There are many options available when it comes to advertising your business online. Two of the most popular platforms are Google Ads and Facebook Ads. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses, so it’s important to choose the one that’s right for your business.
Google Ads is a powerful tool for reaching potential customers through search engines. You can target people who are specifically searching for what you have to offer. However, Google Ads can be expensive, and the competition can be fierce.
Facebook Ads are a great way to reach a wide audience with your message. It’s less expensive than Google Ads, and you can target people based on interests and demographics. However, Facebook Ads can be less effective than Google Ads when it comes to driving sales.
Both Google Ads and Facebook Ads have their pros and cons. The best platform for your business will depend on your budget, your goals, and your target audience.
If you own a tree service business, this tells you that the internet represents one of the best opportunities for you to generate tree service leads.
Google ads and Facebook ads are two of the most common ways of tree service marketing. However, which option should you choose for your business?
To answer this question, we will need to look at the pros and cons offered by each option. After weighing the benefits against the limitations offered by each platform, making a good decision should be easy.
Google Ads vs Facebook Ads: Which One Is Best?
To start our Google ads vs Facebook ads comparison guide, we will first look at Google Ads. Next, we will look at Facebook ads before comparing the two and arriving at a decision on which option to use or not use.
Google Ads: What Do You Get on Google Ads as a Tree Service Provider?
Google processes more than 5.6 billion searches per day. This means that there is a very high likelihood your potential customers are using the Google search engine to look for answers. For this simple reason, using Google for advertising offers numerous benefits.
Often, when home service providers are considering advertising on Google, they compare pay-per-click (PPC) advertising vs. search engine optimization (SEO). While both options do allow tree service companies to put themselves in front of customers, tree service PPC offers results faster than SEO. For this reason, our focus will be on pay-per-click advertising on Google.
When it comes to Google’s paid ads, you get to choose from 5 tree service ad options:
- Search Ads – These are text-based ads that appear at the top and bottom of the Google search results page. These ads appear when the searcher uses keywords related to the tree services your company offers. Google may also check to ensure it is displaying ads to people who have the potential of ordering a tree maintenance procedure from your company—for instance, if your business is based in Houston Texas, Google will not display your ad to a searcher based in Tampa, Florida.
- Display Ads – These are visual ads that appear on more than 2 million websites in the form of a banner.
- YouTube Ads – These are skippable videos that often play at the beginning—and sometimes, throughout—the video one is trying to watch.
- Gmail Campaigns – These ads appear in the Gmail inbox.
- Google Shopping Ads – These ads are usually used by businesses that sell products. For this reason, as a tree service provider, you may determine that these ads are not useful for you. The ads display products on sale, price, and even the brand selling the products.
Each ad placement on Google features its differences in terms of performance, cost per click (CPC), and benefits. However, according to Google, the return on investment on all its ads is 200%. That is, when you spend $1 on an ad, you end up generating at least $2 with that ad.
The amount of money you earn from Google ads depends on several factors. For instance, your pay-per-click management must be on point. You will need a top-quality tree service website. What’s more, you will need to invest in conversion optimization on your custom-designed website.
Google Ads: Benefits of Advertising On Google
1. Customer Intent is High
When people go on Google, they are typically looking for an answer. Whether it is an answer to a question like “where can I find a good tree trimming team?” or “how much does tree trimming cost?”, these Google users are looking to solve a problem. This means that all you have to do to convert the new website visitors into leads is provide an answer to their problem.
2. Detailed Targeting
Google allows you to target your exclusive tree service leads based on keywords, device, demographics, age, gender, and much more. However, Google’s most unique feature for targeting is its in-market audience.
With the in-market audience feature, Google only shows your advertisement to people it has determined are looking for the tree care services your business offers. Google leverages search history and online behaviors to identify people who are most likely to order a service from your business.
3. Higher Conversions
Typically, people go on Google when they are closer to making their final decision and order a tree service procedure, they are interested in. Therefore, when someone clicks on your ad and they end up on your website, all you need to do is have an optimized landing page to convert them into a lead.
With a smooth lead nurturing process, converting 97% of the new leads coming from Google into customers should be extremely easy.
The Major Con of Using Google for Tree Service Advertising
Depending on where you are located, how much tree services cost in your area, and the number of tree service businesses you are competing against, advertising on Google can be costly. For example, it is not uncommon for Google to charge between $0.50 to as high as $50 per click.
It is, however, worth noting that the high prices may not apply to your tree service business. However, since the cost may increase if numerous tree service businesses are competing for the same keyword in your location, a small budget may not help your business go very far when looking to close more tree service deals by leveraging Google as an advertising platform.
Facebook Ads: Benefits of Advertising On Facebook
In 2022, Facebook boasts an estimated 2.936 billion users. The number of people who log into their Facebook accounts daily is estimated to be approximately 1.960 billion.
In the United States, it is estimated that the average Facebook user is about 40.5 years old. Data shows that the typical homebuyer in the United States was about 33 years in 2021. This suggests that most of the Facebook users in the United States might have their own homes and may be on the market for tree service procedures.
With these numbers, it is easy to see why Facebook might be considered one of the best channels to generate high-worth tree service leads.
When it comes to letting your potential customers know about your tree service business, Facebook—like Google—gives you multiple opportunities. These opportunities include:
- Newsfeed ads – These advertisements appear on both desktop and mobile. They usually show between the posts from pages you follow and posts from your Facebook friends.
- Video ads – Much like Google does with YouTube, Facebook also uses video ads. These advertisements appear before a video you might want to watch. The videos are usually skippable and appear in the newsfeed and other video players within the Facebook platform.
- Story ads – These advertisements take the format of both images and videos. They appear in both the stories section of Instagram and Facebook.
- Messenger ads – These are ads that show between messages with friends on the Messenger platform.
- Marketplace ads – These ads are quite like Google Shopping ads. They appear in the marketplace while a user is shopping for both new and used products. In most cases, these ads are used to sell products—this means that they may not always work for marketing tree services.
Keep in mind that this list is not exhaustive—Facebook offers several other advertisement types. However, the types of ads mentioned above happen to be the most popular.
Facebook—like Google—has a large database of data that they use for detailed targeting. The platform allows you to home in on tree owners who might need your services based on their online behaviors, life events, location, job title, and much more.
The biggest advantage of using Facebook for marketing your tree services is the ability to target audiences based on your business’s objectives. Some of the objectives that Google allows you to choose from include:
- Brand awareness – Where your tree service business is looking for impressions.
- Drive traffic – This is where your goal is to direct Facebook users to your website.
- Conversions – This is why you want to convert Facebook users into either leads or customers who are paying to get the tree services offered by your business.
Pros of Advertising Your Tree Service Business on Facebook
1. Low Cost
When comparing Google ads vs Facebook ads based on the amount you pay for your pay-per-click advertising tricks, Facebook emerges as the more affordable option. On average, you will spend between $0.10 to $2 on each click you get on the social media platform. This suggests that a small tree service business—with a limited budget—may be able to generate great results by leveraging Facebook for advertising.
2. Exposure
When comparing Facebook ads vs Google ads based on the amount of time people spend online, Facebook will win. This means that when using Facebook, your tree service business will enjoy more brand awareness and impressions.
3. Retargeting
Facebook is one of the best platforms for tree service retargeting ads. By retargeting we mean that you can track the behaviors of people interacting with your ads and measure their level of interest in the services you offer.
If these users visit your website and fail to take the required action—say, turn into leads—you can follow them with Facebook ads until they turn into customers.
4. Custom Audiences
Facebook allows you to target users who have similar features—and interests—as your existing customers. This increases the potential of these Facebook users turning into paying customers.
Cons of Using Facebook for Advertising a Tree Service Business
The biggest disadvantage of using Facebook for tree service marketing is that buyer intent is usually very low. Most of the people browsing Facebook are typically there to see the latest trends/news, communicate with friends, and watch funny videos.
Compared to Google, the audience on Facebook is less likely to make financial decisions on the platform. This could mean that the number of people you get to order your tree services may be lower when you generate leads via Facebook compared to generating leads via Google.
Facebook Ads vs Google Ads: Which One is Better?
Now that we have given you the information you need to decide between Facebook ads and Google ads, we will move on and help you with the decision-making process.
One thing that comes out clearly in this Google ads vs Facebook ads faceoff is that both channels are great and offer your business ample opportunity for growth. Google, however, features a slight advantage when it comes to generating qualified leads—this is because buyer intent is usually high on the search engine compared to Facebook.
If your goal is to just get your business’s name out there—that is, to get more people to know about your tree care company—Facebook should work. With people spending more time on Facebook than on Google, brand awareness works extremely well on the social media platform compared to the search engine.
In an ideal situation, you would combine both Google and Facebook to create an effective marketing campaign for your tree service business. You would also ideally add tree service SEO and local SEO into your marketing plan.
Both Facebook and Google will drive interest and traffic to your business. What’s more, the two platforms will allow you to retarget users who have shown interest in your business—this will raise your conversion rate.
Conclusion
The Google ads vs Facebook ads faceoff is quite complicated. Both platforms boast many users and have significant data that lets advertisers target people who are most likely to take the action needed.
However, Google stands out for high buyer intent—meaning that Google users are more likely to order a tree service from your business. Facebook, on the other hand, stands out for the significant amount of time people spend on the platform—this means that the platform can give your tree service business brand awareness.
By weighing your goals when it comes to tree service marketing against the benefits offered by both Google and Facebook, choosing an ideal platform should be possible for you.
Which advertising platform is right for your business? That’s a question we can help you answer. Here at Home Service Direct, we have years of experience in creating successful Google Ads and Facebook Ads campaigns. We know the ins and outs of both platforms, and we can help you choose the one that will be most effective for your business. Give us a call today to get started!
