Google ads vs Facebook ads: Which one is better? Google and Facebook are the two major platforms used on the digital space. Google alone boasts more than 3 billion searches in a single day, while Facebook garners 1.5 active users each day. Not to talk of, each of them provides advertising services.
Ads are online modes of advertising businesses and are applicable to both small and large businesses.
In as much as the two platforms are often positioned as competitors, nothing could be far from the truth in the real sense.
Advertising agencies and businesses are leveraging the capabilities of advertising on Google and Facebook Ads in order to achieve high visibility, increase leads and sales and get new customers. They, therefore, adopt different strategies that align with the functionality of each platform to be able to see return on their advertising spend.
What Is The Difference Between Google And Facebook Ads?
It’s important to understand the difference between the two ad platforms before we look at each in detail.
While Google Ads are shown in google search results and across websites registered in Google’s ad network, Facebook ads appear across Instagram, Facebook and other sites in the social media platform’s network.
Both platforms offer demographic and behavioral targeting. However, Google Ads also includes keyword targeting
Google Ads
Google is the world’s biggest and most known PPC advertising platform. Paid ads, known as pay-per-click (PPC) ads, appear at the top of Google search results.
They are tagged with the word “ad” to indicate paid content.
Google Ads’ system is based partly on cookies and partly on keywords determined by advertisers.
Google uses these characteristics to place advertising copy on pages where they think it might be relevant. Advertisers pay when users divert their browsing to click on the advertising copy. Adverts can be implemented locally, nationally, or internationally.
Google’s text advertisements mimic what the average search result looks like on Google. Image ads can be one of the several standardized sizes as designated by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).
In May 2016, Google announced Expanded Text Ads, which allowed for 23% more text.
Besides the Google search engine, advertisers also have the option of enabling their ads to show on Google’s partner networks, including AOL search, Ask.com, and Netscape, which receive a portion of the generated income.
Features Of Google Ads
- AdWords Express
- Google Ads Editor
- Google Ads Manager Accounts
- Google Academy for Ads
- Google Ads Scripts
AdWords Express
Previously known as Google Boost, the AdWords Express is a feature aimed at small businesses that attempts to reduce the difficulty of managing ad campaigns by automatically managing keywords and ad placement.
Google Ads Editor
The Ads Editor is a downloadable program that allows users to make bulk changes to ads and edit ads offline. It also allows users to see ad performance.
Google Ads Manager Accounts
Also known as My Client Center (MCC), it allows users to manage multiple accounts from one login and dashboard. This is most commonly used by Marketing and Advertising agencies who manage a large portfolio of client accounts.
Google Academy for Ads
Previously referred to as Google AdWords Certification Program, this provides a qualification to clients who pass a Google Ads Fundamentals exam and one Advanced AdWords exams on search, display, video, shopping, or mobile advertising, or Google Analytics.
Placement-targeted advertisements
The Placement-targeted advertisements places adverts based on keywords, domain names, topics, and demographic targeting preferences entered by the advertiser.
If domain names are targeted, Google also provides a list of related sites for placement. Advertisers bid on a cost-per-impression (CPI/CPM) or cost-per-click (CPC) basis for site targeting. The minimum cost-per-thousand impressions bid for placement-targeted campaigns is 25 cents. There is no minimum CPC bid.
Google Ads Scripts
This might sound a bit too technical for most people, but don’t let that drive you away. Google Ads scripts are usually used for reporting, account alerts, and bulk changes. But they can also be used to help automate your PPC tasks.With scripts, you can create a daily, weekly, or monthly report that tells you the overall account.
Facebook Ads
Facebook ads are paid social ads that appear in users’ newsfeeds. These ads operate based on people’s interests and behaviors. Your ads appear in front of people that are interested in your business, products, or services.
They’re tagged with the word “sponsored” to indicate paid content. The ads help companies expose their business to interested leads.
Many businesses fail at Facebook advertising because they are not a good fit. You should always test new marketing channels, especially before demand drives up prices, but make sure to consider your business model’s fit to the network.
Facebook ads are more like display ads than search ads. They should be used to generate demand, not fulfill it. As an advertiser, you should know that users are on Facebook to connect with their friends, not to find products to buy.
Features of Facebook Ads
Below are some features of Facebook Ads
- The Facebook Pixel
- Behavior Targeting
- Interest Targeting
The Facebook Pixel
There are a handful of certainties in life. Death. Taxes. Now, if you’re not using the Facebook pixel, you’re wasting your time. Without it, you can’t make use of Facebook’s insane remarketing and lookalike audience features.
You may as well be lighting wads of cash on fire. To implement the Facebook pixel, simply go to Ads Manager, create a pixel, name it, create it, copy the code onto your web pages to start tracking actions, and you’re done.
Behavior Targeting
Facebook’s behavior targeting is all about reaching people based on past purchase behavior, purchase intent, device usage, travel preferences, and other behavioral characteristics.
Interest Targeting
In the same vein, interest targeting allows you to reach your target audience based on the things they’re interested in. This could be activities, hobbies, the pages they have liked, or a host of other things.
WordStream also compiled all the possible interests you can target on Facebook in that same infographic. They include;
Custom Audiences
Remarketing is incredibly valuable. This is not news. People who see your remarketing ads are, on average, twice as likely to convert and three times more likely to engage. In other words, it’s a no-brainer.
Facebook’s version of remarketing is called Custom Audiences. This gets your ads in front of three groups of people: Website visitors, App users, and contact lists.
Video Ads
Users watch millions of videos on Facebook every day. Video isn’t just the future of Facebook — it’s huge right now. Video ads mostly help bias people toward purchasing from your brand.
The best part is that Video ads are incredibly cheap. Views can cost you as little as a penny. Now, if you don’t think your audience will be willing to engage with full-length videos, consider leveraging the power of Facebook GIF ads: they’re just as dynamic, but infinitely more digestible.
How The Two Ad Platforms Benefit Your Business
Choosing whether to use Facebook ads or Google Ads, is not an easy decision to make. While each comes with different options (and costs), they both offer benefits that can help you build brand awareness, generate sales, and more.
Advantages of Google Ads
Here are a few benefits of using the Google Ads platform.
Large market
Since Google is a leading advertiser that fields billions of search queries per day, this creates an opportunity for you to reach dozens of leads for your business.
Google offers both search network and display network advertising: This means you can either create ads that appear in the search results or have ads that display on other websites. You have multiple options to try to reach new leads.
Bid on millions of keywords
With Google, you’re able to bid on dozens of keywords to get your ads to rank for them. It allows you to gain more exposure and reach new people.
Advantages of Facebook Ads
Benefits Of Using Facebook ads
Access To Quality Information
People share an abundance of information about themselves on Facebook. When you advertise on Facebook, you can target people based on this information to help your business reach more relevant leads.
Visual elements
All Facebook ads are visual, which makes your ads more interesting and engaging for your audience. Video, image, and carousel ads can all help you capture the attention of your target shopper and get them excited about your product or service.
High conversion rate
Conversions are a critical part of your ad campaigns. If you don’t earn conversions, you don’t earn the sign-ups, sales, followers, or leads that you want. Facebook ads, however, offer an impressive conversion rate of almost 10%.
Which one is better for your business: Facebook ads or Google Ads?
In the Google Ads vs. Facebook ads debate, there isn’t a clear winner. This is because both Google AdWords and Facebook Ads are incredibly powerful advertising platforms that cater to virtually every type of business.
When evaluating each solution’s strengths and potential applications, it’s also apparent that the two platforms should be viewed in a complementary, rather than adversarial, way.
Some people insist on comparing Facebook Ads to the Google Display Network, and while the two platforms share some similarities, the ways in which the two platforms have evolved independently of one another shows that Google Ads and Facebook should be used in concert, not in opposition.
Which is better Google ads or Facebook ads?
When it comes to sales, both platforms are best suited. However, if you want brand awareness, it is best to go with facebook ads