Google catches people searching for your trade right now, so it wins for urgent work. Meta interrupts scrollers, so it wins for big considered jobs. Google first, Meta second.
- Someone typing hot water repair near me has a cold shower and wants a tradie within the hour. That intent is what Google clicks buy.
- Meta suits work that is visual and slowly decided: pools, renovations, landscaping, repainting. Photos of finished jobs do the selling.
- Remarketing is Meta's strongest use, putting your work in front of people who visited your site while they are still comparing quotes.
- Cheap Meta leads are a trap. A form filled in mid-scroll goes cold fast, sometimes within the hour, so one that never answers is not cheaper.
- Splitting a small budget across both platforms on day one is the common mistake. Neither channel gets enough data to work.
Keep asking about it in
Quick answer: Google Ads and Meta ads do different jobs. Google catches people who are searching for your trade right now, so it wins for urgent, high-intent work. Meta ads interrupt people scrolling, so they win for big considered jobs and for staying in front of people who already know you. For most tradies the order is Google first, Meta second. The budget question is settled by cost per booked job, not by which platform sounds cheaper.
The real difference: searching vs scrolling
Someone typing “hot water repair near me” has a cold shower and a problem. They want a tradie in the next hour. Google Ads puts you in front of that person at that exact moment.
Someone on Facebook or Instagram is not looking for a tradie. They are scrolling. A Meta ad interrupts them with something they were not thinking about. Done well, that plants a seed. But the person still has to want the job at some point.
That single difference drives everything else: what the leads cost, how ready they are, and how fast you need to follow them up.
When Google Ads wins
Google wins whenever the customer knows they have a problem and is actively hunting for someone to fix it.
- Emergency and urgent work: blocked drains, burst pipes, power outs, locked out
- “Near me” and suburb searches where the customer wants someone local, today
- Any trade where the job starts with a search rather than a browse
The clicks cost more than Meta clicks, because you are bidding against every other tradie who wants that same customer. But the intent is real. You are not creating demand, you are catching it. We covered what that spend looks like in how much Google Ads cost for tradies.
When Meta ads win
Meta earns its place when the job is considered rather than urgent.
Nobody searches “pool builder” the day they decide to buy a pool. They think about it for months. They save photos, compare finishes, and talk themselves into it. Trades like pools, renovations, landscaping and repainting suit Meta because the work is visual and the decision is slow. Photos of your finished jobs do the selling.
The other strong use is remarketing: showing your work to people who already visited your website but did not enquire. Those people know you. A reminder while they compare quotes is cheap and often tips the decision.
The trap with cheap Meta leads
Meta lead forms can produce enquiries at a lower cost per lead than Google, and that number looks great on paper. The catch is what the leads are made of.
A person who filled in a form mid-scroll is not the same as a person who searched, clicked and called. Meta leads go cold fast, sometimes within the hour. If nobody calls them back quickly, the money is gone. So the platforms only compare fairly on one number: what a booked job cost you on each. A cheaper lead that never answers the phone is not cheaper.
The order that works for most tradies
Start where the demand already exists. Get Google search running, tracked properly, and profitable. That usually keeps a solo tradie or small crew busy on its own.
Add Meta once the first channel is stable: remarketing first, because it is the cheapest and warmest audience you have, then broader awareness if you want to grow past the search demand in your area. Splitting a small budget across both platforms on day one is the common mistake. Neither channel gets enough data to work.
How Web Blend runs it
We run Google Ads for tradies as the first channel, with every call and form tracked back to the click that caused it. When a client is ready for Meta, it goes in as part of the lead system, so the follow-up is automatic and those fast-cooling leads get a response before they go cold. One fixed monthly fee, your ad budget stays yours, and you see the cost per booked job for every channel.