Google Ads or Facebook Ads: Which Should a Local Business Actually Run?
For a local service business in Canada, Google Ads intercepts demand that already exists, so it costs more per click and converts faster. Facebook Ads reaches people who were not looking, so it costs less per click and usually converts more slowly. Urgent or high-consideration services belong on Google. Visual or low-commitment offers belong on Facebook. Contractors in eligible trades should check Google Local Services Ads before either.
That rule settles most cases. The reason business owners still get it wrong is that they compare the two platforms on cost per lead, which is the one number that makes the wrong choice look correct.
Why comparing cost per lead sends you to the wrong platform
Facebook will almost always report a cheaper lead, particularly through Lead Ads, where the form is pre-filled and never leaves the app. Its audiences are enormous, and somebody tapping a pre-filled form while scrolling costs a fraction of somebody clicking a search ad for an urgent problem. On the dashboard, Facebook wins.
Then you follow up. Messages go unanswered, people ask the price and disappear, and a portion do not remember filling anything in. The cost per lead was real. The cost per booked job was not, and that is the only number that pays wages.
The mechanism is not mysterious. On Facebook, cost per lead measures how cheaply somebody will hand over their details while distracted. On Google, it measures what it costs to reach somebody who went looking for the service. Those are different transactions, and comparing their unit price tells you nothing about which produced work.
How Google Ads works: buying demand that already exists
Somebody types a problem into Google. A burst pipe, a roof leak after a storm, back pain that has stopped them sleeping. Your ad appears, they click, and you pay whether or not they book.
The person is already in the market. They are not being persuaded to want the service, they are choosing who provides it. That is why the click costs more and why the conversion rate is higher.
It suits urgent problems, work where the customer collects several quotes before deciding, and any service where somebody in trouble reaches for a search bar rather than a social feed.
How Facebook Ads works: reach, recognition, and pre-filled forms
Nobody opens Facebook or Instagram to find a contractor. They open it to be entertained. Your ad interrupts that, which is not a criticism, it is simply the mechanism.
Reach is cheap because attention is abundant and intent is absent. Facebook can still generate direct enquiries rather than only awareness, and Lead Ads in particular are built for exactly that. The catch is that removing friction from a form also removes the filter, so volume rises and average intent falls.
It suits visually obvious work, low-commitment or trial offers, seasonal promotions, and staying in front of people who already visited your website.
Where Local Services Ads fit, and why contractors should check them first
For many Canadian trades, the real choice is not Google Ads against Facebook Ads. It is Local Services Ads against both.
Local Services Ads sit above the standard search results, carry the Google Guaranteed badge once the business passes background and licence checks, and charge per lead rather than per click. For an eligible trade, that changes the arithmetic completely, because you are not paying for clicks that never become enquiries.
Two caveats. Eligibility is limited by trade and by area, so the first step is checking whether your category is supported where you operate. And the badge requires verification, which takes time and paperwork before a single lead arrives. Neither is a reason to skip it. Both are reasons to start the process before you need the leads.
Google Ads versus Facebook Ads at a glance
Which should you start with?
Start with the stage of the business, not the platform.
If you are in an eligible trade, begin the Local Services Ads verification regardless of what else you run. It takes time and it costs nothing to have in place.
If nobody in your area knows the business exists and the budget is tight, Facebook is the accessible entry point. Do not run ads from an empty page. Publish real job photographs and short explanations first so the ad lands on something that looks like a business.
If the work is high-consideration, the phone needs to ring, and there is a website that actually converts, put the majority of the budget into Google search. You are buying access to people already looking for you.
If enquiries stop the moment ads pause, neither platform is the problem. The business is renting attention rather than building an asset, and the fix is search visibility that does not switch off.
How to run both without wasting either budget
Google takes the bottom of the funnel. Your highest-margin services, your service area, tight keyword control, and negative keywords reviewed monthly so you stop paying for searches that never convert.
Facebook takes reach and re-engagement, and direct enquiries where the offer suits it. Website visitors who did not enquire, past customers due for repeat work, and content that makes the business look established rather than anonymous.
Both need conversion tracking that records what happened after the click. Without it you are optimizing towards form fills instead of revenue, and the platform will deliver more of exactly the wrong thing.
Frequently asked questions
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Neither is better in general, and the question only resolves against a specific service. If customers search when they need you, Google. If they would not think to search but would recognize the offer when they saw it, Facebook. For most local service businesses, urgent and quoted work goes to Google, and awareness and repeat work goes to Facebook.
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It depends entirely on what a click costs in your trade and your city. In low-competition services that can be a workable test budget. In competitive trades where a single click runs into double digits, 20 dollars a day buys very few clicks, which means the campaign gathers data slowly and automated bidding strategies in particular struggle to stabilize. Check the actual cost per click for your terms in your area first, then work out how many clicks per week you need to expect one job.
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Facebook is easier to launch and harder to control. Google is harder to launch and easier to control. Facebook will spend a budget and produce activity almost immediately. Google requires keyword structure, negative keywords, and conversion tracking before it behaves, and it wastes money quickly when those are missing. Easier to start is not the same as easier to profit from.
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Google Ads is worth it when three things are true. The service is something people search for, the landing page answers what the searcher asked, and somebody answers the phone promptly. If any of the three is missing, the ads will still deliver clicks and the money will still disappear, and the account will get blamed for a problem that sits elsewhere.
What happens next
If you are unsure which platform your budget belongs in, the sequence is straightforward.
We check whether your services are being searched in your area, at what cost per click, and whether Local Services Ads are available to your trade.
We review where current enquiries come from and what happens to them after they arrive.
We identify which platform fits the stage the business is at, and what the other one should be doing instead.
You receive the recommendation in writing, with the budget split and the reasoning, and you decide whether to proceed.
Contact us to review your advertising before you increase the budget.
