Successful Online Marketing – Facebook Ads or Google Ads?

Vũ Khôi

Author at Wotech Electronics Blog

We are very often asked by clients: "Between Facebook Ads and Google Ads, which one is better for businesses?" And almost every time, the answer is — it depends on what kind of business you want to run. Both advertising formats have their own strengths and weaknesses. So how do they differ, and how do you choose the optimal format for your business? Let's find out together!

The online marketing rivalry between Facebook and Google

We understand that small and medium-sized businesses usually operate on a fairly tight budget, and deciding where to place expensive ad slots is an extremely difficult challenge. Google Ads and Facebook Ads are both giants in the PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising space, and either can become the flagship for expanding a business's customer reach. And although the media often dramatizes the rivalry between the two platforms, many businesses are still leveraging the strengths of both Google and Facebook advertising to achieve maximum visibility, generate leads, find new customers, apply different strategies suited to each platform's functions, and earn significant returns on their ad spend.

Before we discuss the strengths of each platform, let's look at what sets them apart.

Google AdWords – the origin of paid online marketing

It is no exaggeration to say that Google AdWords remains the largest and most popular PPC platform in the world. AdWords is so widely used that in some cases the term itself is used as a substitute for "Paid Search," even though paid search is not exclusive to Google and has been implemented by other search engines such as Bing. Google Ads works by targeting potential customers based on heavily searched keywords, using text and articles as the main advertising vehicle. Advertisers bid on keywords — specific words and phrases matched to search queries created by Google users — in the hope that their ads will appear alongside the search results for those queries. Each time a user clicks on an ad, the business (or the advertiser in general) is charged a certain amount. That is why it is classified as PPC.

Google advertising selects target customers based on the following factors:

• Demographics (age, gender, language, marital status, etc.)

• Location (targeting customers by city, country, territory, or geographic radius)

• Internet access device (segmenting customers by the device they use, such as mobile phone, tablet, or desktop/laptop)

• Keywords (targeting based on relevant keywords used on the search engine)

• Re-targeting (targeting existing audiences such as frequent website visitors and loyal customers)

Facebook Ads – paid online marketing on a social media platform

Facebook advertising is a prime example of what is called Paid Social — direct, paid actions on social media platforms. With the highest number of monthly active users of any social network in the world, Facebook has become a highly competitive and highly profitable element in the digital marketing strategies of countless businesses.

Although many people consider Facebook Ads similar to AdWords, in essence they are not the same: whereas Paid Search helps businesses find new customers through keywords, Paid Social helps users discover businesses based on their interests and their online behavior and habits. To sum up the difference between Google Ads and Facebook Ads: Google helps you find new customers, while Facebook helps new customers find you.

Facebook advertising selects target customers based on the following factors:

• Location and demographics (similar to Google AdWords)

• Interests (building audiences of people with shared interests, based on the pages they like or follow on social networks)

• Custom audiences (creating custom audiences based on their activity on your own website, using the Facebook pixel)

• Behavior (based on behaviors, habits, or spending intentions, and use of products/services)

• Lookalike audiences (creating audiences with interests and activities similar to your current consumers)

Should you choose Google AdWords or Facebook Ads for online marketing?

Google AdWords is recommended for businesses that want to boost sales immediately — that is, to have their services and products consumed in large volumes over the internet via the search engine in a short time. When it comes to the maximum audience reach with AdWords, Google clearly outshines Facebook. By handling more than 3.5 billion searches every day, paid advertising on Google opens up a far bigger market, with more opportunities and more customer audiences than Facebook's 1.45 billion daily active users. Additionally, it is worth noting that 91% of this social media giant's revenue comes from serving ads on mobile apps rather than desktop.

If you're wondering how Google can offer access to such a vast customer audience, the answer lies in the fact that Google has built its own empire spanning many different platforms, not just its own search bar. When you use Google Ads, your ads are automatically shown on Google Search, YouTube, the Google Display Network, Google Maps, Google Play, and more — so the customer audience you reach is bound to be highly promising.

Does Facebook Ads lose ground to Google in the online marketing battle?

However, precisely because of the potential of such a lucrative market, Google AdWords costs considerably more to run than Facebook advertising. Facebook's average cost per action (CPA) is around $18.68, while the same figure on Google climbs to $48.96 — nearly three times higher. And even when comparing average CPC values across industries such as real estate, education, and healthcare, advertising on Google still costs more than Facebook in every category. That said, using Facebook Ads does not confine your marketing activities to the Facebook news feed. You still have the chance to appear on several platforms owned by or linked to Facebook, such as Instagram, Audience Network (its user connection network), and Facebook Messenger. So, in complete contrast to Google AdWords, Facebook Ads is regarded as the right tool for businesses that want to raise consumer awareness, build their own audience, and introduce new products with more creativity — rather than focusing on sales figures like Google Ads.

In short, we have just walked through the strengths of Facebook and Google Ads. We hope this information helps you better understand the two methods so you can make the right choice in your online marketing strategy.

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