Should You Use Google Ads or Meta Ads to Get Clients for a Service Business?

Use Google Ads when people already search for what you sell, and use Meta ads when you need to create demand among people who are not searching yet. Google captures existing intent, so it suits urgent and well-known services such as trades, many clinics and accounting firms. Meta creates demand, so it suits coaches, consultants, agencies and any offer people do not know to look for. Many service businesses end up using both, judged on cost per client.

What is the real difference between Google Ads and Meta ads?

Google search ads appear when someone types a query, so you reach people who already have the problem in mind. Meta ads appear in Facebook and Instagram feeds, so you interrupt people who were not looking, and your ad has to create the interest.

Factor	Google search ads	Meta ads
How people find you	They search for a service or problem	They see your ad while scrolling
Intent	Usually higher; they are looking now	Mixed; you create the interest
Volume	Limited by how many people search	Limited mainly by budget and creative
What wins	Relevant keywords, ad copy and landing page	Creative, hook and offer
Typical cost per lead	Often higher	Often lower, with more variable quality
Best for	Urgent or known needs	New ideas, considered purchases, building an audience

What do the benchmarks say about cost?

The most quoted comparisons come from LocaliQ, a US marketing company. Its 2026 pages do not state the country of the campaigns, and figures are shown in dollars without a currency code, so treat them as US data in US dollars.

LocaliQ's search advertising benchmarks (last updated June 2026, drawn from its customers' Google Ads and Microsoft Ads campaigns) give an average cost per lead of $66.69 across industries.
LocaliQ's Facebook advertising benchmarks (last updated September 2026) give an average cost per lead of $27.39 across industries for the leads objective.

On those figures, a Facebook lead costs well under half a search lead. That does not make Meta cheaper per client. A search lead has usually gone looking for you. A Facebook lead often tapped a form while scrolling. The only fair comparison is cost per client in your own business. We could not find a reliable published Australian benchmark for either platform, which we explain in what a good cost per lead is in Australia.

Which platform fits which type of service business?

Business type	Usually start with	Why	Watch out for
Trades and home services	Google	People search when something breaks or a job is due	Suburb targeting and job type; one bad keyword can burn budget
Clinics and allied health	Google, then Meta	Many people search by service and suburb; Meta helps with awareness and reactivation	Ahpra advertising rules apply on both platforms
Accounting, legal and finance firms	Google	Clear, searched needs such as tax, conveyancing or a specific legal issue	High click costs in competitive terms; professional advertising rules
Agencies	Meta or Google, depending on the service	Some services are searched; many owners do not know they need you yet	Leads too small to afford you
Coaches and consultants	Meta	Few people search for a specific coaching program; demand has to be created	Lead quality; judge on booked calls and clients

These are starting points, not rules. A consultant with a well-known, searched niche can do well on Google. A trade business with a great before-and-after story can do well on Meta.

How do budgets and bidding differ?

Google

Google Ads Help says that for most campaigns the daily spending limit is your average daily budget multiplied by 2, and the monthly limit is 30.4 times your average daily budget. Google's Target CPA bid strategy sets bids to get as many conversions as possible at your target cost. Google says you can start Target CPA with no conversion history, and recommends measuring performance over the last 30 days including at least 30 conversions.

GST on both

Google Ads Help says all Google Ads sales in Australia are subject to 10% GST for accounts with Australian business addresses. Meta says it adds GST at the local rate when ads are sold by Facebook Australia to an Australian billing address. Compare platforms on the same basis, ideally excluding GST if you can claim the credit, and check with your accountant.

How do you compare them fairly?

Track the source of every lead. Use UTM tags and hidden fields so the CRM knows whether a client came from Google or Meta. See how to track which ads bring clients.
Send outcomes back to both platforms. Google has offline conversion imports. Meta has the Conversions API, covered in how to set up the Meta Conversions API.
Give each a fair test. Run each long enough to get leads that have had time to book and buy.
Judge on cost per client and lead quality. Not on cost per click or cost per lead.

A worked comparison (hypothetical numbers)

The numbers below are invented to show the method. They are not benchmarks or client results.

Measure	Google search (hypothetical)	Meta (hypothetical)
Ad spend (ex GST)	$2,000	$2,000
Leads	25	70
Cost per lead	$80	About $28.57
Lead-to-client rate	20%	5%
New clients	5	3.5 (so 3 or 4)
Cost per client	$400	About $571

In this made-up case, Meta wins on cost per lead and loses on cost per client. Improve Meta's lead-to-client rate to 8% through faster follow-up and better qualification, and it would produce 5.6 clients at about $357 each, beating Google. That is why the follow-up system often decides the winner, not the platform.

Advertising rules apply on both platforms

The ACCC says advertising claims should be true, accurate and based on reasonable grounds, and businesses must be able to prove them. Clinics must follow Ahpra's guidelines for advertising a regulated health service, which explain that the National Law prohibits using testimonials about the service. Law firms must follow rule 36 of the Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules, which the Queensland Law Society summarises as requiring advertising that is not false, misleading or deceptive, offensive or prohibited by law. The platform does not change the rules.

What we learned in our own business

In our team's business, 9,486 leads came from $40,590 in Meta ads at an average of $4.28 a lead. This was a consumer education offer, so business-to-business lead costs are usually higher. Meta worked for us because our offer was something people did not know to search for. A business whose clients search by service and suburb may find Google is the better first channel.

Cheap leads were not the whole story. One set of our ads produced leads at $9.63 each and $0 in sales. And we once paused an ad set because its 3-day numbers looked poor, when over 7 days it was the second-best performer in the account at $7.18 a lead. Whichever platform you choose, judge it on clients and revenue, over at least 7 days of data.

See what slow replies cost your business.

The free Lead Leak Calculator turns your own numbers into a monthly figure in about 60 seconds.

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Frequently asked questions

Is Google Ads or Facebook ads better for a small service business?

Google is usually better when people already search for your service, such as trades or accounting. Meta is usually better when you need to create demand, such as coaching or consulting. Test and judge on cost per client.

Why are Google Ads leads more expensive than Facebook leads?

Search leads usually come from people actively looking, and many businesses compete for the same searches. LocaliQ's 2026 US benchmarks show a higher average cost per lead for search ($66.69) than for Facebook lead campaigns ($27.39). Higher intent can still mean a lower cost per client.

Should I run Google Ads and Meta ads at the same time?

Many service businesses do, once tracking can tell which platform each client came from. If budget is tight, start with the platform that matches how your clients look for you, then add the other.

Do tradies do better on Google or Facebook?

Usually Google first, because people search when they need a job done. Meta can still work for larger, planned jobs such as renovations, where good photos and a clear offer create interest.

How long should I test each platform?

Long enough for leads to book and buy. Google recommends measuring Target CPA performance over 30 days including at least 30 conversions, and Meta flags ad sets that are unlikely to get around 50 optimisation events in a week.

Next step

The free scorecard shows where your client acquisition system leaks, whichever platform you use. To build ads, follow-up and tracking as one system with our team beside you, see The AI Marketing Team Accelerator.