Google Ads vs LinkedIn: The UK B2B Paid Ads Guide

Right then. The classic UK B2B dilemma: chuck your budget at Google or pour it into LinkedIn? I see this question pop up all the time, and the usual answer is a woolly "it depends". That's not helpful. You've got a limited budget and you need to make it work, not get a lesson in fence-sitting.

The truth is, it’s the wrong question. It's not a simple cage match between two platforms. Choosing between Google and LinkedIn is about understanding the fundamental difference between capturing existing demand and creating new demand. It’s about knowing your customer's mindset, not just their job title. Get this right, and you stop wasting money. Get it wrong, and you'll burn through your budget with precious little to show for it. Lets get into a proper framework for making this decision.

Your Ideal Customer is a Problem, Not a Persona

First thing's first, you need to bin that generic "Ideal Customer Persona" PDF your marketing team made. "John, 45, Head of IT at a mid-sized UK firm, likes golf." That tells you absolutely nothing useful. It leads to boring, generic ads that get ignored.

Instead, you need to get obsessed with your customer's nightmare. What is the specific, expensive, and urgent problem that keeps them awake at night? Your ICP isn't a demographic; it's a problem state. For instance:

• You sell cybersecurity software? Your ICP isn't a "CTO". It's a CTO terrified of being the next headline for a data breach, facing massive GDPR fines, and seeing their company's reputation trashed.
• You're a fractional CFO service in London? Your ICP isn't a "startup founder". It's a founder who just realised their cash flow projection is a work of fiction and they might not make payroll in six weeks.

Once you understand their actual pain, the channel choice becomes much clearer. Are they aware of this pain and actively seeking a cure? They're probably typing their problem into a search bar. That's Google's turf. Are they unaware there's a better way, or do you need to reach a very specific person in a very specific company? That's when you go hunting on LinkedIn. This is the first, and most important, step in a proper channel selection framework that stops you from wasting money.

When should you go all-in on Google Ads in the UK?

Google Ads works when there's clear, existing buying intent. Someone has a problem, they know it, and they are actively looking for a solution. In the UK, this means targeting keywords that scream "I need help now!". Forget broad, informational queries. You want commercial intent.

Think about the difference:

• Bad (Informational): "what is cloud computing"
• Good (Commercial): "aws cost management tool uk"
• Bad (Informational): "b2b marketing ideas"
• Good (Commercial): "linkedin ads agency london"

If your service solves a known problem, Google Search is your most direct path to revenue. You're not trying to convince someone they have a problem; you're just convincing them you're the best solution for it. I've seen this work incredibly well for B2B clients. I remember a medical recruitment SaaS platform we worked with; their initial Cost Per Acquisition was a painful £100. By ruthlessly focusing on high-intent keywords and optimising their campaigns, we slashed that down to just £7. That's the power of capturing existing demand.

The competition in major UK hubs like London, Manchester, and Bristol for tech and finance keywords can be fierce, and CPCs can be high. But a high CPC for a keyword like "corporate solicitor for startups" is often worth paying if you know your numbers. That single click could be from the exact person you need. The key is to have a clear understanding of your budget and potential returns, which is why working out a proper B2B Google Ads budget for the UK market is so important before you start.

Unlocking LinkedIn: Precision Targeting in the UK B2B Scene

Now, what if your customers aren't searching for you? What if you're selling an innovative solution they don't even know exists? Or what if you need to reach a very specific, senior decision-maker who would never google for a solution? This is where LinkedIn comes into its own.

LinkedIn's power isn't intent; it's precision. You can bypass the noise and get your message directly into the feed of the exact people who matter. Want to target 'Chief Financial Officers' at 'FTSE 100 companies' based in 'London'? You can do that. Want to reach 'Heads of Engineering' who work at companies with '50-200 employees' in the 'SaaS' industry and are members of the 'Agile Development' group? You can do that too.

This is incredibly powerful but requires a completely different mindset. People on LinkedIn are in a professional context, but they're not there to shop. They're scrolling through updates, connecting with peers, and maybe reading an industry article. You can't just slap a "Buy Now" ad in front of them. It wont work. You need to earn their attention with value. This often means promoting content like a whitepaper, a webinar, or a insightful article, and using LinkedIn's Lead Gen Forms to make it easy for them to give you their details without leaving the platform. It's a longer game, but for high-value B2B sales, it's often the only game in town. We ran a campaign for a B2B software client targeting niche decision-makers and achieved a $22 Cost Per Lead, which was a fantastic result given their high customer value. If you're wondering if you should be using LinkedIn Ads, the answer usually lies in how specific your target audience is.

The Only Math That Matters: LTV to CAC

Here's the bit where most businesses go wrong. They obsess over Cost Per Click (CPC) or Cost Per Lead (CPL) without knowing the most important number of all: what a customer is actually worth to them. You can't decide if a £70 lead from LinkedIn is "expensive" if you don't know the lifetime value (LTV) of that customer.

Let's do some simple maths. You need three figures:

1. Average Revenue Per Account (ARPA): What's a typical customer pay you each month?
2. Gross Margin %: What's your profit margin on that revenue?
3. Monthly Churn Rate %: What percentage of customers do you lose each month?

The calculation is: LTV = (ARPA * Gross Margin %) / Monthly Churn Rate

Let's use an example for a UK SaaS company:

• ARPA: £1,000/month
• Gross Margin: 80% (0.8)
• Monthly Churn: 5% (0.05)

LTV = (£1,000 * 0.80) / 0.05 = £800 / 0.05 = £16,000

Each customer is worth £16,000 in gross margin. A healthy business model aims for at least a 3:1 LTV to Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) ratio. This means you can afford to spend up to £5,333 to acquire a single customer. If your sales team closes 1 in 10 qualified leads, you can afford to pay £533 per lead. Suddenly that £70 LinkedIn lead doesn't look expensive; it looks like a bargain. This is the financial clarity you need to properly measure and forecast your advertising ROI.

Your Offer is Everything: Stop Asking for Demos

You can have the best targeting in the world, on Google or LinkedIn, but it's all for nothing if your offer is rubbish. And the worst offer in all of B2B is the "Request a Demo" button. It's arrogant. It assumes your prospect has time to sit through a sales pitch. It's high-friction and instantly makes you look like every other vendor out there.

Your offer's only job is to provide a moment of genuine value. An "aha!" moment that makes them sell themselves on your solution. You must solve a small, real problem for free to earn the right to solve the big one.

What does a good offer look like?

• For a SaaS Company: A free trial (no card details required) or a genuinely useful freemium plan. Let them experience the product's value firsthand.
• For an Agency/Consultancy: A free, automated audit (e.g., "Get a free SEO audit of your site"), a valuable checklist, or a short, sharp strategy session where you give away real advice. For our agency, it's a free 20-minute ad account review.
• For a Data Platform: A free 'Data Health Check' that finds real issues in a sample of their data.

A great offer de-risks the next step for the prospect and builds trust. It shifts the dynamic from you selling to them wanting to buy. It's the single biggest lever you can pull to improve performance, regardless of whether you choose Google or LinkedIn for your London SaaS business.

The Final Boss: Using Both in a Full-Funnel Strategy

So, what do the best B2B advertisers do? They don't choose. They integrate. They use LinkedIn and Google for what they're each best at, creating a cohesive full-funnel machine that dominates their niche.

Here’s how it works:

1. Top of Funnel (Awareness/Education): Use LinkedIn Ads to get in front of your perfect ICP. You're not selling yet. You're educating. Promote a valuable piece of content—a detailed guide, a case study, an industry report—that addresses their core 'nightmare'. You build awareness and position yourself as the expert.
2. Middle of Funnel (Consideration/Retargeting): Anyone who engages with your LinkedIn ad (clicks, watches the video, downloads the guide) is now in your funnel. You retarget them on LinkedIn and also on the Google Display Network with case studies, testimonials, and webinar invitations. You're building trust and demonstrating proof.
3. Bottom of Funnel (Decision/Capture): Now, when that prospect is finally ready to buy and starts searching on Google for terms like "[your service type] UK" or "best [your product category]", your Google Search Ads are there waiting for them. Because you've already warmed them up, your click-through and conversion rates will be far higher than your competitors'. You're not a cold vendor; you're the trusted expert they already know.

This full-funnel advertising framework is how you scale intelligently. It's more complex, but it's also far more effective and defensible than just throwing money at a single channel and hoping for the best.

What This All Looks Like in Practise

So, let's stop talking theory. Deciding between Google and LinkedIn for your B2B lead generation comes down to a clear-headed assessment of your business. There's no single right answer, only the right answer for you, right now. I've detailed my main recommendations for you below based on what we've discussed.

Navigating this isn't easy. It takes expertise, constant testing, and a deep understanding of both the platforms and your specific market. It’s not just about setting up a campaign; it's about building a strategic system for growth. Many businesses in the UK find that bringing in an expert to build this system for them is the fastest way to get a real return on their ad spend and avoid costly mistakes.

If you're looking at your own business and feel stuck on which path to take, or if you're running ads and not seeing the results you need, it might be time for an outside perspective. We offer a free, no-obligation strategy consultation where we can look at your specific situation and give you clear, actionable advice on where your budget would be best spent. Sometimes a 20-minute chat is all it takes to find the clarity you need to move forward.