This is one of the most common questions we get asked, and the honest answer is that Google and Meta are not competing for the same job. They are built for different moments in a customer's decision, and knowing which moment your business depends on tells you where to start.
Google Ads: catching demand that already exists
Google Ads shows your business to people who are actively searching for what you do, right now. Someone typing "emergency plumber near me" or "solicitor for conveyancing" already knows they have a problem and is looking for someone to solve it.
This makes Google Ads the better starting point when:
- People actively search for what you offer (trades, legal services, clinics, most local services)
- The purchase is urgent or time-sensitive
- You want the highest-intent traffic available, even if it costs more per click
The tradeoff is cost. Popular, competitive keywords can be expensive, and if nobody searches for what you sell, Google Ads has nothing to show up for.
Meta Ads: creating demand that does not exist yet
Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram) works differently. Nobody is searching for your mobile bar hire or your home improvement offer, so Meta's job is to interrupt someone mid-scroll and make them stop, based on demographics, interests and behaviour rather than a search term.
This makes Meta the better starting point when:
- The purchase is more visual or emotional (events, home improvement, aesthetics, hospitality)
- Awareness is the bigger problem than intent, people do not yet know they want this
- You have strong creative, photos or video that can stop a scroll
The tradeoff here is qualification. Meta can bring a lot of volume cheaply, but without careful targeting and a form that filters properly, a good chunk of it will be curious rather than ready to buy.
So which one first?
A simple way to decide: if your customers already search for you, start with Google. If they do not, but would want you once they saw you, start with Meta.
Many of the businesses we work with eventually run both, but not from day one, and not with the same message. Google campaigns are built around intent-matched keywords and a page that answers exactly what was searched. Meta campaigns are built around a strong visual hook and, ideally, retargeting people who already know who you are rather than cold audiences who do not.
The mistake that wastes the most budget
The single biggest mistake we see is running the same "get a quote" message on both channels. A search ad and a scroll-stopping social ad are not the same job, and treating them the same usually means one of the two underperforms badly. Match the message to the moment, and both channels get much cheaper to run.
If you are not sure which channel fits your business, get in touch and we will give you a straight answer based on your market, not a generic playbook.
