Google Ads vs Facebook Ads for a Local Service Business
You've set money aside for ads, and you're stuck on Google Ads vs Facebook ads. For a service business, I'd start with Google Ads. The person typing "managed IT services Fort Lauderdale" or "DUI lawyer near me" already wants help, so your ad only has to be the one they pick.
Facebook leads cost less in the published benchmarks: a median of $27.66 each, against a $66.69 average on search. They also come from people who weren't looking, which is why I add Meta after search is booking calls, not before.
Below you'll find what each one costs, which to run first, when to run both and a decision table you can use today.
- Google Ads reaches people already searching for your service. Facebook ads reach people who weren't looking.
- Search ads average $5.42 a click and $66.69 a lead across industries in LocaliQ's 2026 benchmarks.
- Facebook lead campaigns show a median of $27.66 a lead in WordStream's 2025 benchmarks.
- If your customers search before they buy, start on Google and add Meta once search books calls.
- Count booked calls in your CRM, not conversions inside each ad platform.
What's the difference between Google Ads and Facebook ads?
Google Ads is intent. Facebook ads are interruption. That one line decides most of what follows.
On Google, you bid on what people type. The person is already shopping, and your ad shows up while they're choosing.
Facebook and Instagram work the other way. You pick an audience (location, age, interests or a lookalike of your customers), and your ad lands in a feed between a cousin's vacation photos and a reel about a dog. That person wasn't thinking about you, so the ad has to create the want before it can answer it.
How do Google Ads vs Facebook ads costs compare?
In the published benchmarks, Facebook is cheaper per click and per lead. LocaliQ's 2026 search advertising benchmarks put the average search ad at $5.42 a click and $66.69 a lead across industries. WordStream's 2025 Facebook ads benchmarks show a median of $1.92 a click and $27.66 a lead for lead campaigns.
Search figures are LocaliQ 2026 averages; Facebook figures are WordStream 2025 medians for lead campaigns. Different reports and different measures, so read the gap as a direction.
Source: LocaliQ 2026 search benchmarks; WordStream 2025 Facebook ads benchmarks
Cost per click shows the same pattern: $5.42 on search against a $1.92 Facebook median.
Legal shows the same gap. LocaliQ puts Attorneys & Legal Services at $9.87 a click and $131.63 a lead on search, and WordStream puts legal at $18.17 a lead on Facebook.
A lead isn't a client, though. Someone who filled out a form while scrolling at 11 p.m. is a different person from someone who typed your service and called.
At Premium Digital, the paid campaigns I worked on produced 1,000+ leads at an $8.50 average cost per lead from 2019 to 2023. What that taught me is that a cheap lead and a booked job aren't the same thing. You only see which channel produced the job when your CRM logs every touch, not just the last click.
A free 15-minute call with Blake by phone or Zoom about your goals and whether we're a fit. No pitch deck, and nothing to fill out before the calendar.
Which should a service business run first?
Run Google first if your customers search before they buy: law firms, IT and cybersecurity companies, contractors, medical and dental practices, anything local with a phone number. Start with search campaigns on your core services and your city. Get call tracking in place before you spend a dollar.
There are two exceptions. The first is a service nobody searches for yet, like a new category or an offer that only makes sense once someone sees it. Those start on Meta, because there's no search volume to capture.
The second is budget. With $500 a month in a legal category where the average click is close to $10, search buys you about 50 clicks. That's thin. Meta at that budget reaches more people and you'll learn something, but don't expect signed cases.
When should you run both?
Add Meta once Google is producing booked calls at a cost you can live with. Give it two jobs: retargeting people who visited your site and didn't call, and reaching people who look like your customers but haven't searched yet.
In my accounts, Meta works for a service business when the offer is specific and the ad shows a real person. Think of a lawyer on camera answering one question clients ask, or an IT company's own tech instead of a stock server room.
In the work we do for IT and managed services companies, here's how the two fit together. Search catches the business owner whose server went down this morning. Meta is where that owner may have seen a familiar face before that day came. I go deeper on this in where MSP leads come from.
Order matters. If you start on Meta, you pay to create demand and then miss it when people search your name a week later. If you start on Google, the search campaign is already there to catch it.
How does tracking differ between the two?
Google tracks the click to the call or form on your site, and with call tracking you can hear the call. Meta tracks through its pixel and Conversions API. Its lead forms keep the person on Facebook, so the lead lands in a Meta list you have to pull into your CRM.
Here's what that means day to day:
- In my accounts, Google search leads mostly call and Meta leads mostly fill out forms. Your follow-up has to fit each.
- A Meta lead form needs a callback within minutes or the lead goes cold. I route them into GoHighLevel so a text goes out the moment the form lands. The first five minutes after a lead decide a lot.
- In my view, Meta's reporting has been softer since Apple's App Tracking Transparency rules made apps ask permission before tracking people. Count booked calls in your CRM, not conversions in Ads Manager.
- Google lets you count a phone call as a conversion with a tracking number on the ad itself. Meta doesn't have an equivalent I'd trust.
How do I choose between Google Ads and Facebook ads?
Start from what's true about your business today. Find the row that matches and run what it says.
| Item | Run this | Why |
|---|---|---|
| People search for your service by name or category | Google first | Intent is already there, so capture it |
| Clicks in your category cost $10 or more and your budget is under $1,000 a month | Google, narrowed to one service and one city | Enough clicks to learn from, nothing wasted on breadth |
| Nobody searches for what you sell yet | Meta first | No search volume to capture, so create the demand |
| Google is producing booked calls at an acceptable cost | Add Meta retargeting | Catch site visitors who didn't call |
| You have video of a real person explaining one thing | Meta prospecting | The creative that works on Meta for services |
| You can't call a lead back within 10 minutes | Fix that before either | Slow follow-up wastes ad money on both platforms |
The cost math, from cost per click to cost per booked call, is in how much Google Ads cost.
What to do next
- Google your three main services plus your city. If competitors' ads show and yours don't, start there.
- Set up one search campaign per service, location targeting to the area you'll drive to and a call tracking number.
- Call your own business from the ad and time how long it takes to reach a person.
- Once step 3 works, build one Meta retargeting audience from site visitors and show them one video.
FAQ
Should I use Meta lead forms or send people to my website?
Lead forms keep the person on Facebook, and the lead lands in Meta, so it has to be routed into your CRM and called back within minutes. Sending people to a page on your own site makes it easier to track those leads alongside your Google leads.
Can I run Google Ads and Facebook ads at the same time?
Yes, and once search is producing booked calls, you should. Use Meta to retarget site visitors and reach lookalike audiences, and keep the search campaign running to catch the demand.
How much should a small business spend on Google Ads vs Facebook?
It depends on your click costs and how many leads you can follow up with. My rule of thumb is to start with enough on Google to buy 100 or more clicks a month on your core service, then add Meta.
Which should a law firm start with?
Search, in most practice areas, because people look for a lawyer when they need one. Run every ad and landing page past the Florida Bar advertising rules first. I cover those in Google Ads for law firms.
Book a free call
Not sure which platform fits? Book a free 15-minute call with Blake by phone or Zoom. Whichever you start with, you can also request the free Buyer Test first: a short recorded video of how your business answers a new inquiry, with the three changes to make first. See how I set up Google Ads and Meta ads.
