If you sell online with a limited ad budget, the first channel question usually comes down to two options: Google or Meta. Both can work for e-commerce. They work in opposite ways, and picking the one that fits your product can save you months of testing.
The short version: Google Ads reach people who are already searching, and Meta ads on Facebook and Instagram put your product in front of people who were not looking. If customers search for your product by name, start with Google. If they need to see it to want it, start with Meta.
Intent versus discovery
On Google Search, the shopper speaks first. They type "waterproof hiking boots women" and your ad appears because you bid on that search. The demand already exists, and your job is to show up and win the click.
On Facebook and Instagram, you speak first: someone scrolling their feed was not thinking about your product. Your ad has to stop them, create the desire and earn the click in a few seconds. You are creating demand, not catching it.
That one difference shapes everything else: what you build, how you pay, how you measure and which products fit.
Which products fit which channel
Use the traits of your product to choose where to start.
| Product trait | Better first channel | Why |
|---|---|---|
| People search for it by name or category | The demand exists; you capture it | |
| New or unusual, nobody knows to search for it | Meta | Shoppers have to see it to want it |
| Sells on a visual demonstration | Meta | A short video in the feed shows it working |
| Price and delivery decide the sale | Google Shopping | Shoppers compare image, price and store side by side |
| Impulse buy or gift | Meta | Bought on sight, not after research |
| Urgent need, such as a replacement part | The buyer searches the moment the need appears |
Most products lean one way without being exclusive. A new gadget may start on Meta, then build enough search demand to make Google profitable later.
How you pay, and what it means for your numbers
Google Search ads are usually paid per click, at a cost per click set by an auction on each search. Meta ads are usually charged for impressions, priced per thousand as the CPM, even when you optimize for purchases. Both are auctions, so prices move with competition, the season and how well your ads perform.
What matters in the end is the cost per sale, and you can work it out on either platform from a few numbers. Say a product sells for 40 euros and leaves 20 euros after product cost, shipping and fees. You break even at a cost of 20 euros per sale, which is a break-even ROAS of 2.0.
- Google example. Clicks cost 0.80 euros and 4 percent of visitors buy. One sale takes 25 clicks, so it costs 20 euros: exactly break-even. If the conversion rate rises to 5 percent, a sale takes 20 clicks and costs 16 euros, leaving 4 euros of profit.
- Meta example. 1,000 impressions cost 12 euros, 1.5 percent of viewers click and 2.5 percent of visitors buy. That is 15 clicks and 0.375 sales per 1,000 impressions, so each sale costs 12 divided by 0.375, or 32 euros. That loses money: the creative has to earn more clicks or the page has to convert better.
These numbers are examples, but the logic holds: on Google you mostly improve keywords, bids, the product feed and the page, while on Meta you mostly improve the creative.
Set your own target in the break-even ROAS calculator before you spend anything.
Keywords versus creatives
On Google Search, your main lever is the keyword list. You choose the searches you want to appear for, write ads that match them closely, and exclude searches that waste money with negative keywords. Specific searches usually bring fewer clicks, from people more likely to buy.
On Meta, your main lever is the creative. Many advertisers now run broad targeting and let the platform find buyers from how people react to the ad.
That means you need a steady supply of new creatives: different hooks, formats and angles. Even a strong ad wears out as the same people see it again and again.
This affects who should run each channel. Google suits someone who enjoys search terms and spreadsheets. Meta suits someone who can produce and test many creatives quickly.
Google Shopping ads: the e-commerce option
For online stores, Google is not only text ads. Shopping ads show a product image, its title, its price and your store name in the search results, next to other stores' offers.
They run from a product feed you submit through Google Merchant Center, rather than from keywords you pick. Google matches your products to searches using the information in that feed, such as titles, descriptions and categories.
That makes the feed your main lever. Clear titles with the words shoppers use (brand, product type, a key attribute, size or color), sharp images and a competitive price do most of the work. Because the price is shown next to competitors, Shopping ads suit products where you can compete on price or stand out on the image.
How Google and Meta work together
The two channels are not rivals. They cover different moments of the same customer journey.
- Meta creates interest. Someone sees your video and is curious, but does not buy yet.
- Google captures it. Days later they search for your brand or the product type. A brand search campaign and Shopping ads make sure they find you, not a competitor.
- Both bring people back. Retargeting on Meta and remarketing on Google reach visitors who did not buy the first time.
Because of this overlap, each platform's own reports can claim the same sale. Look at your total revenue against your total ad spend, the MER, as well as each dashboard. The ROI calculator helps you see what all that spend really returned.
A sensible way to start
- Pick one channel first, using the product table above. A small budget spread over two platforms gives neither enough data.
- Set your break-even ROAS from your real margin before you launch.
- Fund the test long enough to learn. A common rule of thumb is to budget for enough sales to judge, for example 20 to 30 at your target cost per sale. At a target of 20 euros per sale, 25 sales means a test budget of about 500 euros.
- Test a few things at a time: three to five creatives on Meta, or a tight set of keywords plus a Shopping campaign on Google.
- Add the second channel once the first is profitable, or when your Meta ads start to bring in brand searches.
How to do this with SellWinners
Before you choose, look at where brands in your niche already spend. The SellWinners Ads Library covers Meta, Google and TikTok ads in one place, so you can compare channels with the same search.
See what runs on Meta
Open the Ads Library on the Meta tab and search your product or niche. Keep active ads, set a minimum days running and sort by Reach to see what carries the market. Each ad shows its creative, copy, call to action, landing page and estimated spend.
Use the brand filter to list every Meta ad of one competitor. The Meta Ads Library page shows how to read a brand's whole account: its top ads, its format mix and the landing pages its ads point to.
See what runs on Google
Switch to the Google tab and search the same product, or choose a competitor's shop in the brand filter to list its Google ads. Filter by network, format, country and days running, then sort by Reach or Longest running. Google ads that have run for a long time show which messages a brand keeps paying for.
Compare the two
A competitor with many long-running Meta ads and few Google ads is betting on discovery. One with steady Google ads and little on Meta is catching existing demand. If the leaders in your niche lean one way, that is a strong hint for your first channel.
In Shops in the app, the pixels filter shows which tracking pixels stores have installed, a quick hint of which ad platforms a group of stores uses. The Advertisers page ranks the brands running the most Meta ads in your niche, so you know whom to study first.
Save examples from both libraries to one board in the app to compare them side by side, and add your main competitor to the Brand Tracker to follow its Meta ads over time.
Key takeaways
- Google catches existing demand from people searching. Meta creates demand in the feed.
- Start on Google if people search for your product, on Meta if they need to see it to want it.
- Work out your break-even cost per sale first, then judge both channels against it.
- Google runs on keywords and product feeds, Meta on a steady flow of creatives. Once one channel is profitable, add the other.
- Check where competitors spend in the SellWinners Ads Library, with Meta and Google side by side.
Want to see where your competitors advertise? Create a free account to open each shop's Meta ad library, or compare the plans for Google ads on the pricing page.