The honest comparison
Google Ads vs Facebook Ads: which should you buy first?
We sell paid social, so read this knowing what we are: an agency telling you when NOT to buy its own product. The answer below is the one we give businesses before taking their money.
The short answer
- Buy Google Ads first if your customers search for what you sell at the moment they need it. Search captures demand.
- Buy Facebook (Meta) ads first if your customers do not know you exist and the product suits discovery. Social creates demand.
- Emergency and urgent-need businesses should buy Google Ads, not paid social. We say that as a paid social agency, and the landing page decides how well either channel converts.
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The 1 difference that decides everything: intent
A Google search is a raised hand: "emergency electrician adelaide" is a person asking to spend money right now. A social impression is a tap on the shoulder: the person was watching a video, and your ad interrupted. Search harvests demand that exists; social plants demand that does not exist yet. Every other difference between the platforms is downstream of that 1 fact.
Here is the number that proves the market believes it: Australian advertisers pay about $13.00 per click for searches like "meta ads agency", 10 times a typical social cost per click, because a click born from intent is worth 10 times a click born from interruption.
| Google Ads | Meta / Facebook Ads | |
|---|---|---|
| The customer | Searching for you now | Interrupted mid-scroll |
| Best at | Capturing existing demand | Creating new demand |
| Cost per click | Higher (intent priced in) | Lower (attention is cheap) |
| Conversion rate | Higher: they asked | Lower: you asked |
| Creative burden | Light: the search does the selling | Heavy: the ad does the selling |
| Time to results | Fast when demand exists | Builds as audiences learn |
| Fails when | Nobody searches for the category | The landing page cannot close cold traffic |
Buy Google Ads first if
- Your customers need you urgently: emergency plumbing, locksmiths, towing, after-hours anything. Nobody scrolls their way out of a crisis.
- Your category has real search volume and every competitor's customer is actively comparing: the auction is where the buying happens.
- You can only fund 1 channel and your product is a considered, searched-for purchase.
If that is you, we are not your agency: Google Ads is not a service we sell. Loudachris Digital Marketing runs Google Ads for Australian businesses, and that is where we send you.
Buy paid social first if
- Your product is discoverable, visual or new: customers cannot search for what they do not know exists.
- Your search market is priced out: in some categories the Google cost per click has been bid to the point where social discovery is the cheaper customer.
- You sell on sight: food, fitouts, beauty, venues, retail. Feeds are where those decisions start.
The honest answer for most established businesses: both, in order
Search first to capture the demand that already exists, because that is the cheapest revenue you will ever buy. Social second to create the demand search cannot reach. The order matters: social traffic is colder, so it needs the landing pages and measurement discipline proven on the search side first. When your search demand is captured and your landing pages convert, that is when paid social multiplies instead of leaks. The full mechanics are in the social media advertising guide.
Google Ads vs Facebook Ads, answered straight
Are Facebook ads cheaper than Google Ads?
Per click, almost always: attention costs less than intent. Per customer, not necessarily: social clicks convert at lower rates, so the arithmetic depends on your offer and your landing page. Judging channels on cost per click alone is the most common budgeting mistake we see.
Can we run Google Ads and Facebook ads at the same time?
Yes, and established businesses eventually should: search captures demand while social builds it. Fund search first, prove the landing pages, then add social. We run the social side; we do not sell Google Ads.
Which is better for a trade or local service business?
Urgent trades: Google Ads, no contest, and we say so as a social ads agency. Consideration trades (renovations, landscaping, fitouts): search plus a strong visual social presence, because the customer researches for weeks and feeds keep you in the running.
Why would a social ads agency tell us to buy Google Ads?
Because a client on the wrong channel churns in 3 months and tells everyone ads do not work. The free plan names the right channel for your case, and when the right channel is search, it says so and points you there.
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