Google Ads vs Facebook Ads: Which Should You Start With?

Both platforms work, but they work differently. Here's how to think about which one deserves your first advertising budget.

The Core Difference

Google Ads shows your business to people actively searching for what you offer right now — someone typing 'CCTV installation Dhaka' has already decided they want this service and is choosing who to call.

Facebook Ads works the opposite way — it shows your business to people who fit a target profile, whether or not they were thinking about your product at that moment. It's better suited to building awareness or prompting an impulse decision than capturing someone who's already searching.

Which Fits Your Business Better

If your product or service is something people actively search for when they need it — plumbing, hospital services, software development — Google Ads usually delivers a faster, more direct return, since you're reaching people already in decision mode.

If your product is more visual, impulse-driven, or benefits from being 'discovered' — fashion, food, home decor — Facebook and Instagram ads tend to perform better, since the format is built for scroll-and-stop browsing.

Many of our clients eventually run both, but if budget is limited, it's worth starting with whichever platform matches how customers actually discover businesses like yours.

A Realistic Way to Test Both

Rather than guessing, a modest test budget split across both platforms for a month gives you real data on cost per lead for your specific business, which is more reliable than general industry advice.

Whichever platform you choose, proper conversion tracking should be set up before you spend a single taka — without it, you're optimizing blind and won't actually know which ads are producing real leads versus just clicks.