Google AdWords vs Facebook Ads 2019 – Which Is Better?

Google AdWords vs Facebook Ads, what a buzz in the PPC marketing world.

The main difference is that Google AdWords target keywords and display ads in Google Search whereas Facebook ads display ads based on parameters targeting on Facebook platform.

But have you ever wondered which one to go for between Google Ads or Facebook Ads when it comes to online advertising? Don’t worry.

In this article, I’m going to guide you through the difference between AdWords and Facebook Ads and which one should you consider in online marketing.

What is Google AdWords

Google AdWords a.k.a. Google Ads, according to wordstream, is an advertising system in which advertisers bid on certain keywords or search phrases in order for their clickable ads to appear in Google’s search results.

Since advertisers have to pay for these clicks, this is how Google makes money from search as a search engine.

It is a part of marketing called PPC marketing, where you pay the advertising system when someone clicks on your ads. It doesn’t matter if the person purchases your products or services or not.

To advertise on Google AdWords, you simply need a Google account to open Google ad account. To learn more about how to get started with the platform, you can check out my Google AdWords Basics for beginners article.

What is Facebook Ads

Facebook Ads is an advertising platform service which is a part of the Facebook ecosystem. It is a prime category of “paid social”

The ads can appear in News Feed on desktop, News Feed on mobile and in the Right Column of Facebook on desktop.

This is one of the major ways Facebook make their money on the platform. Other ways include things like a third-party advertisement, app integration, API request, etc.

Just like Google AdWords, it is also a part of PPC advertising.

To advertise on Facebook, you simply need your Facebook account and for effective ad features, you need to have your Facebook business or fan page created.

In order to manage the ads campaign, Facebook has its own platform known as Facebook ads manager, which is a part of the Facebook Business platform.

(Check out my Facebook Ads vs Boosted Posts to learn more about the in-depth comparison)

Before we move on to see which advertising platform is suitable for your business, let’s analyze the pros and cons of each platform in AdWords vs Facebook Ads.

Google Ads vs Facebook Ads: Audience Reach

With Google AdWords, you have the potential to reach a larger group of audience due to the fact that you’re utilizing Google’s ecosystem or Google display network.

Being the world’s largest search engine, you can be assured that your ads will reach a large section of people.

With over billions of searches per day and 90% of internet market share, no doubt why Google ads can proof the be the right weapon for your business

With Google Ads, you can select an option to display your ads on various Google ecosystem like Gmail, YouTube, or on various websites which uses Adsense to monetize.

This vast potential source of prospective customers alone makes Google an excellent addition to your digital marketing strategy

Facebook ads, on the other hand, can only display the advertisement on Facebook.

But thanks to Facebook having acquired Instagram back in 2012, the Instagram ad can now be created and managed under the Facebook ad manager.

For every Facebook ad you create, you get an option to whether run it on Instagram as well. This makes it a double win for someone looking to advertise on social media.

You can manage both the advertising campaign and deploy ads on two different platforms using just one account.

Facebook Ads Vs AdWords: Buying Intent

With Google Ads, you’re able to target users deeper down the funnel, i.e. people who have the buying intent.

This is because when people search for something on search engines, they do it with an intention.

For example, if I want to buy a pair of shoes, I would directly search it on search engines like Google and most likely to buy them if I find the desired model.

With Facebook ads, you’re basically throwing in your advertisement in front of the target audience, with an intention of building up interest and hoping that they would convert.

When people go to social networks like Facebook, they are actually looking for casual things to do, not to buy.

So the conversion rate on Google AdWords is much higher than Facebook.

Google AdWords vs Facebook Ads: Audience Targeting

Even though Google AdWords allows you to target audiences using advance features like demographics, location or specific timing of the day, Facebook Ads offers a deeper way of targeting.

Facebook’s ability to target based on things like people’s interests, age, gender, employment status all the way up to marital status, hobbies and much more makes it such a powerful tool.

This allows you to create personalized ads and do split testing on multiple ad campaigns to see what truly works.

The features like the lookalike audience make advertising on Facebook ads much more effective than Google ads.

If you’re new to audience targeting in search engine marketing, check out my SEM for beginners article to learn more.

Remarketing

Remarketing or retargeting is a term used to display your ad in front of the potential audiences who may be interested in your products or services ( visited your landing pages) but haven’t converted yet.

The Facebook advertising retargeting mechanism is much simpler to implement than Google Ads.

By placing a small snippet of code on your website called Facebook pixel, you will be able to keep track of your visitors’ activities.

This can help you understand what they are interested in most and what they don’t. Then you can use that to your advantage and show the re-target prospects what they need.

This can increase the chance of conversion up to 70%, especially in B2B business, where frequent communication is required.

AdWords vs Facebook Advertising: Ad placement

As we know that people don’t prefer to click on ads because there is this kind of stigma behind it – whether it’s not trustworthy or looks like spam.

Over the decade, Google has tried to blend in its ad display more and more to look like an organic search result. This way, it looks more trustworthy so more people can click on it.

Also, with its huge reach as discussed above, Google Ads are now blended into everything we do online, from banners on websites (Adsense) to an ad on Gmail, it’s everywhere!

Facebook ads, on the other hand, are placed in sections like news feed, the marketplace, suggested videos, right columns, Instagram, etc.

Google AdWords vs Facebook Ads: Cost

Google AdWords in general, is much more expensive than Facebook Ads.
The rise of competition and targeting multiple keywords to ensure success are the two main reason which requires you to pay 2 to 3 times more than Facebook ads.

With SEO becoming more and more difficult, people are now turning to Google ad and SEM in general.

So no matter how big or small businesses are, they all are competing for the same or similar keywords. This causes the average CPC (Cost-Per-Click) to increase.

As a consequence, you may have to choose secondary keywords. Even though they may cost less, they may not meet your advertising goals. It’s a hard decision that every small business must evaluate.

With Facebook Ads, you could have your ad reach thousands of people with as little as $10 per click.

Especially if you are smaller B2C companies looking to target particular demographics or small specific regions.

Set up your budget limit and push the button, this is all it takes for Facebook ads to run. You don’t have to compete with anyone or bid for any keywords.

Therefore, the average cost of advertising on Facebook is much cheaper than Google Ads.

Google AdWords vs Facebook Ads: Ease Of Use

Ease of use for both the platforms includes 3 main areas, i.e. Ad manager usage, flexibility in ad deployment and ad policies.

Ad manager usage

Google ad manager is by far the simplest I’ve ever seen. It hardly takes more than 5 minutes to get your first ad campaign up and running.

The interface itself is quite easy to understand with each and every menu properly placed.

Unlike other platforms, where you may have to call a sales representative, Google Ads takes you through easy-to-follow steps. Now, you can focus your time on building a worthwhile campaign.

Simply search for the keywords you want to bid for using the built-in keyword tool and you will be good to go.

On the other hand, with Facebook constantly changing its ad manager design, this can prove to be quite challenging for beginners.

Also, there are various components and things you should know before you get started with your first campaign.

This makes advertising on Facebook requires more learning curve than Google AdWords.

Flexibility In Ad Deployment

When it comes to flexibility in ad deployment, Google Ads may prove to perform worse than Facebook Ads.

Knowing just the basics of Adwords will only get you so far. If you want to dominate the market, you need to know various strategies to outcompete your competitors.

This often comes with cost by experimenting with different techniques. Ultimately, you would need to hire an expert to monitor the conversion rate.

The reason behind this complication is because unlike Facebook Ads, you are constantly competing against your competitors who are bidding for the same or similar keywords, which require different strategies to outrank them, at the same time, minimize the cost.

Facebook Ads, on the other hand, require nothing but just a push of a button to get started.

The best part is, you don’t have to have a website set up in order to capture your prospects’ lead.

All you need on Facebook is a Facebook business page and you are good to go. Facebook has different ad types, including lead generation form.

On top of that, you can basically use things like fancy videos, images and call to action buttons, just like a typical landing page will do, just on a single platform.

Ad Policies

Both the platforms have somewhat strict ad policies, however, Facebook Ads are stricter.

As more and more people are using Facebook ads, the platform has continuously come up with a newer and more strict policy.

Some of which are quite controversial. Before you are able to make your ad public, you have to fulfill a long list of the terms and rules.

Otherwise, your ad will get rejected and sometimes violation of the policy can even get you banned from advertising.

To learn more, check out the Facebook ad policy page.

Difference between Google AdWords and Facebook Ads

Facebook Ads Vs Google Ads: Which one is better?

So you have learned about each of their pros and cons. But the question still remains, which one is really for your business.

Well, the answer is simple – It primarily depends on two factors, i.e your target audience and what is your goal.

Your target audience

This is the most important thing you should know. Where are your audiences hang out on most? Is it social media or search engines (specifically here Google).

To know this, you need to create a buyer persona. I talked about this in almost all of my articles. To have a full understanding and knowledge about your target audience is crucial to online business.

If you are a B2C company, the chances are you can generate lots of leads on Facebook. This is because beautiful images of products and videos can help capture people’s attention.

Generating leads and sales for B2C companies using Google ads are also effective as well. Many people are searching for products on Google every day. For example, “Best shoes 2019” or “Top 10 reviews. of..”.

But for B2B companies, advertising on Google is much more effective. This is intuitive, isn’t it? Who would search for a web developer or agency on Facebook right?

Your goal

The goal of advertising is ultimately to make sales and money. But not everyone goes for sale.

Sometimes, generating leads and awareness can be your primary goal, depends on the stage your business is in.

While others can make sales directly. This depends entirely on the business model and prospect target.

This can be classified into two groups of funnels.

Top of the funnel

This includes things like

• Website visits
• Social media interaction
• Social media reach
• Blog reads
• Social shares
• Newsletter subscriptions

Middle and bottom of the funnel

This includes things like:

• Making sales
• Webinar signup
• Revenues
• Gross profit
• Free items download

Though both the platforms can work well for these two funnels,

For top of the funnel, Facebook ads work the best. No other leads capture system is as powerful as Facebook ads. Things on social media can go viral.

Creating brand awareness and generating leads is great on Facebook.

On the other hand, if your goal is middle or bottom of the funnels, Google AdWords is the best choice. This is because it is a user-based intent advertisement platform.

By “intent” we’re referring to a searcher’s need for a solution to their query. After all, that’s why you navigate to a search engine in the first place. If you’re searching, you’re looking for an answer.

Google Ads vs Facebook Ads: My choice

In my opinion, no doubt both the system works great. Because they are two giants in this field. They are two of the most popular and best advertising platform.

But if I have to choose one for my business and looking in a general perspective, I would go for Google AdWords.

This is because whether you are a B2C or B2B company, Google ads work well for both. Unlike Facebook ads, which only works well for B2C.

Also, there are certain disadvantages to social media marketing, which makes them not suitable for business.

On top of that, Due to larger audiences, search intent and Google domination on the Internet, I believe that ads by Google are likely to convert more.

But again, one thing that can play a huge role and can become a deciding factor is budget. True, in my opinion, Google Ads are better than Facebook. But the cost of running it can be 2 to 3 times greater.

For smaller companies or new businesses, this can prove to be a major factor and issue.

Conclusion

And that’s all for the Google AdWords vs Facebook Ads 2019 showdown. I hope you have understood their pros, cons and which one should you choose for your business.

Take every point into consideration and see what is your priority. Sure they both have their advantages and disadvantages but by selecting them on the basis of your business’s priority, you will be able to decide.

If you’re still confused about whether which platform is better for your business, you can check out our online marketing service and ping us a message. We will get back to you in no time.

So let me know in the comment which is your go-to advertising platform and why.

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