Facebook ads are generally cheaper than Google ads, but have a narrower reach. Google ads, on the other hand, are more expensive but can target a larger pool of potential customers. Organic growth and word-of-mouth alone can be enough to grow your idea into a small business, but paid advertising is crucial to scaling your business over time. The good news is that there is no shortage of online advertising platforms for ecommerce businesses to choose from. However, choosing an advertising platform will likely come down to choosing between the two industry leaders: Google Ads and Facebook Ads—which one is best for your business goals?

This article will help you answer this question by outlining the pros and cons of both advertising platforms.

Google Ads vs. Facebook Ads: Similarities and Differences

Which online advertising platform is better for your business? While both platforms offer similar benefits, there are differences to consider when deciding how to allocate your advertising budget. Here’s a comparison of Google Ads and Facebook Ads:

Reach

• Similarities: Google and Facebook are dominant in their respective fields (Google is a search engine, Facebook is social media).
• Difference: Google’s reach is unparalleled—it’s the world’s most visited website . Facebook has 3 billion monthly active users, while Google has over 3 billion searches per day.

Targeting options

• Similarities: Both Google Ads and Facebook Ads offer demographic targeting.
• Difference: Google uses keywords to find your advertising audience, while Facebook uses user data to pinpoint your business's ideal customers.

Ad formats

• Similarities: Both advertising platforms offer a variety of ad formats.
• Differences: The most popular ads on Google Ads are Google Search Ads, which are text-only. Google Display Ads include images, but offer less creative options. Facebook Ads, on the other hand, offer more flexibility. They typically include more visually rich formats, such as images, videos, and carousels.

What is Google Ads?

Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords) is targeted pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, meaning you only pay when someone clicks on your ads. These ads appear on Google search results, the Google Display Network—a group of over 2 million websites—and on Google properties like Gmail and YouTube.

How does Google Ads work?

Google Ads offers a variety of ad types, the most notable of which are paid search ads, which are text-only ads that appear on search engine results pages (SERPs) based on their relevance to the search query and the amount the advertiser pays for that keyword. Other popular ad formats include Google Display Ads, which are image-based banner ads, and Google Shopping Ads, which feature specific products in Google search results.

Google ads are targeted, meaning advertisers can use specific keywords and phrases to target audiences based on search intent, as well as demographic information such as age, gender, location, family status, and household income.

Advantages of Google Ads

Google Ads offers a variety of targeting options and ad formats, each with their own unique advantages, but two of the biggest strengths are:

Extensive reach

Whatever your target audience, you can reach them with Google Ads. Google processes over 40,000 search queries every second, accounting for 92% of all search network activity and showing search ads at the top of search results. Google Display Ads also run on the Google Display Network, reaching over 90% of Internet users worldwide, increasing the chances of turning casual web surfers into potential customers.

Attracting a high purchase intent audience

Google Ads connects you with people who search for keywords related to your business. As a result, people who click on your Google search ads are often more likely to learn more or buy something (this is called “high purchase intent”). For example, let’s say winter is coming and your child is feeling a little out of place in last year’s down coat. You can search for “winter coats for kids” and click through to your Google Ads to buy it right away.

3 Successful Google Ads Campaigns

Google Ads offers ecommerce businesses a variety of ways to reach their target audience. Here are three examples of advertisers who ran successful Google Ads campaigns using multiple ad types, different landing pages, and competitive keywords and search terms:

Verve Coffee Roasters

Verve Coffee Roasters , a Northern California-based coffee chain, leverages its Google search ad copy and landing pages to provide compelling click-through options for its target audience. Verve’s ads appear at the top of relevant search results pages (SERPs), with four different links leading to different landing pages: “ Save 15% on 5 lb Bags ” highlights the sale, “ Best Selling Subscription ” promotes its signature products, and an interactive quiz suggests “ Find Your Coffee Match .” This multifaceted approach drives different types of potential customers to the parts of the Verve site that interest them most.

Cocofloss

Cocofloss , a flavored floss brand, runs a Google Ads campaign that utilizes multiple ad types. When you search for “Cocofloss,” the company’s Google Search ads appear at the top of the search results page. When you type in related keywords like “tasty floss” and “strawberry floss,” the company’s Google Shopping ads appear prominently.

Nectar Sleep

Mattress company Nectar Sleep ran an ad campaign that used the catchy phrase “Don’t Buy that Other Mattress” to rank Nectar Sleep’s website higher in Google search results than its competitor Tuft and Needle. By bidding on the competitor’s name as a search term, shoppers interested in mattress retailer Tuft & Needle are more likely to consider Nectar’s products.

What are Facebook Ads?

Facebook Ads are targeted social ads that appear across Meta’s multiple platforms, namely Facebook and Instagram. These Facebook Ads can include images, carousels (a series of slideable images), and videos, and appear in the main feed, stories, or reels on Facebook and Instagram.

How do Facebook Ads work?

Facebook ads appear in social media feeds when users browse meta apps (like Facebook and Instagram). These ads look like regular posts, but when an advertiser pays to appear in the feed, the word “Sponsored” appears under the profile name. Facebook ads offer advanced targeting options, allowing advertisers to find audiences based on demographic information—age, gender, location, family status, and household income—as well as user interests and behaviors, such as friends, pages they interact with, and ads they click on.

Facebook Ads offers two types of campaigns: pay-per-click (PPC) and pay-per-impression (PPM). PPM campaigns charge per 1,000 impressions.

Advantages of Facebook Ads

With nearly 3 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most trafficked social media platform. This gives Facebook Ads a huge audience and gives them a competitive advantage over Google Ads in two key areas:

Advanced targeting options

Facebook allows advertisers to reach their target audience with a level of precision that other advertising platforms don’t. Facebook’s advanced targeting options allow you to target prospects based on basic demographic information like gender, age, location, family status, political affiliation, and income, as well as life events like new jobs or pets, interests, people they follow, and purchasing profiles.

Brand building with memorable ads

The ability to create unique and visually appealing ads is where Facebook Ads excels over Google Ads. Facebook is a platform designed with attention-grabbing multimedia post sharing and mobile optimization in mind, giving users a wide range of creative opportunities. Businesses can create memorable ads using a variety of images and videos, and build their brand on the social media where their customers are most active.

3 Examples of Successful Facebook Ads Campaigns

Here are three examples of how ecommerce businesses successfully reached their potential customers using compelling visuals in Facebook Ads:

Rothy's

Rothy's is an eco-friendly shoe brand with over 300K followers on both Instagram and Facebook. In their video ad, they blur the product with a blur filter to announce a new product launch. This eye-catching post builds anticipation and drives potential customers back to the Rothy's site to wait for the product release.

Kirrin Finch

Kirrin Finch is a brand that creates menswear-style clothing designed for women and non-binary bodies. Kirrin Finch often shares photos of their customers wearing Kirrin Finch clothing to their weddings. These customer features create a connection between the brand and its audience , and show how much of an impact Kirrin Finch has on their customers’ important personal days. They also provide positive feedback to potential customers.

Cadette

Cadette is an artisan brand that focuses on handmade jewelry. They ran an ad on Instagram that showed the process of making one of their best-selling pieces. Showing the care that goes into each necklace helps the brand’s audience perceive the value of the product even more highly.

When should you use Google Ads and Facebook Ads?

When choosing between Facebook Ads and Google Ads, you should consider your audience, industry, and business goals. Google Ads are generally better suited to driving sales, while Facebook Ads are more effective at building brand awareness and connecting with customers.

For example, if you sell a practical product, such as an electric heater, you may want to prioritize selling to new customers rather than building loyal customers. In this case, Google Ads is a good choice.

Conversely, if you run a trendy fashion company and value the cool image of your brand, you may want to invest more in strengthening your brand and connecting with your audience to convince them of the value of your product. In this case, Facebook Ads may be a better option. This type of advertising may not bring immediate conversions, but it can build a loyal customer base over time.

Google Ads and Facebook Ads FAQs