Google Ads vs. Meta Business Manager

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Google Ads
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
Google Ads (formerly AdWords) is Google's pay-per-click online advertising program. With Google Ads users set their budget and choose where their ads appear in search listings, and on partner websites. Google Ads uses cost-per-click (CPC) bidding.N/A
Meta Business Manager
Score 7.5 out of 10
N/A
Meta Business Manager (formerly Facebook Business Manager, or Pages Manager) is a mobile app that supports management of up to 50 Facebook pages from a smart phone or tablet, allowing social media managers to see activity, post updates, and respond immediately to customers.N/A
Pricing
Google AdsMeta Business Manager
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Google AdsMeta Business Manager
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Google AdsMeta Business Manager
Considered Both Products
Google Ads
Chose Google Ads
Google Ads clearly has high potential as more users search for their product when compared to other channels hence getting the desired audience.
Chose Google Ads
Neither platform seems to perform in my opinion. Google Ads is much more complicated while Facebook Ads are simpler to implement and run. No positive ROI on either though!
Chose Google Ads
I feel Amazon advertising is more for products, and we sold services. Microsoft ads were interesting, but the Bing platform did not have as much traffic as Google. Facebook ads focus more on casual relationships than business ones, so we spent more time and money on LinkedIn. …
Meta Business Manager
Chose Meta Business Manager
I use both and frankly Google blows FB out of the water on reporting and diagnostic issues with campaigns. It's also much easier to access customer support should there be any issues with your campaigns or if you need help in setting up a new campaign. FBM is a necessary tool …
Chose Meta Business Manager
We used the Facebook Pages Manager exclusively for managing out pages. We've used Synup as an alternative, but it still requires us to work in Facebook Pages Manager, and Synup has a weak product offering. We've considered using another tool to assist in managing our data for …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Google AdsMeta Business Manager
Listening/monitoring
Comparison of Listening/monitoring features of Product A and Product B
Google Ads
-
Ratings
Meta Business Manager
6.1
35 Ratings
23% below category average
Boolean keyword searches00 Ratings6.020 Ratings
Filtering out noise/spam00 Ratings5.326 Ratings
Sentiment analysis00 Ratings7.322 Ratings
Broad channel coverage00 Ratings6.125 Ratings
Publishing
Comparison of Publishing features of Product A and Product B
Google Ads
-
Ratings
Meta Business Manager
5.9
49 Ratings
29% below category average
Content planning and scheduling00 Ratings7.049 Ratings
Audience targeting00 Ratings6.046 Ratings
Content optimization00 Ratings5.744 Ratings
Workflow management00 Ratings4.838 Ratings
Engagement
Comparison of Engagement features of Product A and Product B
Google Ads
-
Ratings
Meta Business Manager
6.0
42 Ratings
29% below category average
Automated routing and prioritization00 Ratings5.434 Ratings
Customer interaction histories00 Ratings4.738 Ratings
Bulk actions00 Ratings7.925 Ratings
Marketing
Comparison of Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Google Ads
-
Ratings
Meta Business Manager
6.1
47 Ratings
23% below category average
Lead generation00 Ratings4.838 Ratings
Content marketing00 Ratings5.742 Ratings
Paid media management00 Ratings6.239 Ratings
Campaigns and promotions00 Ratings7.543 Ratings
Channel coverage/integration
Comparison of Channel coverage/integration features of Product A and Product B
Google Ads
-
Ratings
Meta Business Manager
6.3
49 Ratings
30% below category average
Twitter00 Ratings4.010 Ratings
Facebook00 Ratings8.148 Ratings
LinkedIn00 Ratings5.98 Ratings
Google+00 Ratings7.33 Ratings
Instagram00 Ratings7.334 Ratings
Pinterest00 Ratings6.05 Ratings
YouTube00 Ratings5.612 Ratings
Reporting/analytics
Comparison of Reporting/analytics features of Product A and Product B
Google Ads
-
Ratings
Meta Business Manager
5.7
47 Ratings
32% below category average
Campaign success analytics00 Ratings7.246 Ratings
Real-time tracking00 Ratings5.943 Ratings
Competitor analysis00 Ratings4.027 Ratings
Account management
Comparison of Account management features of Product A and Product B
Google Ads
-
Ratings
Meta Business Manager
6.2
49 Ratings
27% below category average
Role-based user permissions & privileges00 Ratings5.546 Ratings
Mobile access00 Ratings6.947 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Google AdsMeta Business Manager
Small Businesses
Serpstat
Serpstat
Score 9.3 out of 10
Publer
Publer
Score 9.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
WordStream Advisor
WordStream Advisor
Score 7.0 out of 10
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Score 9.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Adobe Advertising Cloud
Adobe Advertising Cloud
Score 8.8 out of 10
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Score 9.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Google AdsMeta Business Manager
Likelihood to Recommend
7.1
(115 ratings)
9.1
(49 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.5
(21 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
7.2
(7 ratings)
7.5
(15 ratings)
Performance
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.9
(8 ratings)
5.9
(14 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
1.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Google AdsMeta Business Manager
Likelihood to Recommend
Google
Clients who are selling products such as dresses, clothes, jewelry, beauty products, etc., generally work well. Also, in some cases, it doesn't fetch a good ROAS for very small business owners. If a client is already doing well in SEO, the probability for it to perform well over Google Ads is always enhanced, and if it doesn't have a good organic reach, Google Ads also suffers.
Read full review
Meta Platforms Inc
If using a desktop, Facebook Business Manage can help integrate and consolidate your workload when managing multiple pages for multiple clients. However, it can also be clunky when trying to use it on the go from a smartphone as the functionality is more limited. For those that sit at desks all day, it's a good program. For those of us that stay mobile, it can be frustrating.
Read full review
Pros
Google
  • Keyword Research - Google Ads has a handy built in tool that helps determine important keywords to target both for Ads & SEO
  • Intuitive Analytics Dashboad - Google Ads makes it fairly simple to see and analyze important metrics on how your ads are running week after week
  • Intuitive Setup - Google Ads makes it easy to figure out how to run ads with little to no training (although training is highly recommended to run effective ads), as their interface is clean and easy to figure out (unlike competing products).
Read full review
Meta Platforms Inc
  • Stats and insights, to have data to back up assumptions and actions.
  • Scheduling posts, which is helpful when you can't always post in real time.
  • Messenger, which allows me to interact directly with potential customers.
  • Roles, which allows me to assign an intern to help manage the profile.
  • Ads, which allows me to target and advertise to potential customers.
  • Pixel, which connects my Facebook data with my website.
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Cons
Google
  • If you don't know what you're doing, it will be a costly mistake. You need to target ads, and it is difficult the first time to do that.
  • There isn't a feature to run an add for a couple set date spans, just hours you want to run them or a single date span.
Read full review
Meta Platforms Inc
  • The only thing I have noticed is when on my device, it calls out a list of names that have shared your post, and it only shows one. On the computer it will let you scroll down and see all of them.
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Likelihood to Renew
Google
I think Google Ads is good for getting your company out there and becoming more visible to potential customers in general. However, for specific product launches, social media advertising might be a better fit. Also, our user base is younger so social media is a better channel for our target audience.
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Meta Platforms Inc
No answers on this topic
Usability
Google
I suspect that Google Ads is not for the novice user. I told my 'Ad Specialist' that I was not the best on computers and apprehensive about my ability to maneuver the website. He told me on more than one occasion that "I work for you...I'm your sherpa...call me any time or send me an email"!
The sales and service representatives for Google Ads are very well trained, though not much integrity. Despite that I told my Google Ad Specialist that my website was incomplete the ad was published live anyway! Beware that the 'talk' is good, but it ain't cheap!
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Meta Platforms Inc
I give Facebook Business Manager this rating because how I am able to edit and customize each client location page easily and can add users as needed without any hoops to jump through. I also appreciate the about of reach that Facebook has, so having a tool like this that's easy to use and can be in control of the backed of what people see is so important.
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Support Rating
Google
We have not yet had an account rep who hasn't tried to bully me or other employees to raise our budgets. At the same time, several years ago, one attempted to help refine our ads and ended up changing the ads to be something we were not affiliated with
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Meta Platforms Inc
The few times I've had to reach out for ad questions, Facebook Pages customer service is prompt and friendly with their advice. I've never waited longer than 24 hours to get a response, and generally it's just a few hours. They're also quick at removing spam from my Pages when I've needed them to.
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Online Training
Google
Daily use with advanced account structures. Familiarity with reporting/api and complex setups.
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Meta Platforms Inc
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Google
Our agency invests heavily in Google Ads (particularly paid search advertising) on behalf of our clients relative to competitors like Microsoft and Yahoo because Google is the top search engine in the world. Google collects the most search data which enables the company to improve its AI to drive better performance for agencies and brands. As such, our paid search and app install campaigns always start with Google. If a client has a large budget, we will allocate media dollars to other search engines, but in some cases, the entire search budget goes to Google because we see the best returns.
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Meta Platforms Inc
While we looked at different possibilities, it just seemed that this program was designed for our key social media platforms. There really was no point in utilizing a different program when this was designed for these platforms specifically. The mobile app is an added convenience that allows me to manage our social media on the go.
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Return on Investment
Google
  • Google Ads is often one of our highest ROI channels, especially when you factor in branded ads.
  • Depending on the stage your business is in, search ads can be really powerful from an ROI perspective, providing an investment with a very high spend cap.
  • If you do not manage the campaigns well though, you can quickly spend a lot of money on nothing. So make sure someone is keeping an eye on your account.
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Meta Platforms Inc
  • Most of our leads come from Facebook paid marketing.
  • Our business is centered around our content, which allows us to stand out from the completion. Facebook allows us to get the content in front of our audience.
  • Facebook Marketing is so dynamic that it takes loads of trial and error to get to a winning formula. And the errors can be expensive.
Read full review
ScreenShots