Google Ads vs Facebook Ads: Which Is Better for a UK Service Business?

If you're running a service business and want more customers, you've probably considered paying for advertising.

But where should you put your money?

Google? Facebook? Instagram?

It's an important decision, particularly when you've got a limited budget and need your advertising to generate actual business rather than just clicks.

The answer depends on what you sell, how people decide to buy it and whether they're already looking for your service.

As a general rule, Google Search advertising is particularly useful when people are actively looking for a service. Facebook and Instagram advertising can be useful when people might be interested in your service but haven't started searching for it yet.

Neither approach guarantees results, and some businesses can benefit from both.

Let's look at how they work and when each makes sense.

What's the difference between Google Ads and Facebook Ads?

The biggest difference is what people are doing when they encounter your advert.

Google Ads: Reaching people who are searching

Imagine someone's boiler stops working in the middle of winter.

They need an engineer.

They're probably not going to sit on Facebook waiting for an advert to appear.

They're more likely to open Google and search for something like:

"Boiler repair near me"

A local heating company advertising through Google Search might appear among those results.

That's the main attraction of Google Search advertising.

You can reach potential customers when they're actively looking for something you offer.

Google Ads includes other advertising formats, such as YouTube and display advertising, but for this comparison we're mainly talking about adverts that appear alongside Google search results.

Facebook and Instagram: Reaching people before they search

Now imagine someone who's been thinking about extending their kitchen.

They haven't contacted a builder yet.

Perhaps they're not sure what they can afford, or they've simply been putting it off.

While scrolling through Facebook or Instagram, they see an advert from a local building company.

It shows a beautiful kitchen extension the company has recently completed, explains the type of projects it takes on and offers a consultation.

That advert might encourage them to take the next step.

They weren't necessarily searching for a builder at that moment.

The advertising introduced a relevant service and gave them a reason to consider it.

That's one of the opportunities with Facebook and Instagram advertising, which are both owned by Meta.

Google Ads vs Facebook Ads: At a glance

Neither channel has a universal advantage on cost, enquiry quality or customer conversion.

Those depend on the business and the campaign.

When Google Ads might be the better choice

There are situations where I'd look at Google Search advertising first.

1. Customers need your service urgently

Emergency plumbers, locksmiths and breakdown services are obvious examples.

When someone has a problem that needs fixing immediately, they're likely to search for a solution.

A well-targeted Google advert can put your business in front of them at that moment.

Facebook and Instagram might still help with brand awareness or planned work, but relying on somebody to notice an advert during an emergency wouldn't be my preferred approach.

2. People already know exactly what they're looking for

Imagine you run a specialist commercial cleaning company.

Potential customers may be searching for:

• Office cleaning companies in Maidstone

• Commercial cleaners in Kent

• Contract cleaning services near me

Those searches suggest someone is actively researching a relevant service.

Google Search advertising gives you a way to reach those people directly.

Of course, appearing in search results doesn't automatically mean they'll choose your business.

Your advert, website, offer and ability to respond still matter.

3. There's enough suitable search demand in your area

Google Search advertising needs people to search for relevant things.

If your business serves a small geographic area or offers an unfamiliar service, there may not be enough suitable searches to generate a consistent flow of opportunities.

But if people regularly search for your service locally, Google could be worth investigating.

The important thing is to assess the actual opportunity rather than assume search advertising will work simply because other businesses use it.

When Facebook and Instagram Ads might be the better choice

Facebook and Instagram become particularly interesting when the customer journey is less immediate.

1. Your work is visually appealing

Think kitchen installations, garden landscaping, bathroom renovations or bridal boutiques.

These businesses have something valuable to show.

A completed project can demonstrate the quality of the work, help somebody imagine the result for themselves and give them a reason to enquire.

For example, a garden landscaping company might use photographs of a recent transformation to attract homeowners considering improvements.

The advert can do more than tell people the service exists.

It can help them picture what they want.

2. Customers don't always know they need your service yet

Some purchases start with a problem.

Others start with an idea.

Someone might have been thinking about a home renovation for months without searching for contractors.

Or a business owner might recognise an opportunity to improve a process only after seeing a relevant example.

Facebook and Instagram advertising can introduce that idea and encourage someone to investigate further.

The challenge is making the advert relevant enough to attract genuine potential customers rather than casual interest.

3. You want to promote a specific offer or service

Perhaps you're a specialist bathroom installer looking for more complete bathroom projects rather than small repair jobs.

An advert could showcase the type of installations you take on, the areas you cover and what the first consultation involves.

That gives you an opportunity to explain your offer before someone gets in touch.

Being specific can also help discourage unsuitable enquiries.

Of course, a good offer doesn't mean offering discounts.

Sometimes it's simply explaining clearly what you do, who it's for and why somebody should choose you.

What about businesses that could use either platform?

Quite a few service businesses fall into this category.

Take a kitchen installation company.

Some potential customers are already searching Google for local kitchen fitters.

Others are browsing Instagram, saving renovation ideas and gradually thinking about their own project.

Both groups could contain valuable future customers.

A wedding venue is another example.

Couples might search Google for "wedding venues in Kent" while also discovering venues through Facebook and Instagram adverts.

In those situations, the question isn't necessarily which platform is better overall.

It's which opportunity makes more sense for the business right now.

If the budget supports it, testing both may eventually be worthwhile.

But if you're starting with a limited budget, splitting it between two platforms can make it harder to generate enough useful information to judge either campaign.

I'd generally prefer to identify the strongest initial opportunity, test it properly and expand when the evidence justifies it.

Is Google Ads cheaper than Facebook Ads?

Not necessarily.

You'll find articles claiming that one platform is cheaper than the other.

But a lower cost per click doesn't automatically mean cheaper customers.

Imagine two hypothetical campaigns, each with £600 of advertising spend.

These are made-up examples to explain the calculation, not performance benchmarks or forecasts.

Facebook generated more than twice as many enquiries at a much lower cost per enquiry.

But Google won more customers for the same advertising spend.

In this particular example, Google delivered the lower advertising cost per customer.

A different business or campaign might produce the opposite result.

And this comparison still doesn't include agency fees, the value of the customers or the profit from the work.

The cheapest lead isn't necessarily the most profitable customer.

That's why I'd be cautious about choosing an advertising platform based on average cost-per-click figures alone.

The question I'd ask before choosing either platform

Before recommending Facebook, Instagram or Google advertising, I'd want to understand how customers actually find and choose your business.

Consider these five questions.

1. Are customers already searching for your service?

If someone has an urgent or clearly defined need, search advertising may be a sensible starting point.

If people need inspiration or prompting before they consider buying, Facebook and Instagram could have an advantage.

2. What makes someone choose your business?

Do customers primarily choose based on location and availability?

Or do they need to see examples of your work, understand your approach or develop confidence before enquiring?

Different advertising formats can help with different decisions.

3. How much is a new customer worth?

Imagine two businesses.

One makes £80 in gross profit from a typical new customer.

The other makes £2,000.

They can afford very different customer-acquisition costs.

That doesn't mean the second business should spend carelessly.

But it does mean you can't judge advertising costs without understanding the value of the work being won.

4. How long does it take someone to become a customer?

Someone needing an emergency repair might make a decision within an hour.

Someone planning a large extension might spend months researching their options.

The time between enquiry and purchase affects how quickly you can judge results.

It also affects the type of advertising message and follow-up process that might be appropriate.

5. What happens when an enquiry arrives?

This matters whichever platform you choose.

Who receives the enquiry?

How quickly can they respond?

How do you know whether the person is suitable?

And do you record whether they become a paying customer?

There's little value in arguing about advertising platforms if the business can't reliably handle the opportunities either one generates.

Can Google and Facebook advertising work together?

Yes, and there are situations where the combination makes sense.

Imagine somebody sees a Facebook advert for a local renovation company.

They're interested, but not ready to enquire.

A few days later, they search Google for the company's name, look at its reviews and visit its website.

Eventually, they request a quotation.

In that situation, Facebook may have helped introduce the company, while Google helped the customer find it again.

It's also possible for someone to discover the company through Google first and encounter a relevant advert on Facebook later.

Customer journeys aren't always straightforward.

That's one reason platform reports need interpreting carefully.

Both platforms may claim some credit for a conversion depending on their measurement settings and how the customer interacted with the adverts.

You shouldn't simply add every reported conversion together and assume each represents a separate customer.

Whenever possible, compare the advertising data with your own records of genuine enquiries, bookings and customers.

What about the people who enquire but don't become customers?

This is where I think businesses can learn the most.

Perhaps your Facebook campaign generates 25 enquiries, but only five are suitable.

Or your Google campaign produces ten telephone calls, but half are about services you don't provide.

Knowing the number of enquiries is a starting point.

Understanding why they do or don't become customers is much more valuable.

For either platform, I'd want to track:

• How much advertising money was actually spent.

• How many genuine enquiries arrived.

• How many enquiries were suitable.

• How many progressed to appointments or quotations.

• How many became customers.

• Whether the profit from those customers justified the investment.

Both Google and Meta offer ways to measure later customer outcomes where suitable tracking and data integrations are available.

But even a basic spreadsheet can help you understand what's going on.

Without that information, it becomes far too easy to keep spending money because a campaign looks impressive on a dashboard.

A lesson from my own business

Before starting The Enquiry Works, I built a subscription business called Pit Pro.

Over the years, I experimented with different ways of acquiring customers, including Google and Facebook advertising.

During Pit Pro's early years, I hired an agency to manage a Google pay-per-click campaign.

The customer-acquisition cost exceeded £50, which didn't make commercial sense for that business at the time.

I stopped the campaign.

With Meta advertising, continued testing and better measurement eventually helped me achieve a customer-acquisition cost of approximately £12 for a sustained period.

That isn't evidence that Facebook advertising is universally better than Google.

The campaigns ran in different circumstances, the business evolved over time, and Pit Pro sells a physical product rather than a service.

But it taught me something important.

A channel can generate traffic and still be the wrong financial decision for the business paying for it.

I learned to focus less on which advertising platform looked impressive and more on what it cost to acquire a customer compared with what that customer was worth.

That's the thinking I brought into The Enquiry Works.

You can read more about my experience with Pit Pro here.

Which platform would I choose for different UK service businesses?

Here's how I'd approach a few examples.

These are starting hypotheses, not rules.

A landscaping company with strong Google demand might do brilliantly with Search advertising.

A specialist commercial cleaning business with a strong offer might find valuable opportunities through Facebook.

You need to investigate the market, not simply copy what somebody else is doing.

So, which is better: Google Ads or Facebook Ads?

If your customers are actively looking for a specific service, I'd usually investigate Google Search first.

If you offer something that benefits from visual examples, customer inspiration or introducing people to an opportunity, Facebook and Instagram may be particularly interesting.

If both opportunities exist, the best decision depends on your budget, customer value, capacity and ability to measure results.

And sometimes the right answer is to advertise on neither until the business is better prepared.

The important thing is to choose the channel that has the strongest realistic opportunity to attract profitable customers.

Not the one with the cheapest clicks.

How The Enquiry Works can help

At The Enquiry Works, we specialise in creating and managing paid Facebook and Instagram advertising for established UK service businesses.

We focus on helping businesses attract suitable enquiries and understand which ones turn into actual paying customers.

We don't provide Google Ads management as part of our standard service.

If we look at your business and believe Google Search would be a more sensible starting point than Meta advertising, we'll tell you.

I'd much rather recommend the right next step than take somebody's money for an advertising campaign that doesn't make commercial sense.

If you're considering Facebook or Instagram advertising, we can assess your business, the customers you're trying to reach and whether the numbers appear realistic.

Find out if we're a good fit

Free initial assessment. No obligation.

Related reading: How Much Should a UK Service Business Spend on Meta Advertising?

Written by Liam Carlton, founder of The Enquiry Works. Business scenarios and numerical comparisons are illustrative and are not forecasts or guarantees of advertising performance.