Choose Google Ads when people are already searching for what you sell, and Facebook (Meta) or Instagram ads when they would buy if they saw it but are not searching. Most local service businesses should start with Google, because those are high-intent searches: the person searching “locksmith near me” is ready to buy today.
Google Ads catches demand that already exists on Google Search. Someone types a problem into the search engine, your ad appears, they click, they call. You are answering a question they have already asked. Google will also offer you the Display Network (banner ads on other websites) and Performance Max campaigns that spread budget across Search, YouTube and Display. For a small local budget, a simple search campaign is usually easier to control.
Facebook and Instagram ads create demand. Nobody wakes up planning to scroll past your advert, but the right offer in front of the right people makes them stop, remember you and act. You are interrupting, politely, and the interruption has to be interesting enough to work. As Shopify’s comparison puts it: use Google when customers are actively searching for what you sell, and Facebook to catch people’s attention when they are not actively shopping. 1
Neither is “better”. They do different jobs, and picking the wrong one for your business is how advertising budgets quietly disappear.
| Your situation | Usually the right first platform | Why |
|---|---|---|
| People search for your service when they need it (trades, locksmiths, dentists, repairs) | Google Ads | The buyer is already looking. You are competing to be chosen, not creating the need. |
| People do not know they want it yet (new products, classes, lifestyle offers, visual businesses) | Facebook / Instagram | Strong images and targeting put you in front of people who match your customer before they search. |
| Local service with an urgent need (emergencies, same-day jobs) | Google Ads | Urgency lives in search. Nobody browses social media hoping to find an emergency plumber. |
| Something people buy on looks or impulse (food, beauty, gifts, events) | Facebook / Instagram | Visual platforms sell visual things; cheap reach lets you test offers quickly. |
| Longer, considered purchases (extensions, legal work, B2B services) | Google first, Facebook for remarketing | Capture the researchers on search; remind them on social while they decide. |
Both platforms are PPC (pay-per-click): they charge you when someone clicks, and PPC advertising prices are set by auction, so any article giving you a fixed cost per click is guessing. All the PPC platforms work this way; the difference is what people were doing when they saw your ad. What is reliably true: clicks from people actively searching usually cost more each, but fewer of them are wasted. Social clicks are often cheaper, but more of them were curious rather than ready.
The number that matters is neither. It is what a click turns into: the cost per enquiry. A £3 click that phones you is cheaper than a 40p click that browses and leaves. Judge any platform, and anyone running it for you, on enquiries, not clicks. Our guide to why ads get clicks but no enquiries covers the measurement side of this.
Usually not at the start. Splitting £500 a month across two platforms gives you £250 of learning in each, and small budgets learn slowly. Pick the platform that matches how your customers buy, run it properly for two to three months, and add the second when the first is proven. Several 2026 small-business comparisons make the same point: match the channel to how people discover and buy your specific offer, and avoid spreading a thin budget thinner. 2
There is one sensible early exception: a small Facebook remarketing budget showing ads to people who already visited your website. They searched, they found you, they left. A gentle reminder while they decide is cheap and often the best-performing social spend a service business runs.
Two things, in this order. First, conversion tracking, whether through Google Analytics 4 or the platforms’ own tools: you must be able to see which clicks became phone calls and form fills, or every decision afterwards is a guess. Second, the page the ad lands on: if it does not turn a visit into an enquiry, more traffic just means more waste. That is where the enquiries are actually being lost, and no platform choice fixes it.
If you are weighing ads against slower channels altogether, SEO or Google Ads: which should your business pay for first? covers that decision. And if you are deciding who should run the account, run it yourself or pay someone gives three honest tests.
We manage Google Ads and paid social across the Meta ecosystem (Facebook and Instagram) and on LinkedIn. Management starts at £400 per month per platform, plus VAT, with your ad spend paid directly to Google or Meta, never through us, so you always see exactly what is being spent. The first conversation is free and honest: if your budget is too small for ads to work yet, or your website would waste the clicks, we will say so.
For most local service businesses, Google Ads first. Your customers search “trade + town” when they need you, and Google puts you in front of them at that moment. Facebook and Instagram suit businesses selling something visual or creating demand for something new. Many businesses end up using both, but rarely starting both.
Social clicks usually cost less each; search clicks usually cost more but convert better, because the searcher was already looking. The honest comparison is cost per enquiry, not cost per click. A platform is only cheaper if the enquiries it produces cost less.
Enough to learn, which for most local businesses means a few hundred pounds a month on one platform, run for at least two to three months. Below that, data trickles in too slowly to make good decisions. Our guide to how much to spend on Google Ads breaks the budgets down.
Yes, both platforms will happily take your money from day one. One simple search campaign or one boosted-post test is a reasonable DIY project. Where DIY gets expensive is wrong settings on bigger budgets, broad targeting, switching on Performance Max without understanding where the budget goes, and no conversion tracking. If a mistake could cost hundreds a week, management is insurance.
Start with the platform matching how your customers buy: searching (Google) or discovering (Facebook/Instagram). Add the second when the first is proven. The common mistake is splitting a small budget across both and learning nothing from either.
Sources checked 21 October 2026; links re-verified 29 October 2026. No fixed click costs are quoted because auction prices vary by market, week and competitor; treat any article promising them with suspicion.
