Google Ads or Meta Ads: which one for a small business?

What is the real difference between the two?

On Google, Search Network campaigns show your ads to people actively searching for your products and services. Your keywords determine which searches your ads can appear on. The intent is already there: the person has a problem and is looking for someone who can solve it.

On Meta, your ads can appear on Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads and the Meta Audience Network. You don’t choose searches, you choose an audience; the Advantage+ option lets Meta’s artificial intelligence find that audience based on signals such as past conversions and pixel data. People are scrolling their feed: your ad has to catch their attention, then make them want to act.

The line between them isn’t watertight. Meta also offers placements in Facebook and Instagram search results, and Google has visual formats with Performance Max, which gives access to YouTube, the Display Network, Gmail and Maps in a single campaign. But the core of each platform stays the same: search for Google, discovery for Meta.

Where are your customers in Quebec?

Both platforms reach almost everyone. According to the NETendances 2026 survey by the Académie de la transformation numérique, 93% of Quebec internet users aged 18 and over use social media. Facebook is still the most used (74%), followed by Messenger (64%) and Instagram (39%). At the Canadian level, Statistics Canada found in 2022 that 73.7% of people aged 15 and over used social networking sites or apps, and that 76.3% searched for information about goods or services online.

On the search side, Google dominates: according to StatCounter, 85.3% of visits coming from a search engine in Canada came from Google in September 2026. This figure counts page views on the sites StatCounter tracks, not searches, but the order of magnitude is clear. Other benchmarks are gathered in our online advertising statistics for Canada.

So the useful question isn’t “where are my customers?”, since they are in both places, but “what frame of mind are they in when they come across me?”

Google Ads and Meta Ads side by side

Meta’s instant forms open without leaving Facebook or Instagram and fill in information the person has already shared. That is convenient, and it is also their limit: a lead that takes two seconds to send is sometimes less considered. Add at least one question that qualifies the lead.

Which one should you choose based on what you sell?

Start with Google Ads if your customers already search for your service on Google:

• a need that arises at a specific moment: a leaking roof, a window to replace, a legal dispute, a heat pump to install;
• a request for a quote or an appointment, rather than an impulse purchase;
• business customers looking for a specific supplier.

Meta Ads has the edge in other situations:

• physical products that sell through images: clothing, accessories, sporting goods, decor, furniture;
• a new offer that nobody is typing into Google yet;
• an event, a local promotion or an opening, with a date;
• reaching people again who have already visited your website.

What to know in Canada and Quebec

Meta imposes special ad categories for ads related to employment, housing and financial products and services. For advertisers reaching Canada, some targeting options are limited or removed: age, gender, postal code, exclusions, lookalike audiences and saved audiences. A small business that is hiring or selling financial services needs to plan for it. Ads about social issues, elections or politics in Canada require authorization and a “Paid for by” disclaimer. Ads for cosmetic procedures, for their part, must target people aged 18 and over.

Google has its own limits too, especially in health. In Canada, online pharmacies, telemedicine and addiction treatment services must be certified. Prescription drug names are monitored: since late October 2025, a clinic can write “Botox” in its ad and on its page in Canada, but it can’t target that keyword without certification. One more limit applies, whatever the platform: in Canada, advertising aimed at the public can say nothing about a prescription drug beyond its name, price and quantity.

Language, however, doesn’t change from one platform to the other. Quebec’s Charter of the French Language requires commercial advertising to be in French, with French clearly predominant in a bilingual version (s. 58). We apply it to Google ads and to Meta ads aimed at Quebec alike.

How do you compare the results?

Each platform measures in its own way. In Google Ads, you choose the actions that have value for you, such as a submitted form or a call. On Meta, the pixel installed on your website and the Conversions API send these events to Meta, which attributes them according to a window: one day or seven days after a click, or one day after someone saw the ad without clicking.

The result: the same lead can be claimed by both platforms, and their reports added together often exceed reality. The only reliable comparison happens in your own business: every lead received, calls included, tied to its source in your CRM or tracking sheet, then each channel’s cost divided by its qualified leads.

That is the tracking we set up before launching a campaign, on Google Ads, Meta or other channels. To estimate a starting budget on Google, see our guide on what Google Ads costs; for a newer channel, our guide on advertising on ChatGPT.