Google Ads vs Facebook Ads
One harvests demand. The other creates it. Most businesses need both, in an order.
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The actual difference.
Search advertising meets people who have already decided they want something and are looking for it. Social advertising interrupts people who were not looking, and has to earn attention before it can sell anything. That single difference explains nearly every practical distinction between them.
It is why search usually converts at a higher rate and is capped by how many people are searching, while social can create demand that search then harvests — and why attributing the sale to whichever channel was clicked last flatters search at Meta's expense.
Which to run first.
If people are already searching for what you sell, start with search — it is the cheapest demand to capture and it validates that the offer converts. Once you have exhausted the searchers, growth has to come from people who were not looking, which is Meta's job.
If nobody is searching for your product because it is new or category-defining, Meta first is the only sensible order.
Where each one is actually better.
Not a scorecard. The two channels answer different questions, and most accounts that "tested both and Meta lost" were running Meta against demand Google had already captured.
| Google Ads | Meta ads | |
|---|---|---|
| What it buys | Attention that already exists — someone typed the problem into a search box | Attention you interrupt — nobody was looking for you at that moment |
| Wins when | There is search volume for what you sell and you can afford the click | The product is visual, the offer is explainable in three seconds, or demand has to be created |
| Main constraint | Search volume. You cannot buy more demand than exists | Creative. The auction consumes distinct ads faster than most brands can make them |
| Cost driver | Competition on the keyword, and quality score | Creative performance, then audience size and frequency |
| Reads well in analytics | Yes — intent is explicit, so attribution is comparatively honest | Poorly — it creates demand that often converts later, elsewhere |
| Common failure | Paying brand-term prices for traffic that would have arrived anyway | Judging it on last-click and concluding it does nothing |
The comparison most businesses should run is not Google against Meta. It is what each does to blended revenue when the other is paused for a fortnight — which is the only test that survives an attribution argument.
Questions people actually ask.
Which one is cheaper?
Search usually shows a lower cost per conversion and a lower ceiling; social usually shows a higher cost per conversion and far more available volume. Comparing them on cost per conversion alone will always mislead you.
Should we run both?
Once you can afford to, generally yes — they do different jobs and they compound. What you should not do is judge them against each other using last-click numbers.
Why does our Meta ROAS look worse than Google?
Partly because it genuinely is a harder job, and substantially because of attribution. Someone who sees a Meta ad on Monday and searches your brand on Thursday is recorded as a search conversion.
Do you run Google Ads?
No. We do Meta advertising and the creative that feeds it, and we would rather point you to someone good than do it adequately.
How do we measure both fairly?
Blended: total revenue against total marketing spend, watched over time. It is a blunter number and it is much harder to fool yourself with.
Find out where your growth is actually coming from.
Fifteen minutes with Josh, no pitch deck. You will leave with a clearer read on which channel is doing the work.
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