The difference is not the platform. It is the moment.
Somebody typing "emergency plumber near me" into Google has already decided to buy. The only question left is who. Somebody scrolling Instagram has decided nothing at all, and was not thinking about plumbing until the moment your ad appeared.
Search captures demand that already exists. Social creates demand that does not. Every other difference between the two platforms is downstream of that one, including the price.
What that means for your money
- A search click is expensive because the intent behind it is finished. You are paying to be the one who answers a question somebody already asked.
- A social click is cheap because the person was not looking for you. You are paying for attention, and attention converts at a fraction of the rate.
- A cheap click that never becomes a customer is not cheap. The only number that settles this is cost per enquiry, and you cannot see it without conversion tracking.
Start with Google Ads if
- People already search for what you do by name: plumbing, HVAC, roofing, dental, legal, moving, towing.
- The need is urgent. Nobody schedules a burst pipe for next month, and nobody comparison-shops one on Instagram.
- You can answer the phone. Search leads go cold in minutes, and the business that picks up first usually wins the job regardless of who ran the better ad.
Start with Facebook and Instagram if
- Nobody searches for what you sell yet, because they do not know it exists or do not know they need it.
- The work is visual. Before and after photographs sell remodelling, landscaping and detailing in a way that a text ad cannot.
- You have an offer with a deadline, or a specific neighbourhood, age or interest to put it in front of.
Most businesses end up running both, in that order
Search first, because it pays for itself soonest and tells you in weeks whether there is demand to capture at all. Social second, once you know what your customers actually respond to, to reach the people who have not started looking.
Running both from day one is the expensive way to learn this. Two half budgets across two platforms produce two sets of numbers too small to act on, and the usual conclusion is that neither works.
What it costs to find out
Managing a search campaign starts at $250 a month here and Meta at $150. That is management. What you spend on the ads themselves is yours, goes to Google or Meta, and is separate — anyone who quotes you a single number for both is hiding which half is which.
Give it sixty to ninety days before you judge it. Less than that and you are reading noise: neither platform has enough conversions to optimise against, and you will turn off the one that was about to work.
Set this up before you spend a dollar on either
If you cannot tell which call, form or WhatsApp message came from which ad, both platforms will look like they work and neither will be accountable. Conversion tracking is not a report you read at the end. It is the thing that makes the spend a decision instead of a bet.