Facebook Ads vs Google Ads: Where to Put Your Budget in 2025

The Real Question Nobody Answers Honestly

Every week someone asks me: “Kevin, should I run Facebook Ads or Google Ads?” And every week I give the same annoying answer: it depends. But unlike most consultants who leave it there, I'm going to tell you exactly what it depends on — and give you a framework you can actually use to decide where your money goes.

I've managed ad spend across both platforms for over a decade. Plumbers, dentists, e-commerce brands, SaaS companies, law firms. I've seen $500/month budgets and $50,000/month budgets. Here's what I've learned from spending other people's money (and my own).

Short on Time? Here's My Quick Take

If people are actively searching for what you sell — Google Ads. A roofer, an emergency plumber, a divorce attorney — these are “I need this right now” businesses. Google captures demand that already exists.

If you need to create awareness or your product is visual/impulse-driven — Facebook Ads. A new clothing brand, a meal delivery service, an online course — these work when you interrupt someone's scroll with something compelling.

If you have the budget — run both, but weight your spend based on the above. Most businesses under $3,000/month in ad spend should pick one and do it well before splitting focus.

What Google Ads Actually Does Well

Google Ads captures intent. Someone types “emergency dentist near me” at 10 PM on a Tuesday — that's a person ready to spend money. You can't replicate that kind of buyer intent on any other platform.

Here's my actual workflow when setting up Google Ads for a new client:

1. Keyword research first. I pull search volumes for their core services using Google's Keyword Planner (free) and cross-reference with what's actually converting in their industry. I'm not guessing — I'm looking at what competitors are bidding on and what the cost-per-click landscape looks like.
2. Campaign structure by service/intent. For a personal injury law firm with two locations, I'm building separate campaigns for “car accident lawyer [city],” “slip and fall attorney [city],” and branded terms. Each campaign gets its own budget and bid strategy.
3. Landing pages that match the search. This is where most people waste money. They send “roof repair” clicks to their homepage. I build dedicated landing pages for each service with a clear call to action. If you're running ads without proper landing pages, you're lighting money on fire.
4. Negative keywords from day one. I add “free,” “DIY,” “how to,” “salary,” and industry-specific junk terms before the first click happens. Then I review the search terms report weekly for the first month.

Where Google Ads falls short: It's expensive in competitive verticals. I have a client in the personal injury space paying $150+ per click in Chicago. For a local bakery? Clicks might be $1-3. The cost varies wildly by industry, and if you don't know what you're doing, you'll burn through budget fast with nothing to show for it.

Google Ads also requires ongoing management. This isn't a set-it-and-forget-it platform. If you're not checking search terms, adjusting bids, and testing ad copy at least weekly, you're overpaying.

What Facebook Ads Actually Does Well

Facebook (and Instagram — same ad platform through Meta) excels at demand generation. Nobody opens Instagram thinking “I need to buy running shoes today.” But show someone a compelling video ad with a limited-time offer? Now they do.

The targeting is still powerful despite the iOS 14 privacy changes that shook things up a few years ago. It's different now — you rely more on Meta's algorithm and broad targeting than you did in 2019 — but it works. Sometimes better than the old hyper-specific targeting, honestly.

My workflow for Facebook Ads looks like this:

1. Creative first, always. On Facebook, your ad creative is your targeting. I'm not exaggerating. Meta's algorithm has gotten scary good at finding the right people IF you give it good creative to work with. I test 3-5 different ad variations (mix of video and static images) from day one.
2. Advantage+ campaigns for e-commerce. For online stores, I now default to Advantage+ Shopping campaigns. You give Meta your product catalog, set a budget, and let the algorithm do the heavy lifting. I was skeptical when these rolled out, but they consistently outperform my manually structured campaigns for e-commerce clients.
3. Retargeting is where the magic happens. Someone visits your website, watches 50% of your video ad, or engages with your Instagram profile — they go into a retargeting audience. These warm audiences convert at 3-5x the rate of cold traffic in my experience.
4. Landing pages matter here too. Same principle as Google. If you're sending paid traffic to a generic page, you're wasting money. If you don't even have a website yet, check out my guide on how to start a blog 101: 8 tested steps to success — it covers the fundamentals of getting your online presence set up before you spend a dime on ads.

Where Facebook Ads falls short: Lead quality can be hit or miss, especially with lead form ads. I've had contractors get 50 leads from Facebook at $10 each, only to find that 40 of them don't answer the phone or weren't serious. Compare that to 10 Google Ads leads at $50 each where 7 turn into actual estimates. The math on cost-per-lead doesn't tell the whole story — you need to track cost-per-acquisition.

Facebook also requires strong creative assets. If you don't have decent photos or video, your campaigns will underperform. Google Ads can work with just text.

Who Should Use Which: Specific Recommendations

Google Ads Is Your Move If You Are:

• A local service business (plumber, electrician, HVAC, roofer) — people search when they have a problem. Google Local Services Ads are especially worth looking at — you pay per lead, not per click.
• A law firm with 1-3 locations — high-intent searches like “DUI lawyer near me” are gold. Yes, clicks are expensive, but one case can be worth $5,000-$50,000+.
• A dentist or medical practice — “dentist accepting new patients [city]” is pure intent. Pair this with strong E-E-A-T signals on your website and you'll dominate both paid and organic results.
• Any business where people search for what you offer — if there's meaningful search volume for your services, Google Ads should be in the mix.

Facebook Ads Is Your Move If You Are:

• An e-commerce brand — especially if your products are visual, priced under $100, and impulse-friendly. D2C brands selling skincare, apparel, home goods — this is your primary channel.
• A course creator or coach — webinar funnels and lead magnets promoted through Facebook/Instagram Ads still work extremely well. You're building an audience, not capturing existing demand.
• A restaurant or event venue — visual content performs well, and local targeting with engagement-based campaigns can fill seats.
• A real estate agent — listing ads on Facebook with neighborhood targeting generate consistent buyer and seller leads. Not always the highest quality, but volume matters in real estate.

Run Both If You Are:

• An e-commerce brand doing $500K+/year — use Google Shopping and Search for high-intent product queries, and Facebook/Instagram for prospecting and retargeting.
• A SaaS company — Google captures people searching for solutions to their problem. Facebook builds brand awareness and retargets trial users who haven't converted.
• Any business spending $5,000+/month on ads — at this budget level, you have enough to test and optimize on both platforms without spreading too thin.

The Budget Reality Check

Here's what nobody tells you: both platforms have minimum effective budgets, and they're higher than you think.

Google Ads: In most local service industries, you need at least $1,000-$1,500/month in ad spend (not counting management fees) to get enough data to optimize. Below that, you're making decisions on too few clicks.

Facebook Ads: Meta's algorithm needs about 50 conversions per week per ad set to fully optimize. At a $20 cost per conversion, that's $1,000/week per ad set. You can get results with less — I've run successful campaigns at $500/month — but optimization takes longer, and you can't test as aggressively.

If you're working with a tight budget under $1,000/month, honestly consider whether paid ads are the right move at all right now. You might get better ROI from investing in organic search through SEO and content. I've outlined some foundational strategies in my post on the top 3 SEO tips and tricks you need to know — those principles still hold up and cost nothing but your time.

Free and Low-Cost Alternatives Worth Mentioning

Google Business Profile (free): Before you spend a dollar on Google Ads, make sure your Google Business Profile is fully optimized with photos, reviews, and accurate service areas. For local businesses, this is the highest-ROI marketing activity that exists.

Organic social media (free): Not a replacement for Facebook Ads, but consistent posting on Instagram and Facebook — especially Reels and Stories — builds the warm audience that makes your paid campaigns cheaper when you do run them.

Meta's native analytics (free): Don't pay for a third-party reporting tool until you're spending $5K+/month. Meta Ads Manager and Google Ads reporting give you everything you need at lower spend levels.

What I Actually Use With Clients

For most of my clients — predominantly local service businesses and small e-commerce brands in the Chicago area and beyond — I start with Google Ads. The intent-based traffic converts more reliably, the tracking is more straightforward, and clients can see a direct line from ad spend to phone calls or form submissions.

Once Google Ads is profitable and we've maxed out the high-intent search volume, I layer in Facebook Ads for retargeting first, then prospecting. This staged approach lets us prove ROI on one platform before adding complexity.

The only exception is e-commerce brands with strong visual products and no search demand — new or novel products that people don't know to search for yet. In those cases, we start with Facebook/Instagram and build search demand over time.

The Bottom Line

Stop thinking about Facebook Ads vs Google Ads as an either/or decision. Think about it as a sequencing decision: which one do you start with, and when do you add the other?

Match the platform to your buyer's behavior. If they search for what you sell, start with Google. If they need to discover you, start with Facebook. Get one channel profitable before adding the next. And whatever you do, track actual revenue — not just clicks, not just leads, but money in your bank account — to decide what's working.

That's not a sexy answer, but it's the honest one.