Paid ads
Facebook Ads or Google Ads? How UK Small Businesses Should Choose in 2026
It is the most common paid media question small businesses ask, and most answers come from whoever is selling one of the two. Here is the honest version: they do different jobs, and the right answer follows from how your customers buy, not from platform loyalty.
The one distinction that decides everything
Google Ads captures demand that already exists. Someone types "emergency electrician Newport" or "commercial insurance broker" and you bid to be the answer. The intent is high, and so is the price of it.
Meta ads (Facebook and Instagram) create and nurture demand. Nobody scrolls Instagram looking for an accountant, but the right message can plant the thought, and remarketing keeps you in front of people who visited your site and drifted off.
Everything else, costs, formats, targeting, is downstream of that difference.
When Google wins
- Urgent, problem-driven services. Boiler repairs, locksmiths, emergency legal help. The customer is searching right now and the first credible option gets the call.
- High-value considered purchases with search habits. Accountants, solicitors, surveyors. Fewer clicks, expensive clicks, but each one is a genuine shopper.
- Local intent. "Near me" searches route real buyers to whoever ranks and bids well, which is why it pairs so tightly with the local SEO work.
When Meta wins
- Visual products and transformations. Renovations, aesthetics, food, interiors. If a before-and-after sells it, Meta is the shop window.
- Offers people did not know they wanted. Events, memberships, new openings, seasonal pushes.
- Remarketing. The cheapest conversions on the internet are usually warm audiences: site visitors, video viewers, your email list. This alone justifies a small Meta budget for almost everyone.
- Building an audience before you need it. Meta reach is cheap enough to stay visible year-round in a way Google click prices rarely allow.
The rule of thumb we use: if your customer would type their problem into Google at the moment it bites, start with Google. If your customer needs to be shown why they want you, start with Meta. If you genuinely cannot tell, your customers can: ask the last ten how they found you.
What it costs in the UK right now
Google Search clicks for UK SMEs commonly run £1 to £6, with competitive service categories well beyond that. Meta clicks are typically pennies to a pound. Both platforms have got dearer, which, as we argued in our Google Ads cost breakdown, punishes sloppy campaigns rather than advertising itself: sharp creative, tight structure and a landing page that converts are now the difference between profit and donation.
Whichever you choose, three non-negotiables: the account sits in your name, ad spend goes directly to the platform, and reporting counts enquiries rather than impressions. Those are standard on our retainers, and they should be standard anywhere.
The blend most businesses end up with
Mature small-business accounts usually settle around 60 to 70 percent of budget on the platform that matches their buying moment, 20 to 30 percent on the other for coverage, and a always-on sliver for remarketing. But that is the destination. Start with one platform, one offer and one landing page, prove the maths, then expand.