This is one of the most common questions we get from Utah business owners: “Should I run Google Ads or Facebook Ads?”
The honest answer is it depends. Not in a wishy-washy “it depends on your goals” kind of way. It depends on very specific things about your business, your customer, and how people buy what you sell. And once you understand those differences, the right choice becomes pretty obvious.
Let’s break it down without the jargon.
The Fundamental Difference
Google Ads and Meta Ads (which covers Facebook and Instagram) work in completely different ways. Understanding this one concept will save you thousands of dollars in wasted ad spend.
Google Ads captures demand. Someone types “plumber near me” or “marketing agency Salt Lake City” into Google. They already have a problem. They’re actively looking for a solution. Your ad shows up at the top of the search results and they click on it. You’re meeting them at the exact moment they’re ready to take action.
Meta Ads creates demand. Someone is scrolling Instagram looking at their friend’s vacation photos. Your ad pops up in their feed showing your product or service. They weren’t looking for you. They didn’t know they needed you. But the ad catches their attention and plants a seed. Maybe they click now, maybe they come back later, maybe they don’t. You’re interrupting their day and hoping your message is compelling enough to make them care.
That’s the core difference. Google catches people who are already searching. Meta catches people who aren’t searching yet but might be interested.
Neither one is better. They just do different things.
When Google Ads Makes Sense
Google Ads is usually the right starting point if your customers are actively searching for what you offer. If people are typing your service into Google, you want to be there when they do.
High-intent services
If you’re a plumber, an electrician, a dentist, a lawyer, a marketing agency, an accountant, or any service-based business in Utah, Google Ads is almost always where you should start. When someone’s toilet is flooding at 10pm, they’re not scrolling Instagram hoping to discover a plumber. They’re Googling “emergency plumber Salt Lake City” and calling the first one they find.
The same applies to any business where the customer knows they have a problem and is actively looking for the solution. Pest control. Auto repair. Home remodeling. Tax preparation. IT support. If the search volume exists for your service in your market, Google Ads puts you in front of people who are ready to buy right now.
Local businesses targeting a specific area
Google Ads lets you target by location down to the zip code. If you only serve the Wasatch Front, you’re not wasting money showing ads to people in Miami. You can target Salt Lake City, Tooele, Provo, Draper, Park City, Ogden, or whatever your service area is and only pay for clicks from people in those areas.
Pair that with Google’s Local Service Ads (for eligible industries) and you can show up at the very top of search results with a Google Guaranteed badge. For local Utah businesses, that combination is hard to beat.
When you need leads now
Google Ads can start delivering leads the same day you turn them on. There’s no ramp-up period like SEO. If your campaigns are set up correctly with the right keywords, the right ad copy, and a landing page that converts, you can start getting phone calls and form submissions within hours.
That speed matters when you’re a new business, launching a new service, or just need to fill your pipeline fast.
Products or services people comparison shop for
If people research before they buy (and they almost always do for anything over a couple hundred dollars), they’re doing that research on Google. “Best CRM for small business.” “Top rated HVAC company in Provo.” “WordPress developer vs Squarespace.” These are comparison and evaluation searches, and showing up in those results with a well-written ad can put you on the shortlist.
When Meta Ads Makes Sense
Meta Ads is the better play when your customer doesn’t know they need you yet, when your product is visual, or when you need to build awareness before someone is ready to buy.
Visual products and e-commerce
If you sell a physical product that looks good in photos or video, Meta is built for you. Clothing, jewelry, home decor, food products, skincare, fitness equipment. These products sell on emotion and aesthetics. Someone sees your product in their feed, it catches their eye, they click, they buy. The entire journey can happen in under a minute.
Google Ads works for e-commerce too, especially Google Shopping. But Meta’s visual format and targeting capabilities make it the stronger top-of-funnel play for products people buy on impulse or after a short consideration period.
Building brand awareness
If you’re a new business in Utah and nobody knows you exist, Meta Ads can get your name in front of thousands of local people fast. You’re not going to get a ton of direct conversions from an awareness campaign, but you’re planting seeds. The next time one of those people needs your service, your name is already in their head.
This is especially powerful when you combine it with retargeting. Someone sees your brand awareness ad on Instagram. Two weeks later they search for your service on Google. They see your Google Ad. They recognize your name. They click on you instead of the competitor they’ve never heard of. That’s how the two platforms work together.
Targeting specific demographics and interests
Meta knows an uncomfortable amount about its users. Age, location, interests, behaviors, job titles, life events, purchase history. That targeting lets you get incredibly specific.
Running a wedding photography business in Utah? Target engaged women aged 24 to 35 within 50 miles of Salt Lake City. Selling baby products? Target new parents. Launching a B2B SaaS tool? Target small business owners and marketing managers.
Google Ads targets based on what people search. Meta targets based on who people are. Sometimes who they are matters more than what they’re currently searching.
Retargeting website visitors
This is where Meta really shines. Someone visits your website but doesn’t fill out the contact form. With Meta’s pixel installed, you can show that person ads on Facebook and Instagram for days or weeks after they leave your site. You stay in front of them until they’re ready to come back and convert.
Google has retargeting too through the Display Network, but Meta’s retargeting tends to perform better for most businesses because people spend more active scrolling time on Facebook and Instagram than they do browsing random websites where Google Display ads appear.
The Budget Question
This is where Utah business owners usually get stuck. “I only have $1,500 a month for ads. Where should it go?”
Here’s how we think about it:
If you have a small budget ($500 to $1,500/month), pick one platform and do it well. Don’t split a small budget across both. You’ll spread yourself too thin and neither platform will have enough data to optimize properly. For most service businesses in Utah, start with Google Ads. For e-commerce or visual brands, start with Meta.
If you have a mid-range budget ($1,500 to $5,000/month), you can start testing both. Put the majority on the platform that drives direct leads (usually Google for services, Meta for products) and allocate 20-30% to the other platform for retargeting and awareness.
If you have a larger budget ($5,000+/month), run both platforms with dedicated campaigns for each stage of the funnel. Google captures high-intent searches. Meta builds awareness and retargets. Together they create a full-funnel system where no potential customer slips through the cracks.
The worst thing you can do is throw $500 at both platforms without a plan and wonder why nothing worked. That’s not a platform problem. That’s a strategy problem.
What Most People Get Wrong
Running ads without proper tracking
This one makes us crazy. We’ve taken over ad accounts from other agencies and freelancers where there was no conversion tracking set up at all. The business was spending $2,000 a month on Google Ads with no idea which clicks were turning into phone calls, form submissions, or sales.
Before you spend a single dollar on ads, you need Google Analytics 4 configured, conversion tracking set up for every action that matters (calls, forms, purchases), and UTM parameters on your ad URLs so you can trace every lead back to the exact campaign that generated it.
If the person managing your ads can’t tell you your exact cost per lead, something is broken.
Sending ad traffic to your homepage
Your homepage is not a landing page. When someone clicks a Google Ad for “HVAC repair Salt Lake City,” they should land on a page specifically about your HVAC repair service in Salt Lake City. Not your homepage where they have to figure out where to click next.
The same goes for Meta. If your ad promotes a specific product, the click should go to that product page. Not your homepage. Not your general shop page. The specific thing they saw in the ad.
Every extra click between the ad and the conversion is a chance to lose them.
Setting it and forgetting it
Ads are not a crockpot. You can’t set them up, walk away, and expect results. Both Google and Meta require ongoing management. Keyword adjustments, bid optimization, ad copy testing, audience refinement, negative keyword additions, creative refreshes. The campaigns that perform well are the ones that get consistent attention.
If someone is charging you a flat fee to “manage” your ads and you never hear from them, that’s a problem. Good ad management means constant optimization and regular reporting that shows you exactly what your money is doing.
Ignoring the landing page
You can have the best ad campaign in the world, but if the page people land on is confusing, slow, or doesn’t clearly tell them what to do next, you’re pouring water into a bucket with a hole in it. Your landing page needs a clear headline, a clear value proposition, a clear call to action, and it needs to load in under 3 seconds. That’s the minimum.
We’ve seen businesses double their conversion rate without changing a single thing about their ads. They just fixed the landing page. That’s how much it matters.
Using Both Platforms Together
The real power comes from running Google and Meta together as a system instead of two separate things.
Here’s what that looks like for a Utah business:
Step 1: Someone sees your Meta ad on Instagram. They don’t click. But they noticed your brand.
Step 2: A week later, they have a need. They Google your service. Your Google Ad shows up. They recognize your name from the Instagram ad. They click on you instead of the three competitors they’ve never heard of.
Step 3: They visit your site but don’t convert. They get busy. They close the tab.
Step 4: Meta retargeting kicks in. They start seeing your ads again on Facebook and Instagram. This time with a testimonial or a special offer. They come back and fill out the form.
That’s a full-funnel system. Meta builds awareness and retargets. Google captures high-intent searches. Together they cover the entire customer journey from “never heard of you” to “just submitted a contact form.”
Most businesses only run one platform and wonder why their results plateau. This is why.
How We Handle This at HitSelect
We manage Google Ads and Meta Ads for Utah businesses, and the first thing we do before spending any money is figure out which platform (or combination) makes sense for your specific situation. Not every business needs both. Some businesses need Google only. Some need Meta only. Some need both working together.
Here’s what we do before we launch a single ad:
We set up proper conversion tracking in GA4 so every lead is tracked. We connect Google Search Console so we can see organic performance alongside paid. We build dedicated landing pages for ad campaigns so traffic goes somewhere designed to convert. We research your competitors’ ads to see what’s working in your market. And we set up reporting that shows you exactly what your money did this month in plain language, not jargon.
We’ve taken over accounts where the previous agency didn’t even have tracking installed. Businesses were spending thousands a month with no idea what they were getting. We fix that before anything else. Because if you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.
The Bottom Line
Google Ads and Meta Ads are both powerful. But they do different things. Google captures people who are already looking. Meta reaches people who aren’t looking yet but fit your ideal customer profile. The right choice depends on your business, your customer, and your budget.
If you’re a service business in Utah, start with Google. If you’re selling a visual product, start with Meta. If you can afford both, build a full-funnel system that uses them together.
But no matter which platform you choose, get the tracking right, build proper landing pages, and make sure someone is actively managing and optimizing your campaigns. The platform doesn’t matter if the foundation is broken.
Reach out to us and we can audit or setup a campaign.
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