Facebook vs Google Ads in 2019

When advertising a small business online there are usually two places that a business would turn to – Facebook (also owners of Instagram) and Google.

Both make getting started with advertising fairly simple for the average business owner, and both platform receive a ton of daily traffic all over the world.

In this article, I wanted to give my thoughts on which is the better place to start in 2019 – Google Ads or Facebook/Instagram Ads.

YouTube Ads are apart of the Google Ads platform, but for this article I’m going to focus on the Google Search Ads (ads you see when you type something in at Google.com).

If you’re not familiar with what the ads look like, here’s a screenshot from each platform:

Google Ads Example:

Facebook Ads Example:

Ease of Use

First let’s talk about how easy each is to use, because if you can’t figure out how to use it properly then you won’t be able to make it profitable for your business anyways, right?

I will say that both ad networks make it easy for pretty much anyone to sign up for.

Once you are signed up and ready to dive in and try to create your first ad I would say Facebook Ads Manager is much more beginner friendly than the Google Ads platform.

I created a Facebook Ads Course for our Create Freedom Academy, and the videos I recorded explaining how to use the platform were fairly easy to create – mainly because the platform is set up great.

On the other hand, Google Ads isn’t as user friendly and it took me a little bit longer to get the hang of how everything works. Thankfully Google Ads has great documentation that will help walk anyone through what they’re looking to do.

The win for Ease of Use goes to Facebook here, but neither is hard to get started with.

Ad Creatives

Which platform allows you to do more and be more creative with your ads to stand out?

There’s a bit of a catch here…

I would say Facebook Ads allow for much better ad creatives because their platform allows you to post photos, videos, and carousels of a mixture of photos and videos

These all allow you to really grab your audience’s attention and also get your message in front of them without them having to click on anything.

In Google ads they haven’t allowed anything other than text search results in their search ads (as we head into 2019 anyways), so it is a bit tougher to stand out in Google Ads.

The catch here is that people are usually clicking on one of the first few search results when they search something in Google, so although your ad creative doesn’t technically stand out too much, it will often get a lot of traffic to your website if you bid enough to get it to the top.

While Facebook Ads offers more options and creativity with your ads, both technically do a good job of allowing you to grab your audience’s attention.

Profitability

For the most part when we are creating ads we really care about the ROI or profitability of the ads.

So in 2019 which is the better platform for profitability and getting a return on your investment?

The first thing to realize is that Google Ads has been around much longer and Facebook Ads only started to get really popular these last few years as the mobile app and website has matured (and since Instagram has blown up).

Because Google Ads have been around longer they have generally been more expensive to run ads, but in 2019 Facebook is catching up.

CPMs (or Cost Per 1000 Impressions of your ad) have really skyrocketed on Facebook over the last two years, and nowadays running ads on Facebook isn’t cheap like it used to be.

With that all said, I don’t like to worry about cost of ads as much as I do my return on investment.

Both ads could have 100 people visit your website, but one ad might do a much better job of driving conversions and sales from those 100 website visitors.

This is where Google does well.

If you think of what the platforms are used for, it would make sense that sales and conversions would come easier from Google.

People visit Google to seek out information. So if someone is looking to sign up for a Personal Trainer in their hometown they might type in something like “Personal Trainer in London, ON.”

That person has the intent of signing up with a personal trainer, so if you are a personal trainer you should be trying to get your business or website in front of that person.

People are on Facebook and Instagram to check out what their friends are up, follow celebrities, look at entertaining content, etc, etc. Rarely do people go to these platforms with the intent of buying something.

Of course, you can still make sales on Facebook and Instagram, but because their intent isn’t buying something it will be a bit tougher to get those conversions (compared to Google).

So does this give the win to Google? Not necessarily.

While I think in most cases Google might convert better, Facebook’s advertising costs might be cheaper in a lot of cases.

The costs of running ads on each platform is something you are going to want to test because it will depend highly on how much competition there is on each ad platform for your target audience.

If a lot of London, ON personal trainers are bidding on these Google Ads the prices are going to get really high, and Facebook might be better for you. And vice versa.

The win here is going to Google from my personal experience, but I can’t necessarily say it will be more profitable for your business, as there are a lot factors that play in a role in that.

Who’s Better in 2019 – Google Ads or Facebook Ads?

In 2018 I would of said to get started with Facebook Ads first…

But with the costs of ads rising on Facebook I think it might be smart for small businesses to look into Google Ads first in 2019.

Although I would start with Google Ads, I wouldn’t ignore the Facebook Ads platform. The ideal approach would be a mixture of the two.

If a small business came to me I would most likely get them started by targetting a few basic search terms in Google Search Ads, and then also set up retargeting ads on Facebook and Instagram for starters.

What Will Work For You?

Just like the best workout program you can design someone is the one that they are going to follow through with…

The best ad platform in 2019 is the one that you can understand and use, will follow through with, and can make profitable.

Like I mentioned earlier, Facebook Ads is easier for beginners, so if these ad platforms overwhelm you that might be the best place for you to get started.

If you need help getting started check out my course in the Create Freedom Academy.

If you want help setting up a plan for your online advertising in 2019 check out our Services pages and book a 2-on-1 call with Dan and I and we will make this year your best year yet!