Learn Google Ads first if you want to capture people who are already searching, which suits local services, B2B and lead generation. Learn Facebook Ads (Meta Ads) first if you want to reach people while they scroll, which suits e-commerce, visual products and new brands. Most digital marketers end up learning both.
Whether you aim to become a digital marketing professional or manage your business’s online advertising, you will need both platforms eventually. Each one offers different tools for reaching your target audience, but knowing where to start is key.
This guide will help you make the right choice.
Google Ads or Facebook Ads?
Both are valuable for your marketing strategy, but the choice between Facebook Ads and Google Ads depends on what you want to achieve, who your audience is, and the type of products or services you want to market.
In most cases, combining both will generate the best results, allowing you to reach more customers at every step of their buying journey.
When it comes to learning, each platform has its own tools and learning curve, but any skills you build in campaign management, analytics, and ad optimization transfer to other advertising platforms.
For example, if you become an expert in Google Ads, you can easily use your skills to work with Microsoft Advertising (formerly Bing Ads). When you become an expert in Facebook Ads, running campaigns on TikTok will be straightforward.
Let's take it from the beginning and examine the differences and similarities between the two platforms.
What Are Google Ads?
Google Ads is Google's advertising platform. It opens the doors to the millions of users on Google Search, YouTube, Gmail, Discover, and the Google Display Network, which includes the thousands of websites that participate in Google Adsense.
The unique characteristic of Google Ads is that it is primarily intent-driven, meaning your ads are shown to users actively searching for specific products or services.
For example, if someone searches for “best corporate law firms,” Google Ads can place your ad at the top of the search results.
When you start learning Google Ads, you’ll focus on understanding keywords, bidding strategies, and writing effective ad copy. You’ll also need to learn how to analyze data in your Google Ads account and in Google Analytics to improve the performance of your campaigns.
What Are Facebook Ads?
Facebook Ads, now called Meta Ads, allow you to advertise on Meta products like Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Threads, and Audience Network (which includes websites and apps that display Meta ads).
The main characteristic of Facebook ads is that they are interest-driven, meaning your ads appear based on users’ demographics, interests, and online behavior.
For instance, you could target users interested in laptops, even if they aren’t actively searching to buy a computer.
Learning Facebook Ads requires you to get familiar with Meta Ads Manager. You’ll learn how to create engaging visuals and videos, set audience targeting, choose ad placements, and track campaign performance with custom reports.
Key Differences Between Google Ads and Facebook Ads
Here are the main differences between the two platforms:
| Feature | Google Ads | Facebook Ads |
|---|---|---|
| Audience | Intent-based (searching users) | Interest-based (browsing users) |
| Targeting | Keywords, location, devices | Demographics, behaviors, interests |
| Ad Formats | Text ads, display, video ads | Images, videos, carousel ads |
| Best For | Leads and sales from people ready to buy: local services, B2B | Awareness and e-commerce sales: visual products, lifestyle brands |
| Learning Curve | Harder to start: keywords, bidding and conversion tracking are more technical. | Easier to start, harder to master: success depends on creative and audience testing. |
When to Learn Google Ads First
You should consider learning Google Ads first when:
1. You're promoting products and services that your target audience is actively searching for on Google. For example, home repair, legal, or medical businesses can generate direct leads from search ads.
2. You want faster results. Both Google Ads and Facebook Ads can generate traffic as soon as you start a campaign, but from experience, Google Ads can bring in higher quality traffic than Facebook Ads.
Due to the intent-based nature of Google Ads, it's more likely to get targeted traffic faster than running interest-based ads on Facebook.
3. You have clients that can benefit most by running campaigns on Google Search and the Display Network. These are typically established businesses that want more targeted traffic and leads and more sales.
Industries where Google Ads usually comes first: local services (plumbers, lawyers, clinics), B2B software and services, and any product people search for by name.
What Does The Learning Roadmap of Google Ads Look Like?
If you know nothing about Google Ads, you can learn the basics in a few days. Start by opening a Google Ads account and getting familiar with its interface, where you create and manage your campaigns.
Then, you should learn how to set up and optimize different types of campaigns. The most common are:
- Google Search campaigns
- Google Display campaigns
- Performance Max campaigns
- Demand Gen campaigns
- Video campaigns on YouTube
You should also learn how to do keyword research with tools like Google Keyword Planner to identify the right keywords for your ads, how to set up conversion tracking, and how to analyze performance data and key metrics.
Learning through a dedicated Google Ads course is the best way to start. There are plenty of options from Google and third-party providers.
Google Ads Learning Resources
- How to become a PPC Specialist
- 10 Best Google Ads Courses For Beginners
- How to Get a Google Ads Certification
- Are Google Ads Worth It?
- Digital Marketing Full Course (includes courses on Google Ads and Facebook Ads)
When to Learn Facebook Ads First
Facebook ads is worth learning first when:
1. You want to reach users on the Meta network and introduce them to your business, products, or services. Facebook Ads are excellent for startups or small businesses looking to raise brand awareness and promote their unique products to a large audience.
2. You already get traffic from search engines through SEO and want to diversify your traffic sources.
3. Your products can easily be represented by nice visuals and videos.
4. Your clients want to expand their reach beyond search and connect with customers who start their buying journey through a social media network rather than Google.
Industries where Facebook Ads usually comes first: e-commerce and direct-to-consumer brands, fashion, beauty and lifestyle products, apps, and any new product people do not know to search for yet.
What Does The Learning Roadmap of Facebook Ads Look Like?
Similar to Google Ads, the first step is to learn how Meta Ads Manager works and then practice setting up campaigns with different objectives and target audiences.
You need to understand how audience targeting works on Meta platforms, how to create custom audiences, and how to run retargeting campaigns.
From experience, learning Facebook Ads is easier than learning Google Ads because most users are already familiar with how social networks work. What is more challenging with Facebook ads is creating attractive visuals (images and videos) to get users' attention.
Expect to keep relearning, too. Meta changes its targeting options and ad tools often, partly in response to privacy rules, so what worked a year ago may not be available today.
Facebook Ads Learning Resources
- Top 10 Facebook Ads Courses For Beginners
- How to Become a Facebook Ads Expert
- Facebook Marketing Guide for Beginners
- Facebook Ads Course (Beginner & Advanced)
Learning for a Career or for Your Own Business?
Your reason for learning changes the answer.
If you are learning for a career, look at the jobs you want. Agency and in-house PPC roles usually expect Google Ads first, while social media, e-commerce and paid social roles expect Meta Ads. A paid media specialist is expected to run both, so plan to learn the second platform within your first year. Our guides on becoming a PPC specialist and a Facebook Ads expert show what each path involves.
If you are learning to promote your own business, follow your customers. If people already search for what you sell, start with Google Ads, because you can reach them at the moment they are looking. If you sell something visual, or something new that people do not know to search for, start with Facebook Ads, because you need to put it in front of them first.
Either way, learn one platform well enough to run a profitable campaign before you add the second. Spreading a small budget across both at once makes it harder to learn from the results.
Learning Both in the Long Term
Although choosing one platform is a great starting point, mastering both Google Ads and Facebook Ads will significantly enhance your digital marketing skills. Each platform complements the other, allowing you to create a more robust digital marketing strategy.
For both, going through a course is a great starting point as it will help you learn the basics in a structured way. To become an expert, though, and reach a point of running profitable campaigns, you need a lot of hands-on practice.
Start by allocating a small budget and experiment with Google Search Ads. They are easy to set up and optimize, and they will help you understand how Google Ads work.
Experiment with different bidding options, keywords, and ads. Enable conversion tracking and see if you can get conversions within your acceptable cost.
Do the same with Facebook Ads. Start a campaign with the goal of getting clicks or landing page views and analyze the results. Try different types of ads (image ads, carousels, and videos) and determine which one performs better.
For both scenarios, ensure you give the campaigns enough time to run. As a rule of thumb, you should make changes every couple of weeks. This will provide enough time for the systems to execute your changes and give you enough data to make data-driven decisions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Google Ads difficult to learn?
Google Ads is harder to start than Facebook Ads because keywords, bidding and conversion tracking are more technical. You can learn the basics in a few days and run a simple search campaign within a week, but running campaigns profitably takes months of hands-on practice.
Which is easier to learn, Meta Ads or Google Ads?
Meta Ads is easier to start with, because setting up a campaign feels familiar to anyone who uses social media. It is harder to master, because results depend on producing ads that stop people scrolling and on constant audience testing. Google Ads is the opposite: harder to start, more predictable once you understand it.
How much should I spend to practise Google Ads or Facebook Ads?
Neither platform requires a large budget, because you set your own daily spend. A small test budget, such as $10 to $20 a day for two to four weeks, is enough to learn how campaigns behave. Start with one campaign on one platform so the results are easy to read.
Can I learn Google Ads and Facebook Ads at the same time?
You can, but it is faster to learn one first. The skills overlap, so once you can run a profitable campaign on one platform, the second takes much less time. A course that covers both, such as our Digital Marketing Course, lets you move from one to the other in order.
