advertising on a search platform differs from advertising on a social media network.
Google displays search ads based on their relevance to keywords a user has searched for. Or in the case of Google Display and YouTube ads, targeting is done either by keyword or a specific interest that audiences fit into. So in general, ads are shown as responses to a specific query or search interest, often (but not always) based around a product or service a user is looking for.
Facebook Ads are displayed as a user scrolls through Facebook or Instagram, and also on the Messenger app or Meta Audience Network. The user might not have any specific plans to make a purchase, and ads are displayed based on a user’s interests and previous behavior.
This difference is crucial to understanding each platform’s major strengths:
- Google Ads reach audiences with high purchase intent, looking for something specific. This makes them a fantastic way to bring in high quality, purchase ready leads.
- Facebook Ads reach a more passive audience, but as they are displayed based on a user’s general behavior, interests, and demographic they can still drive a decent level of sales – and they’re a great tool for building brand recognition over a wider audience.
In other words, Facebook Ads is a broader tool (helped along by the fact it lets advertisers choose the objective of their campaign – more below), whilst Google Ads is pretty action-oriented and sales-specific.
How much control do you have over ad placement?
Good news: both Google and Facebook give their advertisers a decent amount of control over where their ads are displayed.
For both platforms, however, you’re going to have to deal with a little uncertainty. It’s ultimately each platform’s algorithm that decides when and when your ads are displayed – but with the right targeting strategies or approach to keyword bidding, you can maximize your chances of getting your ads in front of the right audience.
For Google Ads, you can choose whether your ads appear in search results, on YouTube, or on specific websites on the Google Display Network. You can exclude placements if you want to, and you can specify geographical locations for your ads – ideal for local businesses wanting to target customers in their area.
Meta lets you control which social media platform your ad appears on, and target users in specific locations. You can also use the AI-based Automatic Placement tool to let Meta’s algorithm determine when and where to display your ads based on where it thinks they will perform best.
Google Ads vs Facebook Ads: Ad formats
The format of Google Ads varies depending on where you want to place it:
- Text ads (for Google Search) containing a headline and a sentence or two of copy
- Display ads (for the Google Display Network) – image based or video ads
- Shopping ads (for Google Shopping) with a product description, image, and price
- Video ads (for YouTube), displayed before or during videos
Facebook’s ad formats are typically visually heavy, to attract attention as users scroll:
- Image or video ads, with an image, headline, and short text description.
- Carousel ads, which allow multiple images and videos in one ad
- Collection ads and instant experience ads that provide an immersive experience
- Lead generation ads, which aim to capture users’ details without click through
Google Ads vs Facebook Ads: Targeting and analytics tools
Targeting in Google Ads is all about choosing the right keywords. You identify the keywords your potential buyers are likely to use and bid on them to get your ad in front of the right people. You can also target searches based on geographical location, and ads may appear on websites that are relevant to a user’s search behavior in general.
One of Facebook Ads’ major advantages is the degree of targeting the platform allows. When you set up your campaign, you can choose the objective of your campaign, and who sees your ads based on (deep breath) behavior and interactions, interests, connections, age groups, languages, and location.
And that’s not all. Facebook’s AI-based Lookalike Audience tool lets you generate an entirely new audience for your ads, based on the demographics of the users that interact with your campaign. Ideal if you’re looking to expand your customer base quickly.
How to track your campaign’s progress?
Both platforms offer pretty comprehensive analytics packages, allowing you to see what’s working and what isn’t, and optimize your ads as you go. You’ll find a full suite of analytics and insights tools on each platform – here are a couple of highlights from each.
Google’s analytics tools include:
- A conversion tracking tool, so that you can track purchases, sign-ups, and other actions
- Handy Google Analytics integration for more tracking features and in-depth user behavior analysis
- An overall Quality Score for your ads, which measures how relevant your ads, keywords and landing page are to a person seeing your ad.
- An AI-powered Keyword Planner and Performance planner, to help you optimize your keyword choice and budget
Facebook’s analytics tools include:
- Meta Pixel for tracking website actions like page views, add-to-cart actions, and purchases
- The Attribution Tool, which allows you to see the impact of your ads across different touchpoints
- Competitor analysis and benchmarking tools, offering you the opportunity to see who else is targeting your customer base (and how successfully)
Google Ads vs Facebook Ads: Cost, pricing structure and ROI
Both Google Ads and Facebook ads are sold based on a cost-per-click (CPC) or cost-per-impression (CPM) basis, but differ in how they do this.
Google Ads uses a bidding system to calculate how much advertisers pay. You choose your keywords, enter the maximum amount you’d pay for each person who clicks on your ad, and Google uses that info (alongside a couple of other factors like quality and relevance to the search terms) to choose whose ads to display.
Facebook Ads asks you to choose an objective for your ad campaign (ranging from reach and brand awareness to conversions and catalogue sales), set a budget, and define your target audience. It then places your ad where it thinks these conditions are likely to be met, with the overall cost calculated by the amount of engagement it generates.
What ROI can you expect on Google Ads and Facebook Ads?
Particularly for competitive keywords, Google Ads is likely to cost more at the outset. But then, your ads go directly to an audience that’s immediately ready to buy, so you’ll make a quicker ROI – and potentially a larger one overall as well.
Are we saying that Google Ads is the better option?
Absolutely not. It depends what you’re looking for.
Branding and audience building are vital parts of building a base of customers that love what you do – if you’re looking for an advertising platform with a broader focus, Facebook Ads will suit you well. On the other hand, if you’re solely focusing on driving revenue, you may find Google Ads gets you more leads faster.
Google Ads vs Facebook Ads: Comparison table
| Ad platform | Where ads displayed | When ads displayed | Targeting | Analytics | Cost/ROI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Search, Shopping, Display, and YouTube | As response to search query; on Google Display apps/sites | Targeting is based on the keywords you bid for, or interests that searchers have shown. | Full suite, with Google Analytics integration and AI planning tools | CPC/CPM. More expensive; faster ROI | |
| Meta’s social media apps, including Facebook, Instagram and Messenger | When your ad fits your audience’s interests and behavior | Highly granular targeting – behavior, interest, connections, age groups, languages, and locations | Full suite, including Meta Pixel, Meta Attribution Tool, and competitor analysis tools | CPC/CPM/ Less expensive; slower ROI |
Velocity: Your future Google or Facebook Ads partner?
If you’re looking for purchase ready, quality leads that will generate income quickly, either of these platforms are a natural choice.
And, if you want your paid media strategy to really take off, who better to ask than Velocity – we’re a specialist digital marketing agency with decades of collective experience and millions of dollars worth of ad spend behind us.
Just ask these guys – working together, we increased their lead volume by a staggering 1,312%.
Why not drop us a message to see what we could do for you? A conversation costs nothing – who knows where it might take you.