Facebook Ads vs. Google Ads: Which Is Better for Your business?
Suppose you are bored of the iOS vs Android debate or are someone who wishes for a diversion from the Justice League vs Avengers conversation. In that case, we have an equal nail-biting topic of discussion for you in this blog: Facebook ads vs Google ads.
Google Ads was created as an online marketplace for advertisers to compete for the right to show product listings, short commercials, or videos to website visitors. On the other hand, Facebook Ads is a platform for online advertising that is mostly utilized for paid social campaigns on Facebook.
You will better understand the comparison of Google Ads vs. Facebook Ads in this post, including information on audience size, buyer intent, ad formats, and targeting possibilities.
Recognizing the Value of Online Marketing:
The Internet revolution brought about improved connectivity, which sparked consumers’ growing curiosity and need for information, goods, and services. Customers today want quick responses. The struggle for brand recognition has grown severe as more and more products are available online.
You must be a part of customers’ searches if you want to aid in their discovery of your brand. You must be a part of customers’ search for your brand. The client journey has undergone a significant transformation; it is more intricate and integrated. You have a chance to stand out from the crowd with online advertising.
You can benefit from online advertising in the following ways:
- Drive Purchase Conduct
- Offer a variety of purchasing options
- Make Use of Repetition to Boost Sales
- Increase Brand Recognition
- Expand Information Dissemination
- Give reminders to enquiring customers
Google Ads:
Google Ads is a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising network, formerly known as Google AdWords. Google is the largest search engine in the world, processing more than 5 billion searches daily. To access this massive volume of search traffic, Google Ads is a fantastic area to promote.
The following are typical methods for using Google Ads to promote your brand:
Display Network: The Display Network Campaigns place your advertisements on applications and websites that contain keywords pertinent to the site’s content. These advertisements could be pictures, videos, and many creative elements you can conjure up.
Search Network: The search network shows advertisements when people search for terms.” For instance, when you search for the term “digital marketing,” the top of Google’s search results will display advertisements for the digital marketing agencies.
Video: You can run advertisements on streaming websites like YouTube by using video-based adverts. Additionally, the Google Display Network features these advertisements.
Google Shopping: The advertisements that appear there are based on online shopping. These advertisements allow your company to appear for relevant and high-intent searches based on direct product searches. For instance, if someone searches for sneakers, your product could appear alongside relevant information like free shipping, reviews, and prices:
Google Ads Retargeting: Using sophisticated retargeting, Google lets you remarket to a lost consumer, enabling you to complete the sale.
Therefore, you can employ these channels per your needs to attract potential clients.
In addition, YouTube Ads and Google Display Network are excellent at promoting brands and offering first-rate post-purchase customer service. As a result, Google Ads can also be utilized for branding, enabling you to compete directly with Facebook Ads.
Gains from Google Ads:
At first, Google Ads provided fairly straightforward text-based ads on the search engine. Since then, Google Ads have developed to include elements like shopping options, reviews, thorough contact information, and mobile optimization that can significantly increase clickthrough rates.
Remarketing, which is described as reaching out to customers who have previously connected with your business, is now much easier thanks to Google Ads. You can re-engage such users while they search on Google. For example, if they visited your site and added something to their shopping cart but didn’t complete their purchase. When your users use Google’s display framework to browse a website or view a YouTube video, you can still employ the re-engagement technique.
In addition, Google Ads has a straightforward user interface with sophisticated tools like the ads editor, search term report, and auction insights. These complex capabilities make creating, running, and managing your advertising campaigns simpler.
Facebook Ads:
Like Google Ads, Facebook Ads are sponsored advertisements. However, they only appear on Facebook. These advertisements may appear everywhere, including:
- Video streams
- Instagram Marketplace
- News Feed for Instagram
- Newsfeed on Facebook
- Messenger Inbox in the right-hand column
Reaching out to customers near the top of the sales funnel is better accomplished with Facebook Ads. When comparing Google Ads with Facebook Ads, Facebook Ads are excellent for raising consumer awareness of products and brands.
Facebook Ads’ Advantages:
According to a 2021 Statistical Report, Facebook has over 2.7 billion monthly active users. In addition to having a huge audience, Facebook offers its users precise targeting options. This makes it possible for marketers to connect with users based on their actions, experiences, demographics, and interests.
Before launching a campaign, Facebook enables you to construct a “duplicate audience” that acts as your user persona. Facebook Adverts will then display your ads to audiences that fit your description. In this area, Facebook Ads outperform Google Ads. Facebook Ads can reach more consumers and get a higher Click-Through Rate (CTR).
Knowing the Differences Between Facebook Ads and Google Ads:
You can better grasp the debate between Google Ads vs. Facebook Ads now that you know what each platform offers. Depending on your use case, the decision will change.
The following considerations can help you choose the tool that is most appropriate for you:
Facebook ads vs Google ads
Although both pay-per-click (PPC) advertising systems have a competitive bidding structure, Facebook and Google Ads function differently. Facebook Ads are for-profit social media ads displayed to users on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and the expanded Audience Network. On the other hand, Google Ads are paid search adverts that appear next to Google’s search results.
Audience Size:
Google and Facebook both have a broad reach. While Google processes more than 5.8 billion daily searches, Facebook has an estimated 1.73 billion daily active users. Nearly 90% of Facebook’s advertising revenue comes from mobile advertising. However, your target market is a hybrid group that uses both platforms. So it’s not a good idea to base your selection solely on the size of the audience. You must be certain of two things to fully grasp how to utilize your advertising efforts on these platforms:
Product Orientation:
You must understand whether your product is more search or social-oriented.
Activity Oriented:
Look at where your target audience spends most of their time to understand what they do. If your product is a new launch, Facebook might be a better option to grow an audience.
Buyer Intent for Google Ads vs. Facebook Ads:
In terms of buyer intent, Google Ads beat out Facebook Ads. For instance, if a person’s appliance malfunctions, they immediately start looking for repair services. Utilizing search ads will put your company in front of potential clients when they require your services. If someone has already found the solution through Google Search Ads, they won’t be directed to this page by a Facebook Ad for repair service.
Facebook advertising is less likely to convert leads swiftly. Facebook users don’t prioritize shopping. If you want quick conversions, Google Ads should be your first choice.
Cost of Facebook Ads vs Google Ads:
Cost is a crucial factor in your advertising plan. Across all industries, the average CPC (Cost Per Click) for Google Ads is $2.69. eCommerce companies should anticipate paying about $1.16 per click in paid search. However, companies in the legal sector typically have to pay $6.75 on average for each click. To put this into perspective, “insurance” has a top CPC of $54.91, making it the most costly term on Google Ads.
Google Ads are slightly more expensive than Facebook Ads. A company in the garment sector could only have to pay $0.45 per click on Facebook. Finance and insurance companies would be the most expensive business categories to advertise on Facebook. Their typical CPC is still only $3.77. Even if Google Ads have a higher average CPC, they can be more effective at reaching users when they are making a purchasing choice.
CPA (Cost Per Action) is a standard you should keep in mind to assess the strength of your campaigns’ Return On Investment (ROI). Like CPCs, the effectiveness of CPAs depends on how well-targeted your ads are and how high (ideally) your conversion rate is. Across all industries, Facebook’s CPA is $18.68 on average. Across all industries, the average CPA for Google Ads is $75.51 for display and $48.96 for search.
Advertising Format:
Regarding ad formats, Facebook offers more creativity. When using Google Ads, you just have a little text block to employ to draw in potential clients from search engine results. When using Search Ads, your format will be limited to the text, even though you can use ad extensions to add more text and information.
Conversely, Facebook’s image-based ads give your message more visual impact. Facebook continuously introduces new ad styles to avoid “ad fatigue.” This is a significant benefit when selecting the best platform for your eCommerce business.
In addition to this, Facebook Ads provides the following distinctive features:
Engagement Ads on Wall Posts:
If someone is looking at your company’s Facebook page, engagement ads can help it stand out. Only those individuals who are most likely to comment, respond or share your content are shown these adverts.
Lead Ads:
Facebook Lead Ads are reasonably priced and efficient. It does away with the requirement that users go to a landing page on your website. With the aid of Lead Ads, you may gather crucial contact information from prospective clients accessing Facebook on a mobile device. You can use these advertisements for various purposes, such as making appointments, promoting sales and discounts, enticing viewers to subscribe to your email newsletter, and much more.
Behavioral Targeting:
Using Facebook’s behavioral targeting, you can find users based on their purchasing history, device usage, and other factors. Facebook tracks specific offline and online behavior using information from partners. Facebook then allows advertisers to segment and target groups based on different purchasing decisions after first matching that data with user IDs. You may, for instance, target customers who have purchased personal care, entertainment, or technology products.
Messenger Bots:
Facebook lets companies build bots for Facebook Messenger that can communicate with customers whenever they want, around the clock. When it comes to sales and customer service, these chatbots have a lot of potential. They can accept orders, ship packages, deliver automated information, and assist customers in making purchases. This implies that you can shop and find the information you need without leaving Facebook Messenger.
Facebook Pixel:
The Facebook Pixel tracks actions on your website as a result of your organic postings and sponsored advertisements. All the pages you want to track need a little code. Viewing material, adding something to a cart, finishing registration, and making a purchase are examples of actions that can be tracked. The tracking pixel from Facebook enables you to evaluate conversions, improve targeting and adverts, and get useful information about Facebook users that visit your website.
Targeting Options for Google Ads and Facebook Ads
There are methods for targeting (retargeting) particular audiences in both Facebook Ads and Google Ads. On both platforms, you may target prospects based on their geography, gender, age, and income level, among other criteria.
But Facebook is the superior choice of the two in terms of sophisticated targeting choices. Facebook lets you create audiences based on different behaviors, interests, and targeted choices. You can narrow down your targets. For instance, you can target households of 4 members with an annual income of $60,000 – $70,000. Therefore, Facebook Ads will be a terrific technique to boost the performance of your business if your target demographic is very specific.
You can advertise to people similar to your current audience using Facebook’s helpful look-a-like audiences tool. Facebook uses its database of users to connect its customers with other users who share similar interests, which can be a very profitable strategy for advertisers.
Comparing Facebook and Google Ads: Campaign Features
The main difference between Facebook Ads and Google Ads campaigns is how audiences are targeted. Although there are numerous audience targeting options in Facebook Ads, there isn’t much search or purchase intent.
Although Google Ads provides fewer options for audience targeting, its users actively seek a certain good or service. Aside from the target audiences, each platform offers unique capabilities, such as Facebook’s Instagram Ads and Google’s Local Service Ads.
Ease of use: Facebook ads vs Google ads
Both Facebook and Google advertisements can initially appear to be perplexing. Google Ads’ UI is more data-driven, while Facebook Ads’ is more user-friendly.
Most individuals find using Facebook’s basic features easy, while many have trouble understanding its more complex features. Google, on the other hand, takes a little longer to get the hang of, but once you do, the whole platform is easy to use, and you can later add display and retargeting advertisements for even greater visibility and revenue.
How to Use Google Ads and Facebook Ads simultaneously:
Both Facebook Ads and Google Ads are fantastic online advertising options that are highly recommended. Many consumers concurred that utilizing both Facebook and Google ads at once is the best digital advertising tactic.
A company’s marketing budget should be concentrated on Google Ads if the target demographic is already aware of the product, then a few Facebook campaigns.
Google Ads are often advised as a starting point for media dollars if people are aware of the brand/product and know where to find it, with some Facebook initiatives, such as retargeting and mid-funnel advertising, put in. The situation changes if there isn’t sufficient brand recognition or search volume to justify the paid search.
It is advised to frontload other channels like Facebook in some circumstances or when there is too much competition in search, and it becomes cost-prohibitive and saves some money for the most reasonably priced terms in paid search.