Google Ads or Facebook ads
The difference is not price but intent. When each platform works, when it does not, and how to decide which channel to start with.
The question is usually framed as a choice between two equivalent tools at different prices. It is not. The two platforms do different things and fail for different reasons.
On Google you capture search. On Meta you interrupt attention. Everything else follows from that difference.
When Google Ads fits better
When people already know they have a need and articulate it. Someone typing "boiler repair Sofia" has a problem now and is looking for who solves it. You do not need to persuade them — you only need to be found.
- Urgent services — repairs, emergencies, medical care.
- Services with a clear name that people type themselves.
- Products people compare before buying.
- B2B services with a specific search query behind them.
When Meta ads fit better
When nobody is searching for what you sell — because they do not know it exists, or it does not occur to them to want it. A product that has to be seen to be wanted cannot be found through search.
- Visual products — fashion, interiors, food, jewellery.
- New products with no established search query yet.
- Impulse purchases at an accessible price point.
- Remarketing to people who already visited your site.
When neither will work
Both platforms bring a person to a page. From there the page decides. If it loads slowly on a phone, does not answer the question behind the query or offers no clear action, you are paying for visits that leave — whichever platform you are on.
The same goes for tracking. Without correct conversion measurement, the algorithm on either platform optimises toward the wrong goal. That is the most common reason campaigns spend without result and the owner concludes that "advertising does not work".
Which to start with
If people are already searching for what you do, start with Google. The intent is there and the path to an enquiry is shortest. Check whether that is the case: type the queries you think your customers use and see whether competitors are already advertising on them. If they are, the demand exists and somebody is profiting from it.
If the demand does not exist, Google has nothing to capture and Meta is the logical starting point. And if the budget allows both, the combination that most often works is Google for intent-driven search and Meta for remarketing to the people who did not convert first time.