Meta Ads, across Facebook and Instagram, reaches people while they scroll, so it creates demand among people who were not yet looking. If buyers already search for what you sell, start with Google. If your product has to be seen before anyone thinks to search for it, Meta is the stronger first channel.
Read from Google's Keyword Planner on 31 October 2026, the high end of the UK top-of-page bid range ran from £0.68 to £74.20 across 62 common commercial searches. These are Google's bid estimates, not billed costs. UK Google Ads costs, 2026.
Google Ads and Meta Ads compared
| Google Ads (Search) | Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who you reach | People typing a search for what you sell | People chosen by interest, behaviour or resemblance to your customers |
| What it is best at | Capturing demand that already exists | Creating demand, and bringing back past visitors |
| How you usually pay | Per click on Search | Usually by impressions, even when the goal is clicks or sales |
| What decides results | The search, the bid and how relevant the ad and page are | Above all the creative: the image, the video, the first line |
| How sales are tracked | Google tag, enhanced conversions, offline conversion import | Meta Pixel with the Conversions API |
When Google Ads is the better first channel
- People already search for your product or service by name or by problem: a solicitor, a boiler repair, a specific part.
- A buyer decides quickly once they find a credible supplier.
- You can say in a line of text why someone should pick you.
When Meta Ads is the better first channel
- The product sells on how it looks or what it does, and a picture or a short video shows that faster than words.
- Few people search for it yet, because it is new or because buyers do not know the category exists.
- You can define who buys from you well enough for Meta to find more people like them.
When to run both, and how to judge them
The two work in sequence more often than in competition. Meta puts a product in front of someone who was not looking; some of those people later search for it by name, and Google Ads catches the search. Cutting either one on the evidence of its own report can starve the other.
Judge them on your own sales data, not on the platforms' reports added together. Each platform counts the conversions it can see, and both can claim the same sale. Which channel caused a sale is always an inference; the only firm number is what came through the till or the CRM.