Every trades business owner who has looked into online marketing has run into the same question: Google Ads or Meta Ads? Both platforms get pitched as "the one that works," and both can work, but they work in genuinely different ways, and the right choice depends far more on your trade than most sales calls let on. Here's the actual difference, not the sales pitch version.
Google Ads shows your business to someone who has already typed a search, "emergency plumber Leeds" or "driveway resurfacing quote near me." That person has a problem right now and is actively looking for someone to solve it. Meta Ads works differently, it shows your business to someone scrolling their feed who was not looking for a tradesperson at that moment, but who fits the kind of person likely to need one, or who has seen your work and might want it done.
Neither approach is better in the abstract. The question is which kind of buying behaviour matches how your specific trade actually gets found.
Plumbing, electrical work, boiler repair, locksmiths, pest control, roofing repairs. These are almost always reactive, something has broken or is urgent, and the customer searches immediately. Google Ads puts you directly in front of that existing demand at the exact moment it exists. Meta Ads struggles here because you're trying to create demand for a service people only think about when something has already gone wrong.
Landscaping, kitchen fitting, driveways, extensions, bathroom renovations. These are considered purchases, and the buying trigger is often visual, someone sees a transformation and starts thinking about their own space. Meta Ads is built for this, video and image ads showing real before-and-afters can generate interest from people who weren't actively searching yet, but who will be soon.
General building, HVAC installs, driveway gates, garden rooms. These often benefit from both, Google Ads to catch the people already comparing quotes, Meta Ads to build a pipeline of future enquiries by staying visible to people in the research phase. This is usually where the All Channels approach earns its keep rather than being overkill.
Trades business owners often get put off Google Ads after seeing cost-per-click estimates for competitive trade keywords, which can run considerably higher than a typical Meta Ads click. That gap is not Google being more expensive for the sake of it, it reflects buying intent. You are bidding for a click from someone who is likely to convert into a paying job soon, not just someone who saw an interesting video. A more expensive click that turns into a booked job is cheaper than a string of cheap clicks that go nowhere.
Worth knowing: the channel that "wins" on paper often isn't the one that wins in your bank account. A campaign with a lower cost per click but a low conversion rate can cost more per booked job than a campaign with a higher cost per click but a much higher conversion rate. Job value and conversion rate matter more than the headline click cost.
If your trade is reactive and urgent, start with Google Ads. If your trade sells on visual transformation, start with Meta Ads. If you're not sure which category you fall into, look at how your last ten customers actually found you, if most of them searched for you when they had a problem, that's your answer. If most of them saw something you'd built and got in touch off the back of it, that points the other way.
Either way, the campaign only performs as well as the website it sends people to. A well-targeted ad that lands on a slow, generic-looking site loses a large share of the people it worked to attract, which is why the website and the ad channel need to be treated as one project rather than two separate purchases.
Generally Google Ads, because most people looking for a plumber or electrician are already actively searching for one, often with an urgent problem. Google Ads puts you in front of that existing demand. Meta Ads works better for trades where seeing the finished work is what sells it, like landscaping, kitchen fitting or driveway work.
Google Ads pricing reflects buying intent. Someone searching "emergency boiler repair near me" is close to booking, so competition for that click is high. Meta Ads reaches people who are not actively searching, so clicks are usually cheaper, but a higher share of that audience is not yet ready to buy.
For businesses with the budget to run both properly, yes. Google Ads captures people already searching, while Meta Ads builds awareness and can retarget people who visited your site without enquiring. Running both requires enough monthly budget for each channel to gather meaningful data, so it is usually a second step once one channel is already working.
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