Google Ads vs. Facebook Ads

Which platform is the best fit for your business?

Companies are drawing on the strengths of advertising through Google Ads (formerly known as AdWords) and Facebook Ads to gain maximum visibility, increase sales and find new customers, adopting different strategies that align with each platform’s functionality and earning outstanding advertising revenue.

Each platform has billions of users, various targeting options and great placement destinations that help you bring in new customers.

Both advertising platforms operate on a pay-per-click basis. When you create an ad on each platform, you start an auction. You place an amount that you want to pay for the ad, and that amount goes into the auction. You will then be charged a certain amount of money (later) every time someone clicks on one of your ads.

Paid advertising is one of the best ways to reach new audiences or reconnect with old leads (potential customers).

Google Ads and Facebook Ads dominate the online advertising space. The two platforms have a lot in common, but there are also some significant differences that will help you choose the right one for your business.

They’re not the only options to rely on online. O online marketing agency full services agency can give you complementary options: landing page design, conversion optimisation, email marketing, SEO optimisation services. Most importantly, however, you work concretely on the strategy that suits you, quickly adding components and activities to support your online campaigns.Next we’ll explain the differences between the two platforms, Google Ads (AdWords) and Facebook Ads, how they work and why you should consider using them as part of your digital marketing strategy.

The main difference between the two platforms: paid search (Google Ads) helps companies find new customers using keywords, and paid social media promotion (Facebook Ads) helps users find companies based on their interests and how they behave online. So Google Ads helps you find new customers, while Facebook Ads helps new customers find you.

1. How does each work?

Google Ads: Paid Search

Google is a search engine used by online users to search for products and services. It delivers thousands of results on products, tips, videos, local businesses and more (relevant ads by location) in a split second.

One of the biggest advantages of using the Google platform is the huge audience. Google handles more than 40,000 search queries every second, with a total of more than 1.2 trillion web searches each year, according to Internet Live Stats (http://www.internetlivestats.com/google-search-statistics/).

Google Ads paid ads focus on keyword targeting and the use of text ads. Every time a user clicks on an ad, the advertiser is charged a certain amount of money, hence the name “pay-per-click advertising”. Essentially, advertisers pay for the potential to find new customers based on the keywords and search terms they enter into Google.

Google Ads promotion focuses on the quality and relevance of the ads, the experience the user will have, the content of the site. These are significant Google ranking factors when it comes to ad bidding wars and showing your ads in competition. The notion that those with big budgets “win” is wrong.

Once these campaigns are set up, your ads enter a bidding round with advertisers who have selected similar keywords. Finally, Google will display the ad with the highest bid amount and most relevant content.

Facebook Ads: Paid Social (Paid Social Media Promotion)

Facebook ads are a prime example of what is called “social paid” or paid promotion in Social Media. With the highest number of monthly active social media users in the world, according to Internet Live Stats, Facebook Ads has become a highly competitive element and is used in many companies’ digital advertising strategies.

Facebook collects a lot of data. Maybe more than you realise. Pages you like, topics you’re into, friends, your birthday, your current location, your 2018 holiday and so on. This gives you the opportunity to identify your target customer and advertise only to people who are interested in the product or service you are promoting and might buy it.

From the large audience, users can be grouped according to their interests. It allows advertisers to target audiences in ways previously thought impossible or even unimaginable: interests, ideologies and personal values.

Advertisers can upload customer information from their own databases to Facebook, and Facebook can use its own filtering to identify users who exhibit the same interests and behaviours as the customers in the databases (the “lookalike” audience).

Facebook ads have a strong visual impact. Leverage the highly persuasive qualities of visual ads: video, image, image carousel and other visual content.

Unlike Google Ads, Facebook Ads does not rely on a user’s search query (keywords). Not only does it provide a wide range of targeting options based on demographics, it allows you to target users based on their behaviours, likes and views.

2. Where can you place ads?

Google Ads: Google Search, Youtube, Google Play, Display Network

Facebook Ads: Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Audience Network 

3. Audience Targeting

Google Ads: Location – targeting based on city, country, region or radius, Device – mobile, tablet or desktop, Keywords – relevant keywords used in searches, Demographic Criteria – age, gender, language, household income, Retargeting – retargeting visitors to your website.

Facebook Ads: Location – targeting based on cities, countries, regions or postcode, Demographics – age, gender, language, relationship status, parental status, income level, etc., Interests – targeting based on interests and pages liked, Behaviours – buying behaviour or intent, device used, Customisable Audience – you can create an audience based on activity on your site using the Facebook pixel, Lookalike Audience – creating an audience with similar interests and behaviours as existing customers.

4. Google Ads vs. Facebook Ads objectives

Facebook Ads – Increase awareness, Increase audience or New and innovative products.

Google Ads – Immediate sales and leads, Products and services with high purchase intent during search.

5. Audience size

Both Google and Facebook have enormous reach – Google handles over 3.5 billion searches every day, while Facebook has about 1.45 billion daily active users, according to Internet Live Stats.

Even though Google has 3.5 billion searches a day, it won’t help you if no one does a specific search for your product. If you have a new and innovative product and people haven’t heard of it, then Facebook is a better option to get the word out.

You can also use Google’s Display campaigns which allow you to place banners on sites that allow advertising.

6. Cost

Facebook ads tend to be cheaper per click than Google ads.

The average CPC amount varies by industry, but also by placement destination.

Although the average CPC is more expensive for Google ads, users who click on your Google ads may later become buyers. Facebook is great for brand awareness, but Google ads are best for reaching users when making buying decisions.

By analysing user behaviour, correlating metrics, you have the information you need to make quick decisions. An online marketing agency can recommend certain actions to optimise those costs, working with projects in several domains, being aware of changes and trends, experimenting with different campaign scenarios.

7. Buyer’s intention

In terms of purchase intent, people tend to look for the product or service when they are ready to make a purchase. This also depends on the type of business you have.

For example, if a person’s air conditioner breaks down, they immediately start looking for an air conditioning repair company. Search ads will place your business in front of potential customers the moment they need your service.

On the other hand, that person is unlikely to remember your air conditioning repair company that they saw on Facebook three months ago. So, in this scenario, Google ads would win out.

Facebook ads are less effective for getting faster results. People generally use Facebook to relax and socialise, not to shop. However, this platform is still useful for building your audience. If you can create awareness around your brand on social media, people will be more likely to buy when they need your service or product.

If the goal of your campaign is to increase brand awareness rather than immediate conversions, then Facebook will be the best choice.

8. Targeting options

Both Google Ads and Facebook Ads give you options for targeting (and retargeting) ads to certain audience segments.

Facebook is the winner for advanced targeting options. With Facebook you can be very specific with your audience. If your target audience is a very large niche, then Facebook ads will be a great option for your business.

9. Ad formats

Facebook Ads offers more creativity. It’s a better platform to build brand awareness and loyalty.

If you use Google Ads, all you have is a block of text to catch the eye of potential customers. You can use ad extensions for additional text and information, but generally the format will be limited to text in ads displayed in the search network. However, you can display banners or banners and text in the Google Ads platform display network.

Facebook Ads has a greater visual impact on the message because it uses image-based ads. Facebook continues to introduce different ad formats to avoid “ad fatigue”. You can choose to use videos, images, carousel ads and more to capture your audience’s attention.

Which platform is best for your business?

To choose the right platform you need to consider several factors: the type of business, your target audience and your objectives: from building brand awareness (branding) to reaching potential customers or getting more conversions i.e. purchases, form completions etc. All these factors play an equal role in the success of a campaign and the ROI (return on investment) achieved.

For example:

• Whether your goals are sales, leads, website traffic or anything of that nature – both platforms will be perfect for promotion
• If the goals are brand awareness or social media traffic (social following) it is appropriate Facebook Ads
• If you want to sell products or services, both platforms can do this

The two platforms should be seen in a complementary rather than contradictory way.

To see which platform is more cost-effective you can test both options and then choose which platform worked better, which managed to meet the set objectives.

Both platforms allow data analysis. Each platform allows you to track campaigns and count the number of conversions, including the exact time they occurred. How is this possible? Advertising platforms “tag” each visit to your site by users who come back from ads, through code and scripts that are implemented on your site. The data is stored to help you optimise campaign performance.

Both Google Ads and Facebook Ads remarketing campaigns can reach users who have visited pages on your website but have not converted (have not achieved the intended goal, e.g.: the purchase action). This way, you can remind these users of your products and they will be able to convert.

To help users find your brand, you need to participate and assist them in their decisions in a way that subtly convinces them that you are the best option. User behaviour in terms of how they search for information or buy has changed, so you need a way to stand out.

Article contribution: Andreea Spirea, PPC Specialist, FivePlus Solutions Agency

Andreea is a Google Ads certified PPC specialist with experience in finding the right mix to promote a business using Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram, LinkedIn Ads, email marketing and social media account management platforms.

We, the FivePlus team (www.fiveplus.ro) are here to help you achieve your marketing goals by providing you with PPC experts. For a complete strategy we offer SEO services, landing pages, email marketing, website and web app development.

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