If you're reading this article, you must be familiar with Google Ads and Facebook Ads. It is also likely you want to know which platform to use for your business. Facebook vs Google Ads, what are the differences between the two services? Where should my money go? This is an inevitable question that every marketer asks when considering running digital ads. In this article, we will discuss Google Ads versus Facebook Ads while also highlighting the difference between Facebook Ads and Google Ads.
Both Facebook and Google offer very popular advertising platforms for marketers and retailers. Google Ads versus Facebook Ads both can guarantee website traffic, brand awareness, audience reach, and sales. However, each platform offers unique features that make it difficult to choose one and leave the other. At best, both services complement each other. But before you invest your money in paid advertising, you first need to know what Facebook vs Google Ads has to offer, their benefits, and which advertisement method is most suitable for small business retailers or startups.
What are Google Ads?
Formerly known as Google AdWords, Google Ads is a method of advertising whereby a company pays Google to advertise their product or service. Google Ads offers four methods of advertising. They are:
- Search advertising: Google Ads started with search advertising. It is Google’s most popular ad offering and is indicated with an “Ad” label. As a search engine, people flock Google to search for the things they need. It could be a product or assistance. When someone types what he is looking for in the Google search bar, Google loads a SERP (Search Engine Results Page) displaying the best answer to your query. The first few results listed will be the sponsored results, showing an “Ad” label in front. To make search advertising more effective, Google allows its users to create search campaigns. This way, users can assign specific keywords to text ads. Google places an auction to determine the most relevant ad that will appear on the top of the SERP. The higher your business on the search queries, the more visitors you are likely to attract. Search ad is billed per click.
- Display Ads: Display Ads are quite different from text ads. Businesses create traditional display advertising campaigns to connect with potential audience all over the world. Display Ad campaigns are billed using either PPC (PAY-PER-CLICK) or CPM (COST PER THOUSAND IMPRESSIONS).
- YouTube video: YouTube is the world’s largest video service and the second largest search engine in the world. Google is aware of this and it makes sense for them to explore it. YouTube offers high-quality video advertising – which is a major requirement. Where text and image won’t work, videos will. Since YouTube is Google’s property, you can access ads on YouTube through Google Ads. YouTube ads offer a lot of features like flexible campaign settings, contextual targeting, etc.
- Discovery – Google’s proprietary network: With this option, Google offers retailers the opportunity to run ads that will be visible in a network of Google mobile properties including Gmail Promotions, Google Discover, YouTube Home and Watch Next feeds, social tabs, etc. You can run ads using combinations of several images, logos, headlines, and descriptions that Google will optimize using machine learning.
What are Facebook Ads?
Just as Google is the world’s largest search engine, Facebook is the world’s largest social media platform. Facebook Ads affords users a platform to create and run ad campaigns across Facebook, its sister app Instagram, as well as an “Audience Network” of mobile apps. Facebook uses a combination of artificial intelligence and machine learning to collect data on every user including:
- Demographics
- Web browsing behavior
- Job information
- Purchase behavior, and many other user characteristics to target people likely to be interested in engaging with your brand, product, or service.
With this data, every advertiser on Facebook can define their audience and place advertisements directly in front of people who have shown (or are likely to show) an interest in similar content. Users can choose to serve ads across multiple platforms and device types. Advertisers on Facebook can choose to run ads on:
- Facebook Newsfeed
- Instagram Newsfeed
- Instagram Stories
… available on mobile and computers.
Difference Between Facebook Ads and Google Ads
In summary, Google Ads is an advertising platform used for running the search, image, and video ads. Facebook Ads is used for paid social campaigns on Facebook and Instagram. Both Google Ads Facebook run PPC (PAY-PER-CLICK) ads and are masters at targeting users at different stages. If you are still confused about which advertising platform to use, you can consider the following:
1. Budget
In advertising, ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) is used in place of ROI (Return on Investment). Every retailer’s goal is to maximize ROAS. Let’s say you have an advertising budget of $100, which platform will offer the best reach?
With Facebook Ads, you could potentially reach more people if you know the right tools and strategies to implement that are ideal for your target audience. Some tools can estimate your campaign’s ROAS, allowing you to optimize its performance before paying.
With Google Ads, keyword competition and price play a huge role. If the keywords you're targeting have high CPC (COST-PER-CLICK), Google Ads may not be ideal. For instance, you want to rank for “cryptocurrency exchange”, a highly competitive keyword. If the cost of that keyword is $25, you will only get 4 clicks for your budget.
Verdict: In terms of budget, Google Ads is only preferred to Facebook Ads for less competitive keywords. Otherwise, you will get good value for your money with Facebook Ads – even on a low budget.
2. Campaign goal
Do you want to generate leads, increase sales, boost brand awareness, or drive traffic? What do you want to accomplish with Google Ads Facebook? Once you know your campaign goal, it will be easier to choose which platform will better suit your business.
We recommend Facebook Ads for product and brand awareness. Facebook Ads is ideal if you want to reach customers who are near the top of the funnel.
Google Ads, on the other hand, is ideal if you want to capture users who have a high purchase intent. This is because people searching for keywords on Google are most likely interested in buying.
Verdict: Use Google Ads if you want to convert leads into sales.
3. Stages in the buyer's journey
Both Facebook and Google Ad revenue are oriented toward different tasks that align with buyers with different levels/stages of intent to engage. Facebook Ads is ideal for retailers who need brand visibility and active interaction with their audience. Since Facebook is a social media platform, people visit with the intent of connecting with others. In the process, if they stumble upon a product or service that shares their interest, they will not hesitate to go for it.
With Google Ads, it is different in that it satisfies buyers at every stage in a buyer’s journey. Boasting over 5 billion searches per day, Google searchers indicate high purchase intent.
Verdict: Depending on your strategy, both Google Ads vs Facebook Ads can give you insight into what strategies your competitors are using.
4. Historical and/or Competitor Data
When you carry out a survey, you can deduce which ad platform is used for what. Having an idea of what has worked in the past will help you know which ad platform to use.
Verdict: Retailers in eCommerce, auto, and fashion industries leverage Facebook Ads while small and large businesses opt for Google Ads.
Which Advertisement Is More Suitable for the Small-Scale Retailers?
For small-scale retailers, we recommend using Facebook Ads because:
- It allows you to choose your daily advertising budget
- Google Ads pricing is influenced by keywords competition. On Facebook Ads, the price is not affected by any competition.
- Since the goal of small-scale businesses is to increase brand awareness, Facebook and Instagram Ads come in very handy.
Wrapping Up
When you consider Facebook vs Google Ads services critically, you will discover that one isn’t better than the other; they complement each other. When choosing between these two Titans, you should consider your budget, goals, and target audience before making a decision. One thing is certain when it comes to Google Ads vs Facebook Ads, you will get better ROAS.
