If people already search for what you sell, start with Google. If they do not know they need you yet, start with Meta. Most local service businesses should begin with Google, because someone typing emergency plumber is minutes from booking, while someone scrolling Instagram is not thinking about you at all. The exception is anything visual or impulse led, where Meta earns its place first.
Google and Meta do two different jobs. Google catches demand that already exists. Meta creates demand that does not. Pick the one that matches how your customers actually decide, and you get results faster on a smaller budget.
Start with Google when people search for what you do
Google Ads put you in front of someone at the exact moment they type what they need. That intent is worth a lot. A person searching for a roof leak repair has a problem right now and is comparing a short list of options, one of which could be you.
For most local services, plumbing, electrical, legal, dental, this is the shortest path to a booked job. You are not convincing anyone they have a problem. You are making sure you are the business they find when they go looking.
Start with Meta when nobody is searching yet
Some things people do not search for, either because they do not know the option exists or because it is an impulse rather than a need. A new product, a limited offer, a service people did not realise they wanted. Meta is built for that.
Meta is also where visual sells. If seeing the work is what makes someone want it, a before and after, a finished room, a product in use, then the feed does something a search result cannot. Cosmetic, home styling, hospitality and retail often do better starting here.
Why not both at once?
On a large budget, both. On a small one, pick the stronger channel first and give it enough budget to work. Split a small budget across two channels and neither gathers enough data to get good, so both stay average.
Get one channel producing leads at a cost that makes sense, then add the second with its own budget and its own job. Meta is often the natural second step, showing ads again to the people who visited your site from Google but did not call.
How to know it is working
Ignore clicks and impressions. The number that decides the winner is your cost per booked job. A channel with fewer, cheaper leads that turn into work beats a channel with a flood of cheap clicks that never call.
Give either channel a few weeks and enough budget to gather real data before you judge it. Switching too early, before the platform has learned who to show your ads to, is the most common way to waste money on both.
Whichever you start with, size the budget from what a customer is worth, not a round number. Our calculator on the pricing page will give you a figure in about a minute.
