As one of the best digital marketing agencies in Nepal, our clients ask us a lot of questions. Most frequent from the bunch is “Where should I spend most of my marketing budget; Google ads vs Facebook ads?” and “Which one is the best for my business?”

Our answer is pretty much always based on our client’s objectives. We all know by now that there are two major advertising platforms in digital marketing – Google ads vs Facebook ads. Both of these platforms have their own strengths, weaknesses and some differences. 

Today, we will try to explain both of these mediums and the major differences between Google ads vs Facebook ads.

Google Ads vs Facebook Ads: What are Google Ads?

Google is the largest search engine on the planet. In fact, 92% of all Internet searches begin with Google. As a primary source of information, people go to Google to search for products or services they need. 

Google displays results based on what people are searching for (keywords). The search results that appear on the first page of Google are based on the relevance of the website and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). 75% of people do not browse beyond the first page. It is becoming more and more critical for businesses to appear ahead of competitors on search results to stay relevant.

When comparing Google ads vs Facebook ads, the former is Google’s advertising platform for businesses. This shows ads on Google’s page based on keywords or related searches. Even if your business is not at the top of organic search engine results, Google ads places your website in the first page of the search engine. Since it’s basically purchasing keywords, it only appears when people actually search for the particular term. This entails that the person is potentially seeking the product or service, and has a higher probability of converting to a customer.

Google Ads vs Facebook Ads: What are Facebook Ads?

Facebook is one of the best platforms for businesses to reach potential customers. Facebook is continuously growing its user base reaching  2.5 billion monthly active users in 2019.

With the changes in Facebook’s algorithm, it gives less preference to business pages and more preference to personal content. As a result, the organic reach of Facebook’s business pages has dramatically declined over the years. The only way to promote and increase the reach for your business on Facebook is by using Facebook ads. 

Considering Google ads vs Facebook ads, Facebook Ads is popular among all businesses due to its various features such as exceptional targeting and tracking capabilities. With this, your business can directly reach your target audiences’ newsfeed and connect with them. You can create a Facebook ad with different ad formats and apply various ad targeting parameters.

The four key major differences between Google ads vs Facebook ads are described below:

User Intention

People use Google for a purpose – to search for products or services when they actually need it. If you’re using Google ads, your website will show up in front of people at the exact time when they search for a particular keyword. So, it’s important for you to identify keywords relevant to your website. 

For Google ads vs Facebook ads, the former is favorable for businesses that provide immediate services to their customers. For instance, professional service providers like a dentist, wedding photographer, catering service in town and much more. It’s highly effective for e-commerce products as people search for specific product categories or brands in Google.

On the flip side, Facebook Ads are not intent based. People use Facebook to connect with friends, families and generally for entertainment – thus, are less likely to be on the platform, seeking a business. Since the audiences on Facebook don’t have the intent to purchase, conversions are vastly different compared to that achieved on Google. 

On Google ads vs Facebook Ads, the latter is great for promotion to a broad range of audience- it allows you to reach diverse demographics.

For example, if you’re a local restaurant owner, you have a broader audience from all ethnicity, age groups, profession, and interest. With a little bit of creativity, you can create Facebook ads that are more likely to grab the attention of all these different kinds of audiences.

Targeting options

Google ads vs Facebook ads offer various targeting options for businesses. Google ads are based on keyword-based targeting, but Facebook Ads is based on demographics, interest, and behaviour.

In Google ads vs Facebook ads, the fundamental working principle of Google ads is a keyword. So, it’s critical to identify keywords that people are searching for that relates to your product/service. You then bid on these keywords, and when a potential customer searches for the exact keyword, your ad will appear before other results on the page. Besides, it also offers other forms of targeting such as:

• Location and language targeting (target specific cities, zip codes and more)
• Device targeting (target specific devices, networks, mobile, desktop users and many more)
• Audience targeting (based on a wide range of audiences)

Google ads vs Facebook ads, the latter offers targeting options in forms of demographics (location, age, gender, and languages), interest, behaviours, and much more.

Demographics – Target specific audiences based on their Location, Age, Gender, Language, Relationship, Education level and many more.

Interests – Reach specific audiences by looking at their interest activities, the pages they liked and closely related topics.

Behaviours – Aim specific audiences based on their purchase behaviour or intent, device usage and more.

Connections – Reach people who have a special type of connection to your page, app or event. For instance, you can target ads to people who like your page, use your app and respond to your event.

Source: Wordstream

Ad Formats

Google ads vs Facebook ads offer a unique ad format to their viewers. Google ads are primarily text-based, and the most popular form of ads are images, call only, video ads and shopping ads. It’s favourable for a specific audience that drives specific action (depending upon business goals). When creating Google ads vs Facebook ads, you should be clear about your goals. For instance: selling products, driving visitors to your website, providing contact information, etc.

However, Facebook ads are more creative and visual. The various options for Facebook ads are Carousel ads, Image ads, Video ads, Slideshows, Canvas ads, Lead ads and Collection ads.

Facebook Ads are great for brands and e-commerce businesses to raise brand awareness and increase a large number of audiences. With this, you can tell a story about your brand and showcase the various products you offer. The ad should be creative and appealing enough so that you can increase the reach and engagement with your brand. 

Cost

Cost is an important consideration when comparing Google ads vs Facebook ads. Google ads are a bit more expensive than Facebook Ads.

The average cost per click for search ad is $2.32 and display ad is $0.58. Similarly, the average cost per click for Facebook ads is $0.27. 

Note: The cost varies widely by industry and the placement of ads in both platforms.

Key Takeaway: Which is better?

The first thing before spending money on an ad is understanding your business objective. For instance, if your goal is to increase brand awareness and lead generation, you can choose Facebook ads. Similarly, if your business goal is immediate sales, you might want to choose Google ads.

If you have a limited budget, you can stick to only one platform. Monitor the results for 3 months. Depending on the result, you can make an adjustment in your marketing strategy. 

If the budget isn’t a major concern for your company, you can use both platforms, Google ads vs Facebook Ads. Both of these have their own speciality and offer unique benefits. 

The best thing about paid advertising is that you can track your results with time using various analytical tools. So, you can make a decision or change your marketing strategy if needed according to your ad performance.

Lone Tree Marketing is a full service complete digital marketing agency in Nepal. We’re dedicated to providing services based on our client goals and develop relevant ad strategies to achieve them. Our services include research, web design, content creation, search optimization, social media promotion, search engine marketing, branding and creatives. Contact us today for digital marketing services and consultation.