is the best platform for Facebook ads vs. Google Ads? //

It’s a question that business owners often ask: Should I spend my budget on Facebook or Google ads instead?

Answering the question is not as easy or as straightforward as it seems.

Google is the most popular search engine on the Internet. Facebook is the place where a quarter of the global population keeps in touch with their friends. Both places are great for advertising, but they serve different purposes. Which you choose for your next campaign depends on many factors. Let’s first define the two types of advertising.

What is Facebook Advertising?

Facebook advertising allows businesses to send branded messages to the users of this world-wide social network. Facebook’s placements include the mobile audience network, the sidebar and the newsfeed.

What is Google Adwords?

Google advertising allows brands to spread their message across the Google network. This includes 2 million websites, and the result pages of 3.5 billion searches per day.

Facebook Ads vs. Google Ads

Google and Facebook both have an extensive reach across the entire internet. Google’s network of display ads reaches 90% online users, while its proprietary search engine has surpassed a trillion searches per year. Facebook has over 2.2 billion active users, making it the largest social network in the world.

Google and Facebook account for 60% of all digital advertising dollars in the world. Google is the dominant network, and there’s plenty for everyone. But at what price? Consider these factors before choosing one network over another.

What level of granularity is required for your targeting?

Facebook has a lot of information about its users. Although it has cut ties to third-party data collection companies, the social networks still gives advertisers access a wealth of audience information that is provided by its users.

Google, however, delivers ads contextually, based on keywords or behavior. Facebook has no comparable storage of user data. Facebook is therefore the first choice for advertisers who want to market products that are based on a particular detail of someone’s life. For example, the birth of a baby.

What You’re Advertising

Facebook’s ad creativity is superior to Google’s. The immersive Canvas format (now called “Instant Experience”) allows users to showcase products on their screen. 360 videos can transform a mobile phone into a window of the world. Lead ads can be generated directly from the platform.

Facebook’s interactive advertising types are ideal for businesses that want to showcase their products or services visually.

Google offers a wide variety of ad formats, but these are far less interesting. Google is the best choice if you want flexibility when it comes to advertising your product. Facebook is the best choice for engagement.

If your ad has viral potential, then the ability to share, like and comment will increase its reach. Google Ads may be a better option if it does not.

Your industry

In the end, your choice of where to spend your budget will depend on what industry you are in. Google Ads has been known to attract high-value traffic for certain business sectors. As more companies in these spheres join the network and bid high on keywords that are relevant to you they increase cost-per-click.

Facebook may have less competition than Google Adwords. Less competition means lower CPC. It may be a good idea to start with Facebook if your industry is competitive.

Your campaign’s goal

Advertising’s ultimate goal is to keep and attract customers. Not every advertisement is aimed at a sale. Each campaign is unique, just like the members of a business or team. Consider these smaller goals for your next adgroup:

Top-funnel goals:

Visitors will learn more about your company and its solutions at the very top of the funnel. Your visitors may follow your social media pages and interact with them, or they might search for information about a specific problem. There are a few ways to measure brand awareness.

Middle-funnel goals:

The funnel begins to shrink when prospects start to eliminate choices within the same product or service category. This stage involves finding the best agency, for example, if a prospect decides to outsource PPC to an advertising agency rather than purchasing software. If a business wants to determine success in the middle of the funnel, it can do so by:

• Session length
• Bounce rate
• Download Case Studies
• Email Opens
• Email click-throughs
• Landing Page Visits
• Webinar signups
• Demo signups

Bottom-funnel goals:


Bottom of the funnel is when prospects decide whether to buy your product or choose another. Here are some common ways to gauge bottom-funnel performance:

• Sales
• Earnings
• Gross Profit
• Sales page conversion rate

Why are these stages important? These stages are correlated to the users on each network.

Facebook is a leader in the top funnel, and it has the power to create viral awareness. Google cannot match this. Social is the place where people go in order to browse, share and discuss things that are important to them. These things are not usually middle- or bottom-funnel material.

Google is better at attracting traffic from the bottom of the funnel than Facebook. The search intent is to blame.

We refer to “intent” as the searcher’s desire to find a solution for their query. It’s for this reason that you go to a search engine. You’re probably searching for answers.

These ads drive a href=”https://instapage.com/what-is-a-landing page/” rel=”noopener noreferrer” target=”_blank>searchers to landing pages/a> where they can claim an offer relevant to their solution. These ads direct users to landing pages, where they can claim a relevant offer. Google ads may direct users to a landing page that allows them to try out email marketing software.

Here is an example of Sendinblue.

Do you sell B2B products or B2C products?


Facebook traffic is less qualified than Google Ads, which is full-on intent. Facebook’s CPC is much lower, so this doesn’t matter. Say, for example, that you have a conversion rate of 8% on Google AdWords but only 3% on Facebook.

• Each conversion costs $100 if you pay $8 per click for Google Ads.
• Each Facebook conversion costs $23.33 if you pay $0.70 per click.

It’s more important than your budget. Spending as efficiently as you can is the key. It may appear that ROI is higher on one network because of a higher conversion rate. The truth is that you may actually be paying more for each conversion.

Numbers broken down


In the above example, 1,000 clicks at $8 each on Google will cost you $8,000 while 1,000 clicks at $0.70 each on Facebook will cost $700. If you have an 8% conversion rate on Google, then 80 conversions will be earned from your thousand clicks. With a conversion rate of 3% on Facebook, you will have earned 30. Google’s $8,000 for 80 conversions is $100 per conversion. On Facebook, $700 per 30 conversions is equivalent to $23.33 each.

You could spend $7,000 to generate 300 conversions on Facebook, but only $1,000 on Google. Marketers are often obsessed with conversion rates, but this is not always the best way to measure efficiency.

Google Ads vs. Facebook Ads: Final look


In many comparisons, there is no clear-cut winner or loser. Facebook and Google work well together, particularly when it comes to remarketing.

Advertisers can retarget visitors to landing pages by using Google retargeting and Meta Pixel. Remarketing is something that many marketers recommend.

There is no right answer or wrong when it comes to deciding where to spend the majority of your budget. What works for you is what matters. If you are just starting out, let these considerations be your guide. Continue to collect data and make adjustments based on the results.

Landing pages are the most powerful landing page platform in the industry. They can be used to measure KPIs at every stage of the funnel, and increase campaign conversion rates. Sign up today for a 14-day free trial.

Author: Fahad Muhammad