Let’s talk about Google Ads and Facebook Ads. Each has its own pluses and minuses. Here is how we see it.
Google Ads is intent-based.
What does intent-based mean? Simply put, people know what they are searching for and are going to find it.
For example, if I am looking to tint my car, I will likely do a lot of research on car tint’s before I decide to buy. When I am ready, I go to google and type “car tint Jacksonville” and now I can see where I can get it done. That is intent-based searching. We would typically call this bottom-of-the-funnel advertising.
Facebook Ads is Top Of Funnel Advertising
Let’s go back to the car tint. You are scrolling through your feed and you see some cool cars that have tinted windows. You do a search to learn more about tinted windows. You will likely start to see ads for tinted windows even though you haven’t decided to buy anything. These are still effective ads, but the intent to buy is not there yet. With Facebook, you can retarget these people to keep your business top of mind when they move down the funnel and are ready to purchase, but they will still likely go to google and search for all their options.
Location and Targeting
Both Google Ads and Facebook Ads allow businesses to target specific locations and audiences, allowing them to reach the people that are most likely to be interested in their services. Since Google Ads is intent-based, your ads will target anyone in your location looking for your services. Facebook, on the other hand, requires larger audiences to work well. The targeting is good, but not like it used to be before IOS 14 updates that stopped tracking. Broad audiences tend to work better on Facebook as of the end of 2022. Both platforms allow you to target cites or radius.
Going back to our car tint example, on both Google Ads and Facebook Ads, we would target the Jacksonville area. The city is not too big that someone would not travel 30 minutes to get a quality tint job. A different business like a gym might only want to target a 15-mile radius around their location because they know most people won’t drive more than 15-20 minutes to a gym. Targeting a car tint on Facebook is a little more difficult and could require some out-of-the-box thinking. Google Ads is easier to find the right people.
Real-Time Adjustments
Both Facebook and Google allow you to change your budgets at any time during the month. This can be helpful if budgets are underspending and need higher daily limits. It is also helpful if something you sell is trending and you need to quickly allocate more budget.
Ad Approval Process
Getting new ads live on Google is very simple and is usually ready to go within 30 minutes – unless you are dealing with a sensitive subject. Facebook Ads can take days to get approved. It can be a very frustrating process and requires more planning. Going back to the example above, if your product is trending, it might take a few days to get new ads up and live — especially during the Holidays.
Retargeting
Both Google Ads and Facebook Ads can retarget customers. Google has many more options to reach people all over the internet. A good strategy has been to use Google ads to get the customer to the website and then retarget on both Facebook and Google Display Networks.
Reporting and other Metrics
Google Ads also offers businesses access to more powerful analytics and reporting tools like Google Analytics and GA 4 compared to Facebook Ads. This allows businesses to identify which ads are most effective and optimize their campaigns accordingly. Facebook Ads reporting since the IOS14 update has not been great. Facebook is having a hard time with anyone using IOS. You will still get results, but tracking it has proven more difficult.
Conclusion
We generally choose Google Ads over Facebook Ads for most advertisers when they get started. It has reliably proven to deliver consistent results for just about any type of business. There are times when the cost per click is too high, or the business just lends itself to Facebook ads better. Thankfully, we can run both with no issues. Google Ads is also giving anyone with a new account $500 in free money to start a new account. As a Google Ads Partner, we often get codes for $1000 in free money. If you contact us right away, you might get one.
If you are looking to run Google Ads, NetViper Interactive is a Google Partner based in Jacksonville, FL. Owner Dave Fogel is a Google Ads Master working with Google Ads since 2008 logging more than 16,000 hours of experience in Google Ads. Please contact us today if you have questions about running Google Ads in Jacksonville or anywhere else! We work with clients in the USA and Canada. We are also part of the MECLABS super funnel cohort focusing on creating the ultimate funnel to get people to buy your goods or services.
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