Performance Marketing
2026-10-21 · 9 min read
Sapun Lamichhane
Founder & CEO of Arcetis
Google Search Ads show up when someone is actively typing a question or need into a search bar - "ecommerce website development Kathmandu" or "best eye clinic Pokhara." That person has already decided they have a need and is actively comparing options. Meta Ads, by contrast, interrupt someone scrolling Instagram or Facebook who was not thinking about your category at all a moment ago.
This difference matters more than any feature comparison. Google Ads tends to produce faster, more obviously trackable results because you are catching existing intent. Meta Ads tends to take longer to show return because you are building awareness and interest from a colder starting point, even when the targeting is excellent.
“Google Ads answers a question someone already asked. Meta Ads asks a question someone was not thinking about yet. Most businesses need both eventually, but almost none need both on day one.”
Google Search Ads are priced per click, and the price depends entirely on how many businesses are bidding on the same terms. A niche product category might see a modest cost per click, while competitive categories like education consultancies, legal services, or real estate have seen costs climb as more businesses compete for the same searches - sometimes into the hundreds of NPR per click for the most contested terms.
Meta Ads are typically priced per thousand impressions rather than per click, which usually means a lower entry cost - a small business can realistically test a campaign with NPR 15,000 to 30,000 in monthly ad spend. Remember in both cases this is separate from whatever you pay an agency or freelancer to manage the account, which scales with the size and complexity of what they are running.
For education consultancies, clinics, legal and B2B services - categories where someone actively searches when they have the need - Google Ads usually produces a better immediate return because you are meeting existing intent. For fashion, home decor, food, and other visually driven retail and ecommerce products, Meta Ads tends to perform better because the purchase decision often starts with seeing the product, not searching for it.
Real estate and higher-ticket purchases often need both, used differently - Google captures the person actively searching for a property in a specific area, while Meta builds awareness of a new project among people not yet actively searching. Neither platform alone tells the full story for this category.
Google Ads success depends heavily on keyword research, ad copy that matches search intent precisely, and landing pages that answer the exact question someone searched. It is a discipline of precision and relevance more than visual creativity.
Meta Ads success depends on a steady stream of fresh creative - video, images, different angles on the same offer - because the same ad shown to the same audience for too long simply stops performing as people scroll past it. This is an ongoing content production commitment, not a set-and-forget campaign.
Usually not well. Splitting a NPR 20,000 or 30,000 monthly ad budget across both platforms often means neither gets enough spend to exit the learning phase and generate reliable data, so you end up with two mediocre campaigns instead of one that actually works. The more honest approach for most small and growing businesses is to sequence - prove out one platform first, then add the second once the first is generating steady, trackable results.
Start by asking where your customer's decision actually begins - do they search for a solution, or do they discover it while scrolling? That single question points you toward the right platform for your starting budget more reliably than any trend list. This is the first conversation Arcetis has with every new performance marketing client, because getting this sequencing right before spending a single rupee matters more than almost any tactical decision that comes after it.
For most businesses starting out, do not split a small budget across both. Pick the platform that matches where your customer's decision begins - search-driven need points to Google, visual discovery points to Meta - and get one working well before adding the second.
Meta Ads usually have a lower entry cost because you are paying for impressions rather than clicks, which makes it easier to test with a smaller budget. Google Ads can be more expensive per click in competitive categories, but often converts faster because it captures existing intent.
For most growing businesses, yes - they serve different stages of the customer journey. The mistake is starting with both before either one has proven it works for your specific business and budget.