Google Ads vs Facebook Ads in Singapore: Which Should You Start With?
Short answer
Start with Google Ads if customers search for what you sell, such as plumbers or lawyers. Start with Meta Ads if they don't know they need you yet, such as tuition or gifts. Google charges per click, Meta mostly per impression. Track calls and WhatsApp enquiries, judge cost per paying customer, and test with a 70/30 split for three months.
Should a Singapore business start with Google Ads or Facebook Ads?
If people already search for what you sell, start with Google Ads. If they don’t know they need you yet, start with Meta Ads, which covers Facebook and Instagram.
That’s the short answer. The longer one depends on how your customer decides, what a lead is worth to you, and how you’ll tell a good lead from a bad one.
We run both at SimplyGJ. Arché Academy, the tuition centre our founder owns, runs Meta Ads only. Our Singapore home-services clients run Google Ads. Neither choice was loyalty to a platform. Each one followed how the customer actually buys.
What is the real difference between intent and interruption?
Google Ads shows your ad to someone who has just typed a problem into a search box. Meta Ads shows your ad to someone scrolling a feed who wasn’t looking for you.
That one difference drives everything else. The cost model, the creative, the lead quality and the follow-up all flow from it.
A homeowner typing “plumber singapore” at 10pm has a leaking pipe. They want a number to call. Your ad’s job is to be there and look credible.
A parent scrolling Instagram on a Sunday isn’t searching for tuition. But if your ad shows the right Sec 3 programme at the right moment, they might tap. Your ad’s job is to create the want.
So Google captures demand that already exists. Meta creates demand, or wakes up demand that was sleeping.
| Google Ads (Search) | Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram) | |
|---|---|---|
| How people see your ad | They search a keyword | It appears in their feed, Stories or Reels |
| Buyer state | Already looking | Not looking yet |
| Main cost model | Cost per click (CPC) | Mostly cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM) |
| Creative that works | Text that matches the search | Images, video, carousels |
| How leads arrive | Calls, website forms, lead form assets | Instant lead forms, click-to-WhatsApp, website |
| Main job | Capture existing demand | Create demand and retarget |
| Main risk | Expensive keywords or too few searches | Cheap leads who never pick up the phone |
How do the costs work: CPC vs CPM?
Google Search ads are mostly paid per click. Meta ads are mostly paid per impression, so you pay for the ad being seen whether or not anyone clicks.
Google puts it plainly. With cost-per-click bidding, you’re charged only when someone is interested enough to click your ad. You set a maximum CPC and could be charged less.
Meta works differently. Its Marketing API documentation on billing events lists what an advertiser can pay for, including impressions, link clicks and video views. Impressions is the billing event allowed for most optimisation goals. In practice, you’re usually paying for reach, and Meta’s delivery system decides who sees the ad.
That’s why comparing a Google CPC with a Meta CPC misleads people. A Meta click is cheap because the person wasn’t looking. A Google click costs more because they were.
What do Google clicks cost in Singapore?
It depends heavily on the keyword. Here are a few Singapore searches pulled from Semrush.
| Search term | Monthly searches | Avg CPC (US$) |
|---|---|---|
| pest control singapore | 4,400 | 6.70 |
| electrician singapore | 3,600 | 5.36 |
| plumber singapore | 6,600 | 5.00 |
| divorce lawyer singapore | 2,900 | 4.31 |
| physiotherapy singapore | 4,400 | 3.45 |
| tuition centre singapore | 1,900 | 3.22 |
| aircon servicing | 9,900 | 2.22 |
| reflexology singapore | 170 | 0.54 |
These are estimates of what advertisers pay on average, not a quote. Your real cost depends on your bids, your ad quality and who else bids that day.
Look at reflexology. The clicks are cheap, but only 170 searches a month exist. A low CPC can also mean low demand, and that ceiling matters more than the price. Our guide to Google Ads cost in Singapore covers budgeting in more detail.
Which business types suit each platform?
If customers search when they need you, Google wins. If the need is visual, impulsive or something they haven’t noticed yet, Meta wins.
This is how we’d start a new account. It’s our working view from running both, not a published benchmark.
| Business type | Start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Urgent home services (plumber, electrician, locksmith, pest control) | Google Ads | People search when something breaks and call the first credible result |
| Aircon servicing and scheduled maintenance | Google Ads | Steady search volume and repeat need |
| Professional services (legal, physiotherapy, accounting) | Google Ads | Buyers compare providers by searching |
| Tuition and enrichment centres | Meta Ads | Parents respond to results, timetables and teacher profiles in their feed |
| Wellness and treatments (reflexology, spa, facials) | Test both | Search demand is real but small, and visuals sell the experience |
| E-commerce, food and beverage, gifts, events | Meta Ads | These sell on looks and impulse, and few people search for a brand they don’t know |
| Niche B2B services | Google Ads | Few buyers, but they search with specific terms |
“Test both” isn’t a hedge. My Father’s Feet, a TCM reflexology business, is a good example. Its Google Ads conversions tripled in three months after SimplyGJ took over the account. A small search market can still be the one that converts best.
The tuition row comes from our own numbers too. One Arché Academy lead-form campaign on Meta spent S$573.96 and brought in 26 form leads. That’s about S$22 per lead, from parents who weren’t searching when they saw the ad.
How do you judge lead quality on each platform?
Judge leads by what turns into revenue, not by what fills a form. Decide what counts as a conversion before you spend the first dollar.
Google Ads: track calls and WhatsApp, not just forms
Our Singapore home-services Google Ads clients count calls or WhatsApp enquiries as conversions. That’s how their customers actually reach out, so that’s what we optimise for.
Google can count calls from your ads as conversions when they last longer than a minimum duration you set. That stops a 10-second misdial from being counted as a lead. Google’s AI analysis of call recordings is limited to calls where both parties are in the US or Canada. In Singapore, the duration threshold is the tool you’ll use.
Google also offers lead form assets, which let people submit their details inside the ad on Search and Performance Max campaigns.
If your campaign gets clicks but no enquiries, the problem is usually the landing page or the tracking, not the platform. We break that down in why Google Ads isn’t generating leads.
Meta Ads: lead forms vs click-to-WhatsApp
Meta lead forms are quick to fill. Meta says its lead ads form uses information people already shared with Facebook. That convenience cuts both ways. Fewer steps means more leads, and more people who forget they ever submitted.
Click-to-WhatsApp ads send people who click directly into a WhatsApp conversation with your business. There’s no form at all. In our view, a person who types a message to you is a stronger signal than a prefilled form. You’ll get fewer of them, but more will reply.
Either way, the number to watch isn’t cost per lead. It’s cost per lead who picks up, books or pays. S$22 a lead is cheap for a tuition centre only if enough of those parents book a trial. For more on setting up forms properly, read our guide to Facebook lead ads.
How should you split your budget when testing both?
Put most of the budget on the platform that matches how your customer buys. Test the other with a smaller share for at least three months, using the same definition of a lead on both.
Our working rule is 70/30. Here’s how we run it.
- Fix the conversion first. Calls over a set duration, WhatsApp enquiries or completed forms. Use the same definition on both platforms.
- Give the main platform 70%. That’s Google for searched services and Meta for products and unaware needs.
- Give the test platform 30%. Enough to learn something, not enough to sink the month.
- Run it for three months. One month is rarely enough to tell a bad platform from a bad first ad.
- Compare cost per qualified lead, then cost per paying customer. Not clicks, not impressions.
- Move budget to the winner. Keep a little on the other only if it does a job the winner can’t, such as retargeting past visitors.
If SimplyGJ manages it, Google, Meta and TikTok Ads are a one-off S$300 setup plus 15% of monthly ad spend. The minimum ad spend is S$1,000 a month, with a three-month minimum. On S$1,000 of spend, that’s S$150 in management fees. The three months aren’t arbitrary. That’s how long a fair test takes.
You can see how we run each platform on our Google Ads management and Meta Ads management pages.
So which one should you start with?
Start where your customer already is. If they search, be on Google. If they scroll, be on Meta.
Most businesses that think they picked the wrong platform actually picked the wrong definition of a lead. Fix that first, and the platform choice usually becomes obvious.
The platform is rarely the problem. What you count as a lead usually is.