When it comes to pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, Google Ads (formerly known as AdWords) and Facebook Ads are the two giants. These platforms are essential tools for driving traffic and sales for eCommerce businesses.
Google Ads reaches over 90% of internet users worldwide, while Facebook Ads boasts an impressive reach of 3.065 billion active users monthly.
Despite their similarities, these channels offer different advantages and challenges. For instance, Google Ads' average click-through rate (CTR) is 3.17% for search, whereas Facebook Ads sees an average CTR of 0.9%.
Given limited time and budget, it’s crucial to determine which platform will provide the highest return on investment (ROI) and help you achieve your business goals more efficiently.
While both platforms share some common ground, the differences are significant and cannot be overlooked.
In this guide, we’ll explore the key differences between Google Ads and Facebook Ads and how accurate attribution can help you choose the best channel for your eCommerce business.
Let's dive right in!
What are Google Ads?
Google Ads is a paid advertising platform by Google, allowing eCommerce marketers to bid for ad placements in search engine results and across a wide network of non-search websites, mobile apps, and videos.
This platform is known for its effectiveness in reaching users with high intent, as it targets individuals actively searching for specific products or services.
This characteristic makes Google Ads a prime tool for pull marketing, where potential customers are drawn in based on their search behaviors.
With features like precise keyword targeting and detailed performance analytics, businesses can monitor and optimize their ad campaigns to maximize ROI.
By integrating Google Ads with tools like Google Analytics, you can get comprehensive insights into your campaign performance, ensuring a data-driven approach to advertising.
What are Meta Ads?
Meta Ads is an advanced advertising platform offered by Meta, allowing businesses to create targeted ads that appear across the Meta ecosystem, including Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger.
Known for its audience targeting capabilities, Meta Ads enables eCommerce businesses to reach users based on demographics, interests, and behaviors.
This makes it an excellent tool for push marketing, where ads are proactively shown to users who may not be actively searching but are likely to be interested.
The platform supports various ad formats, including images, videos, and carousels, making it versatile for different marketing objectives.
Businesses are increasingly experimenting with ads on Facebook versus Instagram, recognizing that the audience quality is often better on Instagram. This trend highlights the importance of choosing the right platform within the Meta ecosystem to maximize impact.
With its extensive reach and advanced targeting, Meta Ads helps businesses increase brand awareness and drive engagement, making it a powerful tool in any marketer's arsenal.
Difference between Google Ads and Facebook Ads
Now we know what Google Ads and Facebook Ads are good at — but the difference is not clear yet. Before we get into choosing the best channel, you need to understand how different they are.
Here are some of the key differences between Google and Facebook ads:
1. Ad spends or budgets
Facebook Ads offer flexible budgeting, allowing you to control your spending effectively. This makes it suitable for businesses with varying budget sizes, from small to large.
In contrast, Google Ads costs can be unpredictable, especially with higher competition keywords that demand larger budgets.
While both platforms provide value, managing costs can be more straightforward with Facebook Ads.
2. Targeting
Facebook Ads excel in leveraging extensive user data to enable precise targeting. And with precise targeting you can create highly relevant ad experiences that resonate with specific audience segments.
Google Ads, on the other hand, rely on keyword-based targeting. This means you will be reaching users with specific search intents. This approach is particularly effective for capturing ready-to-buy customers, making Google Ads a powerful channel for direct response campaigns.
3. Placements
Facebook Ads provide multiple placements within the Facebook ecosystem, including Instagram and Messenger, increasing visibility and engagement opportunities. These placements are ideal for building brand awareness and fostering engagement.
Conversely, Google Ads offer diverse placement options across Google's network, including search results, YouTube, and display networks. This variety allows businesses to reach users during various stages of their browsing journey, enhancing overall campaign effectiveness.
4. Customer Intent
Facebook Ads are designed to capture a wide range of customer intents, from casual browsing to ready-to-buy behaviors. This makes them effective for building brand awareness and nurturing potential customers over time.
Google Ads, however, primarily target high-intent users who are actively searching for specific products or services. This focus on direct response ensures that businesses can reach users with clear purchase intent, driving immediate conversions.
5. Scaling
Facebook Ads are easy to scale with flexible budget adjustments, allowing businesses to reach broad audiences and facilitate growth seamlessly. But, scaling Google Ads requires strategic planning and a thorough understanding of keyword competition, making cost prediction more complex.
6. Creatives
Facebook Ads support engaging visual formats like videos and carousels, which are suitable for storytelling and brand building. These creative options enable businesses to capture attention and convey messages effectively.
Google Ads, however, have varying creative requirements depending on the placement. While search ads need compelling text to drive clicks, display and YouTube ads require attention-grabbing visuals to stand out.
How does attribution overlap between Google Ads & Facebook Ads?
Understanding how attribution overlaps between Google Ads and Facebook Ads in eCommerce is crucial for accurate performance tracking and budget allocation.
Attribution overlap occurs when both platforms claim credit for the same conversion, leading to inflated conversion data.
Let’s say you're looking for a new pair of shoes. You search for "running shoes" on Google, click on an ad, visit the site, and maybe even add the shoes to your cart but don’t complete the purchase.
Later, you’re on Facebook and see a retargeted ad for the same shoes. This time, you click the ad and complete the purchase.
Both Google and Facebook will claim this conversion, but who should get the credit?
Facebook uses a last-click attribution model, meaning the final ad interaction before the purchase gets the credit. If you clicked on the Facebook ad last, it will be credited with the conversion. However, Google Ads offers multiple attribution models, including one where every interaction along the customer journey gets partial credit. This can lead to "double attribution," where both platforms report the same conversion.
But why does this attribution overlap happen?
This overlap happens because Facebook and Google have different reporting windows.
Facebook attributes a conversion if someone clicks your ad and converts within 7 days or views your ad and converts within 1 day.
Google attributes a conversion if someone clicks your ad and converts within 30 or 90 days.
This means a single purchase can be claimed by both platforms if it falls within their respective attribution windows.
Moreover, view-through conversions add another layer of complexity.
Facebook might claim a conversion if someone merely sees an ad and later visits your site to make a purchase. If this happens within the same day, and the user also clicked a Google ad, both platforms will record the conversion.
Additionally, issues can arise when users revisit the order confirmation page, triggering multiple conversion counts. This can lead to inaccurate data, complicating your analysis and decision-making.
Understanding these nuances is vital for eCommerce businesses to avoid overestimating conversions and misallocating the marketing budgets on the wrong channels.
How to avoid overlapping attribution between Google and Facebook Ads?
Avoiding overlapping attribution between Google Ads and Facebook Ads is essential for accurate performance tracking and effective budget allocation.
Here are key strategies to help you achieve this:
1. Understand your customer journey
Start by analyzing how your target audience typically converts. Do they respond more to top-of-funnel (TOFU) ads, which focus on awareness and engagement, or do they require bottom-of-funnel (BOFU) ads that target ready-to-buy customers?
TOFU ads should be measured primarily by impressions, as their goal is to build brand awareness. In contrast, BOFU ads should be evaluated based on the number of clicks and conversions they generate.
By understanding how your customers move from TOFU to BOFU, you can better attribute sales to the right channels. This nuanced understanding allows you to tailor your attribution model to reflect the true impact of each ad type.
2. Measure and compare marketing channel performances
Once you have a clear picture of your customer journey, it's crucial to measure and compare the performance of your marketing channels.
Track your spending on both Facebook and Google Ads and calculate the return on ad spend (ROAS) for each channel. This comparison will help you identify which platform provides the best return on investment (ROI).
For example, if Facebook Ads deliver a higher ROAS compared to Google Ads, it might be a better fit for your marketing goals.
Regularly reviewing these metrics ensures that your budget is allocated to the most effective channels, optimizing your overall marketing strategy.
3. Conduct an eCommerce attribution analysis
Even if both channels show acceptable ROAS, overlapping attribution can skew your results.
To address this, perform your own attribution analysis with an eCommerce analytics platform like Graas instead of relying solely on the data provided by Google and Facebook.
Choose an attribution model that aligns with your business objectives—whether it's first-click, last-click, or a multi-touch model.
If your goal is brand awareness, a first-click attribution model might be more appropriate. Conversely, if your primary focus is driving sales, a last-click model could be more suitable.
Conducting an attribution analysis based on your preferred model will help you identify which channel truly performs better for your needs, ensuring more accurate and actionable insights.
Optimize the best marketing channel of your eCommerce business with accurate attribution
Now that you understand the challenges of eCommerce attribution and how it can lead to skewed results, it’s crucial to set a process in place to ensure an accurate view of your performance.
Accurate attribution is essential for identifying the true impact of each marketing channel on your sales and overall business growth.
With the right eCommerce tools, you can ensure that each sale is attributed to only one channel. This precise attribution helps you determine which marketing channels are performing best and which ones need improvement. By gaining clear insights into your top-performing and least-performing channels, you can make informed decisions on budget allocation.
Deciding whether to allocate more budget to Facebook Ads or Google Ads will become much easier with accurate attribution data. This approach ensures a balanced strategy that not only drives conversions but also maintains the right level of brand awareness.
Ultimately, this will help you maximize your marketing ROI and achieve sustained growth.
Book a demo with Graas today and discover how our advanced eCommerce analytics tools can help you identify the best channels with accurate attribution.
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