Every business owner asks the same question eventually: should I put my budget into Google Ads or Facebook Ads? The honest answer is that it depends on what you sell, who buys it, and how they go looking for it. But that's not much use if you're staring at a marketing budget and need to decide where the next dollar goes.
We manage both platforms for clients across New Zealand, from Christchurch trades businesses to Auckland ecommerce brands, and the pattern is consistent. Google Ads and Facebook Ads solve different problems. Getting this decision wrong is one of the most common (and expensive) mistakes we see NZ businesses make with their marketing spend.
The Core Difference: Intent vs Interruption
Google Ads shows up when someone is already searching for a solution. Type "emergency plumber Wellington" into Google and you'll see ads from plumbers who paid to be there, right when someone needs one urgently. This is intent-based marketing. The person has a problem and is actively looking for an answer.
Facebook Ads work differently. Nobody opens Facebook or Instagram looking for a new website designer or a pair of hiking boots. They're scrolling for updates from friends, news, or entertainment, and your ad interrupts that scroll. This is interruption-based marketing, sometimes called demand generation rather than demand capture.
Why This Distinction Matters for Budget Allocation
If your product or service already has clear, searchable demand (people know they need it and search for it by name), Google Ads usually wins. Think tradespeople, lawyers, accountants, or anyone offering a service people search for when a problem arises.
If you're selling something people don't know they want yet, or a product that benefits from visual appeal, Facebook and Instagram Ads tend to perform better. Fashion, home decor, novel products, and lifestyle brands often do well here because the format rewards good imagery and storytelling over search intent.
Cost Comparison for New Zealand Businesses
Cost per click on Google Ads in NZ varies enormously by industry. Competitive terms like "lawyer Auckland" or "insurance quote NZ" can cost anywhere from $8 to $25+ per click. Less competitive local service terms often sit between $1.50 and $6. Facebook Ads typically cost less per click, often $0.50 to $3, but that lower cost doesn't automatically mean a better return. A cheap click that doesn't convert is worse value than an expensive one that does.
What actually matters is cost per lead or cost per sale, not cost per click. We've seen NZ clients pay more per click on Google and still get a lower cost per lead overall, because the person clicking was already looking to buy.
Typical Budget Benchmarks
For most small to medium NZ businesses testing a new channel, we recommend starting with at least $1,000 to $1,500 per month per platform. Anything lower and the algorithm doesn't get enough data to optimise properly, and you won't get a reliable read on performance within a normal reporting period. Retail and ecommerce brands running Facebook Ads at scale often invest considerably more, particularly during Q4.
Which Platform Suits Your Business Type?
Google Ads Tends to Win For:
Service businesses with clear searchable demand: plumbers, electricians, lawyers, accountants, dentists. Businesses where the customer is already comparing providers: insurance, finance, real estate. High-intent, time-sensitive needs: emergency callouts, urgent repairs, same-day services. If you offer SEO alongside paid search, the two channels compound each other over time, since organic rankings reduce your reliance on paid clicks as they build.
Facebook and Instagram Ads Tend to Win For:
Visually appealing products: fashion, homeware, food and beverage, beauty. Businesses building brand awareness from a low base. Impulse or discovery purchases where the customer didn't know they wanted the product until they saw it. Local businesses with a strong visual identity, cafes, gyms, boutique retailers, where a well-designed website and consistent visual branding make the ad spend work harder.
What Most NZ Businesses Get Wrong
Running Both Platforms the Same Way
The biggest mistake is treating Facebook Ads like Google Ads with a different logo. Google Ads should be built around keyword intent and landing pages that answer a specific search. Facebook Ads should be built around a scroll-stopping visual and a message that creates interest from a cold audience. Copy-pasting the same ad creative and landing page across both platforms is a fast way to waste budget on both.
Sending Traffic to a Weak Landing Page
We regularly audit ad accounts where the targeting and bidding are solid, but the ad sends people to a generic homepage instead of a page built for that specific offer. This kills conversion rate regardless of which platform you're using. If your website isn't built to convert paid traffic, you're paying for clicks that go nowhere.
Not Tracking Conversions Properly
Without proper conversion tracking (Google Ads conversion tags, Facebook Pixel, or both), you're optimising blind. Many NZ businesses run ads for months without knowing which campaigns actually generated revenue, only which ones generated clicks or "engagement". Clicks are not customers.
Can You Run Both at Once?
Yes, and for many businesses this is the smartest long-term approach. A common structure we set up for clients: Google Ads captures people who are actively searching and ready to buy, while Facebook Ads builds awareness and retargets people who visited the site but didn't convert. Someone might see your business on Facebook, not act immediately, then search for you on Google a few days later once they're ready. Both platforms end up supporting each other rather than competing for the same budget line.
A Practical Starting Point
If your budget is limited and you can only run one platform to start, ask yourself this: does a customer with your exact problem type it into Google? If yes, start with Google Ads. If your product needs to be seen to be wanted, start with Facebook and Instagram. Once you have a baseline of performance data and some budget flexibility, that's the point to test the second platform properly rather than splitting a small budget across both from day one.
Setting Realistic Expectations
Neither platform delivers overnight results in a reliable, repeatable way. Google Ads campaigns typically need two to four weeks of data before the algorithm optimises properly (known as leaving the "learning phase"). Facebook Ads follow a similar pattern, often needing 50 conversions per ad set within a week to exit learning phase and stabilise. Businesses that pull campaigns after a week or two because "it's not working yet" are usually cutting things off right before they'd start to perform.
Metrics That Actually Matter on Each Platform
NZ businesses often judge both platforms by the wrong numbers. Click-through rate and impressions feel good to look at, but neither one pays the bills.
For Google Ads, Watch Quality Score and Cost Per Conversion
Quality Score affects how much you pay per click and where your ad ranks, so a low score quietly inflates your costs even when your bids look competitive. Beyond that, cost per conversion (not cost per click) tells you whether the campaign is actually profitable. A campaign with a high cost per click but a strong conversion rate can easily outperform a "cheap" one that never turns clicks into enquiries.
For Facebook Ads, Watch Frequency and Return on Ad Spend
Frequency (how many times the same person sees your ad) creeps up over a campaign's life. Once it climbs past four or five, performance usually drops as the audience gets fatigued by the same creative. Return on ad spend, tracked through the Facebook Pixel or Conversions API, is the number that tells you whether the campaign is genuinely profitable rather than just generating likes and comments.
Making the Right Call for Your Business
There's no universal answer here, and any agency telling you one platform is simply "better" than the other hasn't looked closely enough at your business. The right starting point comes down to your product, your customer's buying behaviour, and how much budget you have to test properly. What matters more than the platform choice itself is getting the fundamentals right: clear tracking, a landing page built to convert, and enough budget to give the algorithm a fair shot.
Activate works with businesses across New Zealand on web design, logo design, graphic design, app development, SEO, Google Ads, and AI agency services.
If you'd like to discuss a project with our team, get in touch — we'd love to help.
