It's one of the most common questions we hear from business owners who are ready to invest in paid advertising: "Should I be on Google or Facebook?" The honest answer is that it depends on your business, your goals, and your audience — but understanding how each platform works will make the decision much clearer.

Let's break it down.

The Fundamental Difference: Intent vs Interest

Google Ads and Facebook Ads operate on completely different principles, and this distinction matters more than anything else.

Google Ads is intent-based advertising. When someone types "emergency plumber in Hounslow" or "best Italian restaurant near me" into Google, they are actively searching for what you offer right now. They have a problem or a desire, and they're looking for a solution. Your ad appears at the exact moment of peak intent. The conversion rate tends to be high because you're meeting a need that already exists.

Facebook Ads is interest-based advertising. Nobody goes on Facebook to look for a plumber. They're there to catch up with friends, watch videos, and scroll their feed. Facebook shows your ad to people based on demographic data, interests, and behaviour — not because they've actively searched for you. You're interrupting their browsing, which means you need to grab attention quickly and create desire that wasn't necessarily there before they saw your ad.

Neither approach is superior. They're simply suited to different objectives.

When Google Ads Works Best

Google Ads excels when:

You offer a service people actively search for (trades, legal services, healthcare, restaurants, local retailers)
You want to capture high-intent leads who are close to making a purchasing decision
Your product or service solves an immediate problem (emergency callouts, same-day delivery, urgent repairs)
You're operating in a local area and want to target specific postcodes or a radius around your premises

For many service businesses in West London — plumbers, electricians, accountants, solicitors, driving schools — Google Ads is the most direct route to paying customers because it puts you in front of people who are actively looking for you.

When Facebook Ads Works Best

Facebook (and Instagram, which shares the same ad platform) excels when:

You're selling a product or service that people might not be actively searching for, but would want if they saw it
You want to build brand awareness and stay top of mind over time
You're targeting a specific demographic — age, location, lifestyle, interests — rather than search intent
You have a visually compelling product that benefits from photography or video
You're running retargeting campaigns to reach people who have already visited your website

For B2C businesses selling lifestyle products, fashion, food, beauty, or anything with strong visual appeal, Facebook and Instagram ads can be highly effective at generating both awareness and sales.

Cost Comparison

It's difficult to make a direct cost comparison because pricing varies enormously by industry, competition, and campaign quality. As a general guide:

Google Ads are typically priced on a cost-per-click basis, and costs vary from a few pence for niche local terms to several pounds per click for competitive industries like finance or legal. The upside is that you're paying for clicks from people actively searching for what you offer.

Facebook Ads tend to have lower CPCs on average, but the intent is lower too — so while you might pay less per click, you may need more clicks to generate the same number of conversions. Cost-per-lead and cost-per-acquisition are more meaningful metrics than raw click cost.

B2B vs B2C Considerations

For B2B businesses, LinkedIn is often worth considering alongside Google and Facebook. Facebook and Instagram are primarily consumer platforms, and while you can target business decision-makers, the context isn't always right for business purchasing decisions. Google works well for B2B because business buyers search for solutions too. LinkedIn is purpose-built for professional audiences, though CPCs are significantly higher.

For B2C businesses, the Google and Facebook combination is usually highly effective — use Google to capture active demand and Facebook to build awareness and retarget visitors.

Our Recommendation: Test Both

For businesses with a reasonable advertising budget, we generally recommend running both platforms and letting the data guide your investment. Start with smaller test budgets on each, measure cost-per-lead and cost-per-acquisition, and then scale what's working.

Many of our clients at Eurasia Marketing find that Google Ads delivers faster initial results while Facebook builds longer-term brand awareness — and together, they create a more resilient marketing engine than either platform alone.

How Eurasia Marketing Manages Paid Campaigns

We manage Google Ads and Facebook/Instagram campaigns for businesses across West London and beyond. Our approach starts with understanding your business goals and your target customer, then building campaigns that are tightly targeted, well-written, and continuously optimised based on performance data.

We don't believe in set-it-and-forget-it advertising. Every campaign we run is actively monitored, tested, and refined to improve results over time. If you're ready to explore paid advertising for your business, get in touch and let's talk through what a campaign could look like for you.

Google Ads vs Facebook Ads: Which Platform Should You Invest In?