Meta ads vs Google Ads for a local service business

A plumber, a physio clinic, a salon and an accountant all face the same advertising question sooner or later: Google or Meta? Both sell ads to small local businesses through self-service accounts, and neither sets a high entry price on the pages we read. They work differently, though, and those differences decide which one suits a particular job.

This comparison uses only what Google and Meta say about their own products.

How we compared them

What we compared, from each company’s help and product pages as read on 12 October 2026:

• how each platform decides who sees a local business’s ad
• what a daily budget really commits you to, and how you’re billed
• how GST is applied to an Australian account
• the ad formats built for phone calls, enquiries and messages
• how each counts results, and how long its automated bidding takes to settle
• the account checks you may be asked to complete.

What we didn’t compare:

• the cost of a click, call or lead. The pages we read don’t give these, and we haven’t used third-party benchmark figures.
• results. We didn’t run campaigns on either platform.
• other ad platforms, or agency and management fees.

There are no affiliate links in this story.

The basic difference: a search or a scroll

Google describes its Search campaigns as text ads that “let you reach people while they’re searching on Google for the products and services you offer”. You choose keywords, which Google defines as “words or phrases that are used to match ads with the terms people are searching for”. The ad appears because someone typed something.

Meta describes its ads as a way to reach customers “as they connect with people and find communities on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp”. Its ads show up while people “explore their Facebook Feed or watch Instagram Reels”. Nobody has asked for a plumber. Meta’s system decides who is likely to respond.

Neither company compares itself with the other. On our reading of their own descriptions, Google Search fits a service people look up when they need it, such as a burst pipe or a tax deadline. Meta fits a service people can be reminded of or introduced to, such as a new clinic, a salon offer or a seasonal check-up.

Who sees the ad

Google. You can target “a radius around a location”, and, depending on the country, “regions, cities or postcodes”. The radius must be at least 1 km. Google warns that with “a small radius or very small location, your ads might only show intermittently or not at all”.

One setting deserves a look. Google’s default, “Presence or Interest”, reaches people in your area “as well as people who have shown interest in your targeted locations”. The alternative, “Presence”, limits ads to people “likely to be located, or regularly located” there. Google says most campaigns see fewer impressions after switching away from the default. On our reading, a business that only serves its own suburbs may still prefer “Presence”.

Keyword match types matter too. Broad match is the default and “the most comprehensive”. Exact match gives “the most steering over who views your ad, but reaches fewer searches”. Google’s automation is also expanding: our story on Google’s AI Max switch for Search campaigns covers what changed in September.

Meta. Location targeting reaches people who “live in, have recently spent time in or go often to” the places you choose. You can drop a pin and adjust the radius with a slider. The page we read gives no single minimum radius: it says the limits “vary by location type”. You can’t add a radius to a postcode.

Beyond location, Meta now starts most campaigns in what it calls the recommended Advantage+ campaign setup. One part of it, Advantage+ audience, “lets you use Meta’s advanced AI to find the audience” rather than defining it yourself. Meta says it draws on past conversions, Meta Pixel data and interactions with your earlier ads.

Both companies say location accuracy isn’t guaranteed. Meta adds that you might “receive messages or leads from outside your location settings”.

What a daily budget commits you to

On both platforms the daily budget is an average, not a ceiling.

Question	Google Ads	Meta ads
What you usually pay for	Each click on a Search ad, with cost-per-click bidding	Impressions, unless you choose otherwise when creating the ad
Most it can spend in a day	Up to twice the average daily budget, for most campaigns	Up to 75% over the daily budget
Limit over a longer period	30.4 times the daily budget in a month, for most campaigns	Seven times the daily budget in a week
Minimum budget	None stated on the pages we read	Varies by country and objective; Meta’s pricing page suggests starting with “at least $5” (currency not stated)
When you’re charged	On postpay: the first of the month, or when you reach a payment threshold	On automatic billing: when you reach a payment threshold, and again on your monthly bill date
GST on an Australian account	10%, Google says	Not added once an ABN is on the account, where Meta Platforms Ireland is the seller

Illustrative example, using only those published rules: a A$20 daily budget could cost up to A$40 on a busy day on Google and no more than A$608 in a month (A$20 × 30.4). On Meta, the same A$20 could reach A$35 in a day and no more than A$140 in a week.

One Google detail catches businesses that advertise on weekdays only. With an ad schedule, the monthly limit “will continue to be 30.4 times your average daily budget”, and Google says the system will pace towards that full amount however many days the campaign is active.

Meta’s minimum budgets page quotes US dollars only and says Ads Manager will alert you if a budget is too low. Meta also notes that you “may be charged multiple times in a given month even if you’re running just one ad”.

GST. Google’s Australian tax page says, under the heading Google Australia Pty Limited, that all Google Ads sales in Australia are subject to 10% GST, for accounts with Australian business addresses. Meta’s GST page says ads sold by Meta Platforms Ireland attract GST when the account’s country is Australia and no ABN has been added, and that “if you add your ABN to your account, Meta doesn’t add GST”. The page ties the ABN to GST registration: Meta says it must confirm a business advertiser’s GST registration through its ABN. Both companies say they can’t give tax advice. Neither page explains how to treat this in your BAS. That is a question for your bookkeeper or accountant.

Calls, forms and messages

Google. Standalone call ads are being retired. Google’s help page set February 2026 for removing the options to create new ones, and that existing call ads “will stop receiving impressions” in February 2027. The replacement is a call asset: a phone number attached to an ordinary search ad. A click on it costs the same as a click on the headline, and you can schedule the number to appear only when someone can answer. Google notes that call assets appear on only some impressions.

Location assets take your address from Google Maps and Google Business Profile and can show it, a map or the travel distance, including on Google Maps. Lead form assets let people “submit their information in a form directly in your ad” on Search and Performance Max campaigns. They require a privacy policy, a good policy record and an eligible business category.

Google’s Local Services Ads, a separate format sold in some countries, don’t appear to be offered here. When we checked, the country selector on the Local Services help page offered 11 countries, and Australia wasn’t one of them.

Meta. Meta offers three kinds of lead ad: with calling, with an instant form, and click to message. Instant forms collect details “without requiring them to leave Facebook or Instagram”, and contact details may be prefilled. The default form type is “more volume”; a “higher intent” option is also available. A privacy policy is required. Call ads open the phone’s keypad with your number filled in. Click-to-message ads start a conversation in Messenger, Instagram or WhatsApp.

A boosted post is the simplest route. Meta says it is still an ad, but boosted posts “don’t have as many customization and detailed targeting options” as one built in Ads Manager. Meta also warns that, in most regions, a 30% Apple service fee may apply when you add funds to your ad account in the Instagram iOS app.

Counting what you get

Google lets you count phone calls as conversions by turning on call reporting. With it on, Google assigns a forwarding number so you can see call length and start time, and count calls over a set duration as conversions. Google lists Australia among the countries where forwarding numbers are available. Its automated bidding needs “up to around 50 conversion events or 3 conversion cycles” to calibrate.

Meta reports “results”, which it defines as the number of times an ad “achieved an outcome, based on the objective and settings you selected”. It adds that results “may not reflect how you’re billed”. Its default attribution counts a result up to seven days after a click, or one day after a view or an engagement, so a Meta result and a Google conversion aren’t measured the same way. Meta’s learning phase usually ends “after about 50 results in the week after the ad set’s last significant edit”, and during it ad sets “usually have a higher CPA”.

On our reading, 50 results a week is a lot of enquiries for a small local budget, so a small Meta campaign may spend much of its life in the learning phase. Meta’s own advice is to set a budget large enough to get enough results and to avoid frequent changes.

Clinics and financial businesses should note one Meta rule: information sent through the Meta Pixel must not include “health, financial, or children’s data”.

Whichever platform you use, the number that matters is booked work. Our guide to setting a Google Ads budget and counting the jobs it brings in shows how to connect an ad report to real jobs, and the same method works for Meta.

Account checks

Google says “all advertisers will eventually be required to complete advertiser verification”, and that some ads may be restricted when your account is selected. Meta requires a Facebook Page or Instagram business profile to create an ad. Its business verification asks for the legal business name, address, phone number and website, and a decision “may take up to 14 business days”. Meta says verification is required for certain features, so not every advertiser is asked.

How to choose

This is our reading of the two companies’ own descriptions, not a recommendation from either.

• People search for your service when they need it (emergency trades, repairs, legal or tax help): start with Google Search, with a call asset and a tight location setting.
• People need reminding or introducing (a new clinic, a salon, classes, seasonal services): Meta’s formats suit an offer with a photo or video and a form or message button.
• Your budget is small: run one platform properly before splitting it. Each company puts the figure its bidding needs to settle at around 50 results.
• You can’t answer the phone during the day: a form or message format may suit better than a call format, on either platform.

Before spending on either, make sure the page or form the ad leads to matches what the ad promises. Our ad-to-page checklist covers that.

Checklist

• Work out the most you can be charged. Multiply a Google daily budget by 30.4 for the monthly limit, or a Meta daily budget by seven for the weekly limit.
• Check Google’s location option. See whether each campaign uses “Presence or Interest” or “Presence”, and choose deliberately.
• Check the radius on Meta. Open the location in your ad set and move the slider to cover only the area you serve.
• Check the ABN field on your Meta ad account. It’s in Payment settings in Ads Manager. Meta says it doesn’t add GST once a GST-registered business has added its ABN. Ask your bookkeeper how to record ad costs from each platform.
• Move any Google call ads to call assets. Existing call ads stop showing in February 2027.
• Schedule phone numbers for staffed hours. Use call asset scheduling on Google, or run Meta call ads only when someone can answer.
• Link a privacy policy before using lead forms. Both Google lead form assets and Meta instant forms require one.