What are growth teams saying about Meta Ads vs Google Ads

The age-old debate between Meta Ads and Google Ads has shifted from a "which is better" conversation to a strategic "where does the money actually go" autopsy. While Google remains the king of high-intent search, Meta has evolved into a powerhouse for demand generation that often yields a lower blended CAC for SaaS companies. Growth teams are finding that 65% of their attributed conversions on search actually started with a social touchpoint.

The TL;DR: Intent vs. Interest

The consensus is clear; Google Ads is for capturing demand, while Meta Ads is for creating it. If your prospect is actively searching for a solution, Google is the scalpel you need to extract that value. However, the skyrocketing cost-per-click on high-intent keywords has pushed many growth teams toward Meta to build brand awareness earlier in the funnel.

Meta’s Advantage+ and refined AI targeting have turned it into a "machine" that often outperforms manual granularity. Smart teams use Google for bottom-of-funnel defense and Meta for top-of-funnel scale. Success today isn't about choosing one, it's about understanding that Google captures the 10% of the market looking now; while Meta influences the 90% who aren't.

The Google Intent Trap and The PMax Problem

Google Ads used to be a simple game of bidding on the right keywords. Today, it has become a complex battle against automation and rising costs. Many teams are seeing CPCs for "Best SaaS Tool" keywords climb to astronomical levels, often exceeding $50 or even $100 per click in competitive niches.

Performance Max (PMax) is the most controversial tool in the Google arsenal right now. While it promises to find customers across all Google properties, it often takes credit for conversions that would have happened anyway. It tends to bid heavily on your own brand keywords, which inflates the "Return on Ad Spend" without actually driving incremental growth.

Why Google Search is Feeling Crowded

• Brand Cannibalization: PMax frequently eats up brand search traffic, making your organic efforts look less effective than they are.
• Lack of Control: Google's "simplified" matching means your ads often show up for broad, irrelevant terms that burn budget.
• High Barrier to Entry: To win on competitive search terms, you need massive budgets and a highly optimized landing page.

Meta: The Creative-Led Growth Machine

Meta has undergone a massive transformation, moving away from hyper-specific interest targeting toward creative-led targeting. The algorithm is now smart enough to find your audience based purely on who interacts with your video or image. This has shifted the workload from the media buyer to the creative team.

If your creative is "spicy" enough to stop the scroll, Meta acts as a massive discovery engine. Growth teams are finding that 80% of a campaign's success on Meta now depends on the creative hook rather than the technical settings behind the scenes. This allows for a much broader reach at a fraction of the cost of Search.

The Rise of Advantage+ Shopping

1. Reduced Friction: Advantage+ automates the heavy lifting of audience testing, letting the AI do the work.
2. Broader Reach: It allows you to reach people who might not be looking for you but have a problem you can solve.
3. Lower CPMs: Meta generally offers much lower costs to get your message in front of people compared to Google’s premium search real estate.

The Attribution Delusion: Why the Numbers Lie

The biggest mistake founders make is looking at Meta and Google in silos. Last-click attribution usually favors Google because it is the final stop before a purchase. If you only look at your dashboard, you might see a 400% ROAS on Google and a 150% ROAS on Meta and decide to kill the Meta spend.

However, many teams find that when they turn off Meta, their Google search volume for brand terms drops significantly. This proves that Meta is doing the "heavy lifting" of making people aware your brand exists. Attribution is a mess; the reality is that a customer likely saw three Meta ads, a LinkedIn post, and then finally Googled your name.

Scaling Without Burning Your Budget

Scaling Google is often limited by search volume; there are only so many people searching for "CRM for plumbers" every month. Once you’ve captured that demand, spending more money just leads to diminishing returns or bidding on irrelevant traffic. Meta is much more "elastic" and can scale as long as you can pump out fresh creative to fight ad fatigue.

Growth teams are moving toward a "total ecosystem" view. They use Google as a safety net to catch anyone searching for their brand or category leaders. Then, they use Meta to flood the market with educational content and social proof. This creates a virtuous cycle where Meta drives the search volume that Google then converts.

Actionable Tactics for Growth Teams

• Exclude Brand from PMax: Force Google's automation to find new customers rather than taking credit for your existing ones.
• Test "UGC" Style Ads on Meta: Highly polished studio ads are being ignored in favor of "low-fi" content that looks like a real post.
• Focus on the First 3 Seconds: If your Meta ad doesn't grab attention immediately, you are wasting 90% of your budget on invisible impressions.

The Verdict: Who Should Spend Where?

If you are a bootstrapped founder with a tiny budget, start with Google Search. It is the fastest way to find people who are ready to buy right now. You can target "alternative to [competitor]" keywords and snag customers who are already unhappy elsewhere. It is the closest thing to guaranteed intent you can buy.

Once you have a functional funnel and a clear ICP (Ideal Customer Profile), shift your focus to Meta. Meta is where you build the brand that people eventually search for on Google. If you want to grow past the "early adopter" phase, you have to venture into the world of interest-based targeting and visual storytelling.

Conclusion: Balancing the Scales

The most successful growth teams don't pick a side; they orchestrate a symphony. Google handles the logic and the immediate need, while Meta handles the emotion and the long-term desire. Reliance on a single platform is a recipe for disaster, especially with how frequently algorithms and privacy laws change.

Focus on building a creative engine for Meta and an intent-capture net for Google. Monitor your "blended CAC" rather than platform-specific numbers. When you stop worrying about which platform gets the credit and start focusing on how they support each other, your growth will finally become predictable.