Should we Invest in Facebook Ads or Google Ads?

Should You Invest in 
Facebook Ads or Google Ads?

Many marketers used to see Google Ads and Facebook Ads as competitors. The long-running competition between the two companies, which was blown out of proportion by the technology media, was misconstrued as proof that the two platforms were in direct competition with one another, and that businesses of all sizes needed to make a difficult decision about which platform was right for their needs.

This article will discuss the advantages of using both Google Ads and Facebook Ads, as well as the differences between the two so that you can decide which is best for your digital advertising needs.

What's the big deal about Facebook ads vs. Google ads?

It's important to know the main difference between Google Ads and Facebook Ads before comparing their features and benefits.

Google Ads: Paid search

Google Ads (previously known as Google AdWords) is the most widely used pay-per-click (PPC) advertising system in the world. It has become so commonplace that the term "paid search" can now be considered synonymous with it. The two are often used interchangeably because of the similarity between them and other platforms like Bing Ads.

In paid search, advertisements are based on text and are displayed in response to specific keywords. Google Ads users compete for prime real estate next to relevant search results by bidding on "keywords," which are individual words or phrases used in users' queries. This form of advertising is known as "pay-per-click" because the advertiser pays a set fee every time a user clicks on one of their ads. Although PPC bidding and bid optimization are beyond the scope of this guide, it's important to understand that users are essentially paying for the opportunity to find new customers based on the keywords and search terms they enter into Google.

Facebook ads: Paid Social

Paid social, or advertising on social media platforms like Facebook, is an increasingly popular strategy. Facebook has the most MAUs (monthly active users) of any social network, making it an essential (and competitive) part of many companies' digital advertising strategies.

Although there is some overlap between Facebook ads and Google Ads in that both help promote businesses online, that's about all they have in common. In contrast to paid search, which can help businesses find new customers by using keywords, paid social can aid users in discovering businesses that cater to their specific interests and online habits.

To simplify the main distinction between Google Ads and Facebook Ads, consider that Google Ads aid in the acquisition of new customers while Facebook Ads aid in the discovery of new ones.

Now that we've established the foundational distinction between Google Ads and Facebook Ads (or paid search and paid social), we can dive deeper into the relative merits of these two online advertising vehicles.

The strengths & benefits of Google Ads

As the world’s most popular and widely used search engine, Google is considered the de facto leader in online advertising. Google's ability to process more than 3.5 billion daily search queries means that the company can connect advertisers with a massive pool of people who are actively looking for the products and services that the company offers.

Advertisements on Google can be found in either the Search network or the Display network. The Search network encompasses the entirety of Google as a search engine, and advertisers can bid on millions of keywords and phrases to target prospective customers.

The Google Display Network, which offers advertisers more visual ads such as banners, spans approximately 98 percent of the World Wide Web, making it a great choice for advertisers who want to accomplish marketing goals that aren’t necessarily as conversion-driven as those of PPC ads, such as raising brand awareness on a large scale using banner ads.

1. A huge number of audiences

Google's massive user base is a major selling point for the company as an advertising medium. Over 1.2 trillion searches are performed annually on Google, with over 40,000 performed every second. This incredible search volume, and the opportunity for advertisers to reach new customers, is only expected to grow as Google continues to evolve, in no small part thanks to its growing reliance on its proprietary artificial intelligence and machine learning technology, RankBrain.

No other search engine comes close to competing with Google in terms of potential users. With such a large pool of potential customers, Google is a must-have for any digital marketing strategy. When you add in the fact that Google's search results are becoming more and more precise, it's easy to see why AdWords is the most widely used PPC platform in the world.

2. A level playing field

The belief that the company with the largest advertising budget "wins" in Google Ads is a common one among PPC newcomers. Nothing could be further from the truth, as Google Ads places more importance on the quality and relevance of ads than on the amount of money spent.

The better the user's experience, the more likely they are to stick with Google as their primary search engine, and the more money Google makes from advertising. This is why Google Ads places such a premium on relevance and quality. This is why savvy advertisers who have created ads that are highly targeted, optimized, and of high quality rarely have to outbid advertisers who have created ads of lower quality.

For example, keywords associated with the financial sector tend to be the most expensive of all industries, but the actual amount that advertisers have to bid on keywords ultimately comes down to the quality and relevance of their ads. Click-through rate is one metric Google values highly because it is indicative of an ad's overall quality and appeal.

3. Numerous ad layouts

In 2000, when AdWords first went live (with a total of only 350 advertisers), Google served text-based ads alongside its search results. These ads were, to put it mildly, primitive, but they shared many characteristics with modern ads.

PPC ads in AdWords are still text-based, but advertisers have access to a plethora of tools to make their ads more engaging and effective. Advertisers have access to a variety of features, including ad extensions, site links, social proofing like user reviews, location targeting, Shopping ads, and more, giving them unprecedented levels of customization and control. Google has even introduced specialized ad formats for industries like automakers and hotels, which go beyond the standard text-based ad experience by including visual elements like high-resolution images and interactive map data.

Whatever you're selling to whomever, there's bound to be a commercial structure or element that will pique the interest of your customers. To help advertisers expand their reach and generate more revenue, Google is constantly rolling out new ad formats and features.

The strengths & benefits of Facebook ads

Facebook ads (as we know it today) may look like a naive upstart compared to Google Ads, but Facebook has been working on its advertising solution for years. Facebook Ads has quickly become an integral part of many companies online marketing strategies and is widely regarded as a pioneer in the field of paid social.

1) Exceptional audience segmentation

Like Google, Facebook has an impressively large user base all over the world. More than one-fifth of the world's population uses Facebook monthly, and this doesn't even take into account dormant or rarely accessed accounts, making Facebook the undisputed king of social media in terms of sheer scale. The true strength of Facebook's enormous audience, however, is not in the exposure of advertisers and their messaging to this vast audience, but in the potential granularity with which advertisers can target Facebook's users.

Facebook’s lookalike audiences take advertising to an unparalleled granular level

Almost every aspect of people's lives can be found on Facebook. Every day, Facebook users share the joys and accomplishments of life's milestones with their friends and networks, from the meeting and marriage of partners to the birth of children and the celebration of new career moves. In addition, they seek out and consume content that caters to a wide variety of interests, beliefs, ideologies, and values, giving marketers a chance to specifically target specific demographics in ways that were previously unthinkable. 

Create "lookalike audiences," a powerful tool for advertisers, using this functionality. Advertisers on Facebook can upload customer data from their databases, and Facebook will use its data as well as data from third-party data brokers to match the uploaded data with users. By reaching out to people who "look like" their current customers, advertisers can effectively increase their ad's exposure by 50%.

In other words, "Does Facebook advertising work?" is a question frequently posed by those who are new to paid social media. This point should have made it abundantly clear that yes, it does, and to a remarkable degree. Instead of seeing Facebook as a giant billboard, businesses can get more personal with their target audience than they ever could with traditional marketing methods.

2) An inherently visual platform

Facebook ads, in contrast to their text-based PPC counterparts, are highly effective because of their visual nature. The most effective Facebook ads are those that seem to have always been there, fitting in with the rest of the visual content in users' News Feeds. This allows marketers to take advantage of the strong persuasive qualities of visual ads while also communicating the aspirational messaging that makes such ads so effective.

Similar to how Google is always tweaking the look of its text-based PPC ads, Facebook is always looking for new ways to provide a more effective marketing platform for businesses and a more enjoyable experience for its users. When it comes to Facebook ads, Facebook used to be strict about how much text could take up of the total ad space, but they've since relaxed that policy. Nonetheless, Facebook's inherent visual nature is still a major selling point for many advertisers despite this major shift in its advertising governance.

 
3). Incredible Return on Investment (ROI)

In their first experiences with Facebook Ads, many businesses and marketers are blown away by the platform's sophisticated targeting options and the variety of attractive, interactive ad formats available to them. However, the potential ROI that Facebook advertising offers and the extent to which savvy advertisers can stretch a limited ad budget on the platform consistently surprises newcomers to Facebook Ads.

                             Facebook’s affordable budgeting = potentially sky-high ROI

A Facebook advertising campaign's budget will vary widely depending on factors like the breadth of the campaign, the tone of the ads, and the campaign's overall goals. However, Facebook Ads are surprisingly cheap when one considers their potential reach and the precision with which advertisers can target their ideal customers. Due to Facebook's affordable advertising options, the platform is no longer reserved for only the largest corporations with the largest marketing budgets. If you consider the platform's remarkable potential returns, Facebook Ads becomes one of the most cost-effective methods of online advertising currently available.

 
Google Ads vs Facebook ads: Which one should you be using?

Google Ads and Facebook Ads are two of the most potent ad networks available, and both work for nearly any kind of company. The two platforms should be seen as complementary rather than competitive when weighing the merits of each solution and the range of possible uses for it. While it's true that Facebook Ads and the Google Display Network have some things in common, the fact that they've developed in their ways over time demonstrates that the two should be used together, rather than in competition.

The combination of paid search and paid social media is a powerful tool in any marketing campaign's toolkit. On the other hand, this calls for a dual advertising strategy that plays to the channels' strengths. While it's true that marketing messages can (and, in some cases, should) be consistent across Google and Facebook Ads, it's crucial to master the specifics of each for the best return on investment and expansion of your business.

WordStream's PPC University offers free courses that will teach you how to get the most out of your Google Ads and Facebook Ads campaigns. PPC U equips its students with the knowledge and tools necessary to become proficient in paid search and paid social, maximizing the effectiveness of even the most limited marketing budget.