If your customers already come from Instagram, do not switch it off. Add Google Ads when people start searching for your service in words: “emergency plumber,” “teeth whitening near me,” “estate planning lawyer.” Instagram shows you to people who were not looking and makes them want something. Google Search shows you to a person who has just typed a query and is choosing a provider. Those are two different jobs, so the question is not “which is better” but “when do I add the second channel.”
I have run ads for 19 years and teach business owners to do it. Below: how to check whether people search for your service, and how to split money for a test without breaking what works. The Instagram account setup itself is in a separate guide, how to set up Instagram ads for a small business.
Instagram creates demand, Google catches it
Instagram’s reach can be very wide. DataReportal’s Digital 2026 report for Ukraine, based on Meta’s advertising tools, put Instagram’s ad reach at 32.0 percent of the country’s total population at the end of 2025. That is one national figure, not a U.S. one, and I use it for one point: reach tells you how many people an ad can be shown to, not how many need your service today.
| Instagram ads | Google Search | |
|---|---|---|
| Who sees it | People in the audience you set up, even if they were not searching | People who typed a query about your service |
| What it does | Builds interest and reminds people you exist | Catches a person at the moment of choosing |
| Where it is stronger | Visual services and products, emotion, impulse buys | Urgent services, or ones people look for in words |
| Weak spot | The person may not be ready to buy now | If nobody searches, there is nobody to show the ad to |
In my experience, for a service business with hot demand, such as a plumber, an HVAC company or a dentist, search usually becomes the second channel after Instagram. For a boutique, a bakery or a photographer, where people buy from a picture, the feed often stays the main channel. The difference in the work is covered in the article on a paid social specialist versus a Google Ads specialist.
How to check whether people search for your service
- In Google Ads open the Tools menu and choose Keyword Planner.
- Select Discover new keywords and type your service the way a customer would say it. For a local business add the city. Try two or three phrasings, because one service is searched in several ways.
- Look at the monthly searches Keyword Planner shows and the approximate cost it gives for showing an ad on that keyword.
If searches exist, there is someone to catch. If Keyword Planner stays silent or shows an error, the volume is very low or the topic is sensitive, such as health or finance. Then stay on Instagram. Google asks you to finish account setup and enter billing information to use the core features. The numbers are estimates, and results depend on your bids, budget, ad quality and customer behavior, as the Google Ads Help page on Keyword Planner itself warns.
How to split the budget for a test
A three-step rule, with no invented “effectiveness” percentages, because nobody has them in advance.
- Leave the Instagram spend that brings leads alone. Do not fund Google out of it.
- Google gets its own test budget and its own campaign. Size it like this: the approximate cost from Keyword Planner multiplied by the number of clicks you are willing to pay for in order to see the first leads. A made-up example: Keyword Planner suggests about $1 per click, you are willing to buy 100 clicks, so the test costs $100. That is arithmetic, not a norm, and your industry will have its own numbers.
- Turn the amount into a daily figure: divide the monthly budget by 30.4. Google’s own help page does it this way: $304 a month gives $10 a day, and over a month Google will not spend more than 30.4 times the daily budget.
Judge by cost per lead: divide spend by the number of leads, or better, by the number of people who paid. Do not shut the test down in the first days: the “Learning” status of a bid strategy can show for up to 7 days, and your ads keep running as normal. If Google gives you a cheaper lead, or leads that pay more often, move part of the budget there gradually. If it is more expensive, stay on Instagram and retest when demand changes.
Typical owner mistakes:
- Switching Instagram off the moment Google starts. You lose a channel that already brings customers.
- Judging success by clicks, likes and reach. A click is not a lead.
- Putting in an amount that buys a handful of clicks. That test shows nothing.
- Sending search traffic to an Instagram profile. Search needs a service page with a phone number or a form. How Google handles audiences and targeting is explained in the article on targeted advertising in Google Ads.
The step-by-step version of this test, including how to size it for your own industry, is in my book on Google Ads for business owners.
My e-book “19 Google Ads Secrets”: how to get the most out of Google Ads without draining your budget, drawn from real campaigns and tests.
See the book →When this does not apply
- Almost nobody searches on Google: the service is new, narrow or sensitive. A search test has nobody to show ads to.
- You have nowhere to send a person: no service page, phone number or form, and no way to tell a lead from a stray click.
- The budget is too small. Meta requires a minimum budget and warns you about it in Ads Manager, and a Google test that buys a few clicks proves nothing.
- You do not know where customers come from. Leads from different channels are mixed together, so the test cannot be judged. Start by asking everyone, “How did you hear about us?”
Questions and answers
Do I need to switch Instagram off when I add Google?
No. These are two channels with different jobs. Instagram reminds people you exist, Google catches a ready query. Switch a channel off only when cost per lead and the number of paying customers show that it is losing.
How long should I run the test?
Until you have enough clicks to see the cost per lead, and at least one full cycle of your sale, from first contact to payment. There is no fixed number of days, and promising one would be dishonest.
Where do I start if I have no website?
Build one service page with a phone number or a form first. Without it search ads have nowhere to send people, while Instagram can keep sending people to your profile.