If you have been into digital marketing for a while, you probably know the significance of both Google Ads and Facebook Ads.

Both have extremely popular platforms that are used by millions of users across the country. And both serve an extremely different purpose.

Google Ads is all about Organic Search, while Facebook Ads is focused more on driving customers straight to your business.

The question is, which one is more suitable for your business?

In the following article, we will take a look at how Google Ads and Facebook Ads are different, what they have in common, and which one is better suited for your business.
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Google Ads vs Facebook Ads: The Age-Old Debate

Your business is always looking for ways to get more leads and sales right?

And, one of the best ways to generate more business is through paid advertising.

Using paid advertising, you can reach a big enough audience to make an impact on your business. In fact, ads can be a lot cheaper than other forms of marketing like print and radio.

The question is, where should you spend your ad dollars?

Let’s look into the key differences between Google Ads and Facebook Ads to understand which will get you the best return on your ad spend.

But before that let’s understand…

What are Google Ads?

Google Ads is an online advertising method that lets you promote your website by showing ads for your business across Google search results pages, YouTube videos and other partner websites.

Google Ads is also known as Google Pay Per Click (PPC) because you will pay each time someone clicks on your ad.

This is also known as cost-per-click (CPC).

Google Ads is one of the most popular advertising platforms in the world, with over 4 million advertisers using it.

What are Facebook Ads?

Facebook ads are another form of online advertising that you can use to promote your business. You can create a Facebook ad that will be shown to people who are likely to be your potential customers.

You can choose the audience you want your ad to show up for, and Facebook will serve it during their time of engagement on the platform.

Because Facebook has a huge user base, there is a good chance that your ad may get seen by hundreds or even thousands of people daily.
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Google Ads vs Facebook Ads: How Do They Differ?

Now that we know about Google Ads and Facebook ads, let’s dive deep into their differences and see which one will suit your business better.

1. Objective

The main objective behind a Google ad is to drive traffic to a website or a landing page. It functions the same way as a natural search result does for your business.

The primary purpose of a Facebook ad is to get more leads for your business. It works just like any other ad on the platform, and can be used to generate website traffic as well.

2. Placement

Google Ads are usually placed at the top or right side of search results pages. This ensures that it gets seen by all types of users and remains present all throughout the day.

Facebook Ads can be placed anywhere on Facebook. They show up in between posts and other types of content that is posted by businesses and people alike.

You can also choose to place your ad on Instagram as well, but this will cost you a bit more than other social media platforms like Facebook.

3. Pricing

Google ads are based on the number of clicks your ad gets. You will be charged by Google every time someone clicks on your ad.

Facebook ads are priced on a CPM basis. Advertisers pay when someone engages/interacts with their ad. This can be a click, a conversion or a video view.

Now that you know about the main differences between Google Ads and Facebook ads, let’s move on to find out what they have in common.
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Google Ads vs Facebook Ads: What Do They Have in Common?

Let’s now take a look at some of the common things that both Google Ads and Facebook ads can offer your business.

1. Reach

Both Google Ads and Facebook ads allow you to reach a huge audience.

With Google Ads, you can reach people who are actively searching for your product or service. The ads appear when they start typing in their search query.

With Facebook Ads, you can target users who are more likely to engage with your ad and potentially buy your products or services. You get to decide the kind of audience you want to target.

2. Flexibility

You can control almost everything when it comes to how your ads will look and what they will say. When creating a Google Ads campaign, you can choose from a list of predefined styles, colors and formats for your ad. This is one of the biggest advantages of Google Ads.

You also get to decide the bidding and targeting options for your ad, and can choose between different types of ad formats.

Facebook ads work in a similar way. You get to decide how you want your ad to look like, what you want it to say and what kind of audience you want it to be shown for.

You are also free to set the bidding and targeting options for your ad.

3. Ad Performance

The performance of your Google Ads or Facebook ads can be tracked through different metrics on both platforms. This allows you to make necessary changes in future campaigns for better results.

You can track things like impressions, clicks, CTR (Click-Through Rate), CPC (Cost-per-Click), conversions, etc.

4. Reporting

If you want to track and analyze the performance of your Google Ads and Facebook ads, then having a good reporting system is critical.

You can find all reports related to your ad campaigns at both platforms in an easy-to-understand way. Every detail pertaining to your ad campaign is clearly mentioned in these reports.

5.  Analytics

Google Ads and Facebook ads both provide you with a rich suite of analytic tools that can help in tracking and understanding how your ad campaign is performing.

With Google Ads, you get to access detailed insights regarding search queries by people who clicked on your ad, their country and city locations where they live, etc. With this data you will be able to fine-tune your campaigns going forward.

With Facebook ads, you get to access user demographics such as age and sex, interests, etc. You also get to see how each of these audiences responds to different types of ad formats and creative content. This helps in taking future decisions regarding targeting options for your ads.

Google Ads Ecommerce: What You Need to Know Now

Now let’s move on to find out what makes Google Ads stand out, and how it can benefit your ecommerce business.

When you’re running an online store, you want to make sure that people who are looking for your products or services can find you.

Since Google Ads appear when someone is actively searching for a product or service, it will help drive targeted traffic to your online store.

Here are some other reasons why Google Ads ecommerce can help grow your business.

1. Flexibility to Test Different Targeting Options

Just like you get to decide the bidding and targeting options for an ad campaign, you also get to select different types of ad formats that will be shown on Google’s search network.

With this option you have the freedom to test different types of ad formats to determine which one works best for your ecommerce business.

2. No Risk Involved

Google Ads are completely cost-per-click (CPC) based. This means that you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. So, you don’t have to pay for wasted impressions or clicks.

In case you’re wondering, a “click” is counted when someone sees your ad on Google and performs an action such as clicking on it or making a purchase from your online store after clicking on it.

So if you’re looking for an advertising option that can help you reach more people, generate more conversions and increase revenue, then Google Ads is the way to go.

3.  Stand Out from the Crowd on Google Search

Most of us start our product or service research on search engines. So, it is important that your business website shows up on the first page on a top search engine result for your desired keywords.

This can be challenging on some other advertising platforms where you have to compete with a lot of businesses. You will always find your ecommerce website on the first page of search results for relevant keywords, as Google Search is where most people start their research.

4. Integration with Google Analytics

Google Ads integrate seamlessly with Google analytics . This means that you get to access all your ad data from a single location.

With this integration, you can view things like device type used by a customer to make a purchase, how much revenue you generated from an ad campaign, etc.

5. Precise Targeting Options

Who doesn’t like to target customers based on their interests and demographics? When it comes to targeting options in Google Ads, there is nothing that can match up to it.

With Google Ads ecommerce, you get to reach out to all kinds of people who are searching for certain keywords related to your ecommerce business. This means that the potential reach for your products or services is huge with Google Ads.
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Facebook Ads for Ecommerce: Why they Work

Facebook ads are one of the most popular types of paid advertising. Facebook ads are best for businesses that want to generate leads, increase brand awareness or drive traffic to their website.

Compared to Google Ads, Facebook Ads are more suitable for soft marketing goals such as creating brand awareness and generating leads instead of gaining direct sales from an ad campaign.

Here are some reasons why Facebook Ads for ecommerce are great for your businesses.

1. Great for Lead Generation

Facebook ads are great if you’re looking to generate leads from your target market. Since Facebook offers detailed targeting options, it will allow you to reach out to people who have an interest in your products or services.

For example, when you run a Facebook ad campaign for an online store that sells baby products, you can target people who are interested in parenting, pregnant women and mothers.

This will help you get leads from your target market which can later be nurtured to gain sales.

2.   Brand Awareness

Facebook is considered to be one of the best platforms to increase brand awareness. Unlike Google Ads, Facebook ads use social context which means that people are more likely to notice your ad while scrolling through their feed.

Since Facebook has a huge user base, you can expect your ad campaign to generate some great results in terms of brand awareness.

3.  Integrate with Other Marketing Channels

Facebook ads work great in tandem with other forms of marketing campaigns. For instance, you can run a Facebook ad campaign to promote your ecommerce store’s blog posts or newsletter sign-up form to get more email subscribers for your business.

Or you can use Facebook ads to promote your products on Instagram to get more sales for your online store.

4.  Cost-effective Advertising Option

Compared to Google Ads, Facebook ads are one of the most affordable web advertising options available in the market. For instance, you can run a simple web ad campaign on Facebook for as low as $1 per day or even lower.

So it’s easier for ecommerce stores with limited marketing budgets to get started with Facebook ads since you don’t need to commit a huge sum of money before you can actually see how it works for your business.

On the other hand, if your ad campaign fails, then you won’t lose too much by dropping it.

5.  Precise Targeting Options

The targeting options in Facebook ads for ecommerce are accurate and precise compared to Google Ads. For instance, you can target people who live in a specific location or people who like a certain page on Facebook.

These types of detailed targeting options make it easier for ecommerce businesses to get more value from their ad campaigns since they can make their ads more relevant to the people who will actually see them.
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Conclusion

Whether you choose to run a Google Ads campaign or a Facebook ads campaign, it’s important to make sure that your ad campaigns are optimized for conversions.

And since Google Ads and Facebook ads differ in their goals, the tips on how to optimize them will also be different.

If you’re running an ecommerce store, you can’t go wrong with either one of these popular pay-per-click web advertising options.

But if you’re just starting out, Facebook ads are one of the best web ad platforms to use since you can start your campaign with a small budget and see how well it performs for your business.

So don’t wait too long before you get started with Facebook ads or Google Ads for that matter. The sooner you run paid advertising campaigns on these platforms, the sooner you can achieve your marketing goals.