Independent digital studio · since 2016
Two platforms, two opposite ways of reaching customers. On Google you reach people who are already searching; on Instagram and Facebook you help people discover something they didn’t know they wanted. Here’s how to tell which one your business needs, and when to use them together.
MBMarco BagiacchiFounder of Nalu and web developer
The question “Google or Facebook?” comes up in almost every conversation about online advertising. It’s a fair question, but asked that way it risks leading you astray, because it puts two tools that work in profoundly different ways on the same level. They aren’t two versions of the same service: they’re two opposite ways of getting in touch with a potential customer.
On Google Ads the person arrives with a question in mind. They type “accountant for freelancers”, “women’s trail running shoes”, “e-commerce website prices”, and you can appear at exactly that moment with your answer. It’s advertising that meets a need already expressed.
On Meta Ads, meaning advertising on Instagram, Facebook, Messenger and the network of partner apps, the person isn’t searching for anything. They’re scrolling the feed, watching stories and videos. You enter their flow with an image or a video able to stop the scroll and spark interest. It’s advertising that creates a need, or reawakens it.
Google answers those who ask. Meta speaks to people who didn’t yet know they wanted to listen.
Understanding this difference is the first step. Everything else follows from it: the type of creative, the cost, the audience, the timing and the way results are measured.
Before going into detail, here are the two tools side by side.
| Look | Google Ads | Meta Ads |
|---|---|---|
| Audience intent | High: the person is searching | Low or latent: the person is scrolling |
| How you choose who to reach | Keywords, location, time of day, devices | Interests, behaviors, demographics, lookalike audiences |
| Main formats | Text ads, product listings, YouTube videos, banners | Images, videos, carousels, stories, reels |
| Strength | Leads and sales from people who are ready | Visibility, discovery, brand building |
| Role of the creative | Important, but relevance matters most | Decisive: without strong content you won’t stop the scroll |
| Typical cost model | Cost per click | Cost per thousand impressions or per result |
| Timeline | Fast results on existing searches | Creative tests are needed to find the right formula |
Neither wins on everything. The choice depends on what you sell, how people search for it and what goal you want to reach.
Google Ads lets you show ads in several places across Google: in search results, in Shopping product listings, on YouTube, on partner websites and apps, on Gmail and Maps. For most businesses the core remains the search network: the text ads that appear when someone searches for certain words.
The cost is usually based on clicks: you pay when someone clicks on the ad. The price of each click is decided in an auction where both the bid and the quality and relevance of the ad and landing page count. A highly relevant ad can get better positions while paying less than a competitor who bids more.
Meta Ads is the advertising platform that manages ads on Instagram, Facebook, Messenger and the network of partner apps. Ads appear in feeds, stories, reels and videos, mixed in with the content people are watching.
Meta’s strength lies in reaching people based on who they are and what they do: age, area, interests, online behavior, interactions with your page or website. You can also create audiences similar to your best customers, letting the platform find people with similar traits. In recent years much of the optimization has been handed to algorithms: rather than narrowing the audience by hand, what matters is providing effective creatives and reliable conversion data.
The most useful criterion to find your way is simple: do people search on Google for what you offer? If the answer is yes, and there are enough searches, Google Ads is almost always the most efficient starting point, because it puts you in front of people who have already decided to solve a problem.
If what you offer is new, little known or born from a desire rather than a need, searches will be few. In this case waiting for people to search for you isn’t enough: you have to go to them, and that’s where Meta Ads becomes valuable.
Before deciding, open Google and try searching for your service as a customer would. If many competitor ads already appear, it’s a sign that the search brings customers. If none appear, demand may be low, or it’s an underused opportunity.
| Business | Recommended starting point | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Tax consultancy firm | Google Ads | People actively search for a professional. |
| Emergency plumber | Google Ads | Urgent need, immediate local searches. |
| Sustainable clothing brand | Meta Ads | Visual product, discovery, brand identity. |
| Restaurant with a new concept | Both | Local searches on Google, discovery and desire on Instagram. |
| Software for a specific industry | Google Ads | Targeted searches by people with a precise problem. |
| Innovative product never seen before | Meta Ads | Nobody is searching for it yet: it needs to be discovered. |
Comparing the costs of the two platforms is hard, because they measure different things. On Google you usually pay per click, and clicks can be expensive in competitive industries; on Meta you often pay per impression or per result, and the cost per lead varies a lot depending on the creative and the audience.
The right comparison isn’t about the cost per click, but the cost per customer acquired. A click on Google may cost more but come from someone much closer to buying; a lead on Meta may cost less but need more steps before becoming a customer. Only by measuring real results can you tell which channel performs best for your business.
| Metric | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Cost per lead | How much you spend to get an inquiry or a sign-up. |
| Close rate | How many leads from each channel become customers. |
| Cost per customer | The number that really matters for comparing channels. |
| Return on ad spend | For e-commerce stores: how much revenue you make for every euro invested. |
With us, setting up campaigns starts at €450 and monthly management at €300 per month, on Google, on Meta or on both (excl. VAT and ad budget).
On Google a well-written, relevant text ad can work very well. On Meta the creative is everything: you have a few moments to stop the thumb of someone scrolling, among content from friends, creators and other brands. An anonymous image or a slow video gets scrolled past without being noticed.
This means that on Meta the budget for producing content matters as much as the ad budget. Without quality materials refreshed regularly, campaigns lose effectiveness within a few weeks.
The servicePhotography and content for social media and campaigns↗Whichever platform you choose, the click takes people somewhere. If the landing page doesn’t convince, the budget is wasted, no matter how well the campaign was built.
There’s an important difference, though. People arriving from Google have a precise question and want the answer right away: the page must confirm in an instant that they’re in the right place. People arriving from Meta were intrigued but weren’t searching: the page must guide them, explain and reassure before asking them to act.
People rarely buy at first contact. They usually go through a few stages: they discover a solution exists, research it, compare, decide. The two platforms work well at different stages of this journey.
Meta Ads is extremely strong at making a brand or product known to people who didn’t know it, with videos and images that grab attention.
The person starts researching: useful content, reviews, comparisons. SEO matters a lot here too, and so does Google with campaigns on informational searches.
The person searches for the product or service by name or with very specific words: Google Ads reaches them at this moment.
Remarketing, on both platforms, brings back people who visited the website without buying.
Seen this way, the question “Google or Meta?” changes shape: it becomes “at which stage of the journey do I lose the most customers, and which tool helps me there?”.
For many companies the most effective solution isn’t choosing but combining. The two platforms reinforce each other: Meta campaigns make the brand known and increase searches for your name on Google; Google campaigns capture people who are ready; remarketing on both recovers those who stopped halfway.
| Channel | Role | Goal |
|---|---|---|
| Meta Ads | Getting the product and brand known | Website visits, interactions, new audiences |
| Google Ads search | Reaching people who are searching | Leads and sales |
| Google Shopping | Showing products with prices | E-commerce sales |
| Remarketing | Bringing back people who visited | Closing sales and leads |
With a limited budget, though, it’s better to start with one channel, make it work well and add the second once the first is stable. Splitting a small budget across two platforms risks giving neither enough data to optimize.
If you have to choose a single channel to start with and people search for what you offer, start with Google. If your product needs to be discovered and is visually strong, start with Meta.
Every industry has its own dynamics. Here are some general trends, useful as a starting point but always to be checked against your own business’s data.
On both platforms, results depend on data quality. Without correct conversion tracking, the algorithms optimize blindly and you can’t compare channels with each other.
Tracking must be set up in line with privacy and cookie rules: tools like the Meta pixel and Google tags require user consent when they install marketing cookies. There are solutions, such as consent modes and server-side tracking, that help keep data reliable while respecting people’s choices. It’s a technical aspect, but a decisive one: the best campaigns are built on reliable data.
Google Ads tends to deliver faster results on existing searches: if people are searching for your service, leads can arrive in the first few days, and the first month or two is spent optimizing. Meta Ads often needs a longer test phase: you need to find out which creatives, messages and audiences work, and give the algorithm time to learn.
| Phase | Google Ads | Meta Ads |
|---|---|---|
| First results | Often in the first few days | In the first weeks |
| Optimization | First and second month | First two or three months, with creative tests |
| Stability | From the third month | With a constant refresh of content |
Once you decide to use both platforms, the next question is how to split the budget. There’s no right proportion for everyone, but there is a method. You start by giving the larger share to the channel closest to the sale for your business, usually Google if people search for you, and a test share to the other channel. After a few weeks you compare the cost per customer acquired and gradually shift the budget to where it performs best.
But be careful not to judge Meta only on immediate sales: its contribution often shows in more searches for your name on Google and in the success of remarketing. That’s why it’s worth looking at the overall trend in sales and inquiries too, not just the results attributed to each platform.
Google and Meta are the most used platforms, but not the only ones. LinkedIn is valuable for B2B, when you need to reach people by role, industry or company size, though often at a higher cost. TikTok reaches a broad, mostly young audience with very spontaneous video content. YouTube, which is part of Google Ads, is ideal for storytelling through video. The choice always depends on where your audience is and what message you want to convey.
If so, start with Google Ads. If not, or if searches are few, consider Meta Ads.
If so, Meta can deliver excellent results, provided you invest in content.
Immediate leads and sales point to Google; visibility and brand growth point to Meta.
The answers will show you where to start. Then the data from the first weeks will tell you where to shift the budget. That’s how we work: a clear hypothesis at the start, decisions based on numbers right after.
Google and Meta aren’t rivals: they’re different tools for different moments in the customer journey. Choosing well where to start, and using them together when it makes sense, is what turns your ad budget into real growth.
The questions we're asked most often on this topic. If yours isn't here, write to us.
It depends on how customers look for what you offer. If they actively search for it on Google, Google Ads is usually more effective; if the product needs to be discovered and is visually strong, Meta Ads can perform better.
They measure different things, so the comparison should be made on cost per customer acquired, not on cost per click. Only campaign data tells you which channel performs best for you.
Yes, and it’s often the best strategy: Meta to get known, Google to get found, remarketing to close. With small budgets, though, it’s better to start with just one.
It can work, especially for getting known and for remarketing. To reach specific roles and industries, LinkedIn is often added.
With us, setup starts at €450 and monthly management at €300 per month, on one or both platforms (excl. VAT and ad budget).
Yes. On Google relevance and clear copy matter; on Meta you need images and videos designed for social media, vertical and refreshed often.
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