Google Ads and Facebook Ads are two of the most popular online advertising platforms today. Both platforms offer unique features that can help businesses achieve their marketing goals. Here is everything you need to know about the two platforms:
Google Ads: Google Ads, formerly known as Google AdWords, is an online advertising platform that allows businesses to create and display ads on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs) and on websites that are part of Google’s Display Network. Google Ads operates on a pay-per-click (PPC) model, which means that advertisers only pay when someone clicks on their ads.
If you are looking for ways to grow your business online, you might be wondering which advertising platform is best for your needs: Google Ads or Facebook Ads? Both platforms have their pros and cons, and both can help you reach your target audience and achieve your marketing goals. But how do they differ, and which one should you choose?
Compared to Facebook Ads, Google Ads may be easier to set up and have a greater potential audience. Still, Facebook Ads may offer more precise targeting thanks to its pixel and potentially much more insightful monitoring data. Despite these differentiators, an omni channel advertisement strategy that uses both Google and Facebook Ads is ultimately the best course of action.
The two main participants in the market for paid media are Google Ads and Facebook Ads. How can you determine the ideal for your company’s requirements if you’re starting?
In this blog post, we will compare Google Ads and Facebook Ads on various aspects, such as their features, benefits, costs, targeting options, performance metrics, and best practices. By the end of this post, you will have a better understanding of how these two platforms work and how to use them effectively for your business.
What are Google Ads and Facebook Ads?
Google Ads is a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising network formerly known as Google AdWords. It allows you to create text-based ads that appear on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs) when users search for keywords related to your products or services. You can also create display ads that appear on millions of websites across the Google Display Network (GDN), as well as video ads that appear on YouTube and other platforms.
According to Live Internet Stats, 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.
You can re-engage such users while they search on Google. 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 is the leading social media advertising platform that enables you to create image-based or video-based ads that appear on Facebook’s news feed, stories, messenger, marketplace, audience network, Instagram feed or stories. You can also create carousel ads that showcase multiple images or videos in a single ad unit.
The main difference between Google Ads and Facebook Ads is how they show ads to users. Google Ads shows relevant ads to users who are actively searching for something related to your offer (this is called demand capture), while Facebook Ads shows ads to users who may be interested in your offer based on their demographics, interests, behaviors or connections (this is called demand generation).
Both platforms use an auction system where advertisers bid on keywords (Google) or audiences (Facebook) to show their ads to potential customers. The amount you pay per click (CPC) depends on various factors such as your bid amount,
your quality score or relevance score (a measure of how well your ad matches the user’s intent), your ad rank (a combination of your bid amount and quality score), and the competition level.
Advantages of Google Ads:
Google Ads has several advantages over Facebook Ads:
- Google Ads allows businesses to reach potential customers who are actively searching for the products or services they offer. It has a massive reach: According to Statista, Google handles over 3.5 billion searches per day , making it the most widely used search engine in the world . Moreover, according to WordStream , Google Display Network reaches 90% of internet users worldwide, giving you access to a huge audience across different devices ,formats, and locations.
- The platform offers a range of targeting options, such as location, demographics, and keywords, which can help businesses reach the right audience.
- It has high intent: Users who search on Google are usually looking for specific information , solutions , or products .This means they have a high purchase intent , which makes them more likely to convert into leads or customers . For example, if someone searches for “water bottle”, they are probably ready to buy one . By showing them relevant ads at this stage , you can capture their attention and drive them to your website .
- It has various ad formats: Google offers different types of ads depending on your goals , such as text ads , shopping ads , call-only ads , app-installation ads , responsive search ads , responsive display ads , video ads etc . Each format has its own benefits and limitations . For example , text ads are simple but effective for generating clicks , while shopping ads are ideal for showcasing product images and prices .
- Google Ads provides detailed analytics and reporting, allowing businesses to track the performance of their ads and make data-driven decisions. It has advanced tracking and optimization tools: Google provides various tools and features that help you measure and improve your campaign performance , such as conversion tracking , remarketing lists for search ads (RLSA) , smart bidding strategies etc . These tools allow you to track how many people see your ad , click on it , visit your website etc . They also allow you to optimize your bids based on factors such as device type, location etc.
Disadvantages of Google Ads:
- The competition for keywords can be intense, making it expensive for businesses to bid on certain keywords.
- Advertisers need to have a good understanding of how to set up and optimize their campaigns to get the best results.
- Google Ads is mainly focused on search advertising, which means that it may not be the best platform for businesses that want to build brand awareness or engage with audiences in other ways.
Facebook Ads: Facebook Ads is an online advertising platform that allows businesses to create and display ads on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and other platforms owned by Facebook. Facebook Ads offers a range of targeting options, such as location, demographics, interests, and behaviors, which can help businesses reach the right audience.
Advantages of Facebook Ads:
- It has a large user base: According to Statista, Facebook had over 2.8 billion monthly active users as of December 2020,
making it the most popular social network in the world. Moreover, according to Hootsuite, Facebook owns four out of five top social apps: Facebook itself, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp. This means you can reach a large number of people across different platforms with one account. - Facebook Ads offers a wide range of ad formats, including video, image, and carousel ads, which can help businesses create engaging and interactive ads.
- The platform allows businesses to build brand awareness and engage with audiences in a variety of ways, such as through sponsored content and messaging.
- Facebook Ads offers detailed targeting options that can help businesses reach their ideal audience.
Disadvantages of Facebook Ads:
- Facebook’s algorithms can be complex, which means that businesses need to have a good understanding of how to set up and optimize their campaigns to get the best results.
- Facebook’s advertising policies are constantly changing, which can make it difficult for businesses to stay up-to-date.
- Some users may view ads on Facebook as intrusive or annoying, which could impact the effectiveness of a campaign.
Google Ads vs. Facebook Ads
1. Number of Audiences
Google and Facebook both have a broad reach. However Google approaches 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. Therefore, 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.
2. Working
Facebook Ads and Google Ads operate differently, even though they are both pay-per-click (PPC) advertising systems with a competitive bidding mechanism. Users who access Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and the extended Audience Network will see Facebook Ads, which are commercial social media advertisements. While the Google Ads are paid search advertisements that appear next to Google’s search results.
3. Buyer Intent
Regarding buyer intent, Google Ads outperform Facebook Ads. For instance, if a person’s refrigerator malfunctions, they will instantly begin looking for repair assistance. You could put your company in front of potential clients just when they needed your products or services through search ads. If they have already found the solution through Google Search Ads, Facebook Ads for repair services won’t be directed here.
Facebook advertising has a lower likelihood of swiftly converting leads. Users typically use Facebook for socialising and unwinding. On Facebook, shopping is not a top priority. If you want quick conversions, Google Ads should be your first pick result.
4. Formats of Ads
The photographs above demonstrate how there are more inventive ad formats on Facebook. When using Google Ads, you 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.” It is a significant benefit when selecting the best platform for your eCommerce business.
5. Cost of Ads
For your advertising campaign, the cost is a crucial factor. Across all industries, Google Ads’ CPC (Cost Per Click) average is $2.69. eCommerce companies should budget $1.16 or thereabouts per click for paid search. On the other hand, businesses in the legal sector typically have to pay an average of $6.75 for each click. To put this into perspective, “insurance” has the highest CPC of any keyword on Google Ads, coming in at $54.91.
Compared to Google Ads, Facebook Ads are a bit less expensive. A company in the clothing sector might only have to pay $0.45 per Facebook click. Insurance and financial industries would be the most costly for firms to advertise on Facebook.
Their typical CPC is still only $3.77. Even if Google Ads has a higher average CPC, it can be more effective at reaching users when they are making a purchasing choice.
It would help if you considered the CPA (Cost Per Action) criterion when evaluating the effectiveness of your campaigns’ Return on Investment (ROI). CPA effectiveness is influenced by how well-targeted your ads are and how high (hopefully) your conversion rate is, just like CPC effectiveness is. The average CPA for Facebook is $18.68 across all industries. The typical CPA for Google Ads is $48.96 for search and $75.51 for display across all sectors.
Final Thoughts
Both Google Ads and Facebook Ads can be effective advertising platforms, depending on a business’s goals and target audience.
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 behaviours, interests, and targeted options. You can target parents who are vegetarians and have kids between the ages of 6 and 10 with a household income between $50,000 and $100,000, for example. 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 lookalike 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.