Choosing Your Platform: A Data-Driven Comparison of Google, Meta, & LinkedIn Ads for UK Businesses

I see this question all the time. "Which platform is best for my UK business?" and it's followed by a debate about the merits of Google versus Meta, or whether LinkedIn is ever worth the money. And honestly, it's the completely wrong way to think about it. You're starting with the tool, not the job. It's like asking whether a hammer or a screwdriver is better without knowing if you're building a bookshelf or wiring a plug.

The truth is, no platform is inherently 'best'. The best platform is simply the one that puts your message in front of your ideal customer at the exact moment they are most likely to listen. It all comes down to their intent, their mindset, and the context of their problem. Before you spend a single pound on ads, you need to understand this, otherwise you're just gambling.

Most businesses I see are burning cash because they're on the right platform but showing the wrong message, or they have a great message but they're shouting it in an empty room. Let's break down how to actually think about this so you can make a proper, data-driven decision.

So, where do I even start?

You start by forgetting about the platforms and focusing entirely on your customer. You need to map out their journey, specifically focusing on the "problem state". Are they aware they have a problem? Are they actively looking for a fix? Is this problem related to their professional life? Answering these three questions will tell you exactly where to put your money.

I've seen so many UK startups, especially in the SaaS and B2B space, waste their initial funding by pumping money into the wrong channel. They'll try to sell complex software on Instagram or run broad awareness campaigns on Google, and then wonder why it's not working. You need a framework. Here’s the one we use.

This simple flowchart cuts through all the noise. As you can see, the platform choice is a consequence of your customer's situation. Let's look at each of these paths in more detail.

When does it make sense to use Google Ads?

Google Ads is for harvesting demand that already exists. It’s that simple. If someone in the UK has a burst pipe, they don't scroll through Instagram hoping to find a plumber. They go to Google and type "emergency plumber near me". If you are that plumber, and you're not on Google, you don't exist.

This is what we call 'high-intent' traffic. These people have a problem, they want it solved, and they are actively looking to pay someone to solve it. This is the lowest-hanging fruit and, for most service and many B2B businesses, it's where you should start. We've run campaigns for HVAC companies where the leads cost around $60, and for childcare services where signups were just $10. For a home cleaning company we worked with, leads were as low as £5 each. The potential is massive if you capture the right searches.

The key is to target keywords that signal a commercial or transactional intent. You don't want to target "how to fix a leaky tap" because that's an informational query for a DIYer. You want to target "plumber in south london" or "24 hour plumber cost". The difference is huge.

For B2B, this is even more critical. Nobody wakes up and decides they want to buy accounting software for fun. It's a decision driven by a pain point—a "nightmare scenario" as I call it. Perhaps their current system is a mess, they're worried about a tax audit, or they're wasting hours on manual data entry. So they search for "small business accounting software UK" or "Xero alternative". Being there at that moment is everything. This is a core part of a successful UK B2B SaaS Google Ads strategy; you target the pain, not just the product category.

To get a feel for what's possible, have a play with this simple calculator. It shows how small changes in metrics can have a huge impact on your bottom line.

And what about Meta? Isn't it just for brand awareness?

This is one of the biggest and most expensive myths in paid advertising. If you run a 'Brand Awareness' or 'Reach' campaign on Meta, you are literally paying them to find the people inside your audience who are *least* likely to ever buy from you. The algorithm does what you ask: it finds the cheapest eyeballs, and those eyeballs are cheap for a reason. They don't click, they don't engage, and they definitely don't buy.

The real power of Meta is in creating demand and targeting people based on who they are, not what they are searching for. This is for the customer who has a problem but isn't actively looking for a solution. You have to interrupt their scrolling with something that speaks directly to their pain or desire.

For UK e-commerce brands, this is their bread and butter. You sell hiking boots? Target people interested in 'the Lake District', 'hiking', 'outdoor gear', and competitor brands like 'Berghaus'. You sell handcrafted jewellery? Target users interested in 'Etsy', 'Not on the High Street', and 'handmade gifts'. It’s an essential part of finding the best social media platform for your UK e-commerce brand.

The structure of your campaigns is essentially everything here. You need to think in terms of a funnel:

-> Top of Funnel (ToFu): This is your cold audience. You're reaching people who've never heard of you, using interest, demographic, and lookalike targeting.
-> Middle of Funnel (MoFu): These people have shown some interest. They've watched your videos, visited your website, or engaged with a post. You retarget them with a different message.
-> Bottom of Funnel (BoFu): These are the hot leads. They've added a product to their cart or visited the checkout page but didn't buy. You hit them with ads to overcome their final objections, maybe with a reminder or a small incentive.

For one of our clients, a subscription box company, this funnelled approach led to a 1000% return on ad spend. For a course creator, it generated over $115k in revenue in just six weeks. It works because you're tailoring the message to the audience's temperature. A typical budget allocation might look something like this:

But isn't LinkedIn just ridiculously expensive?

Yes, it is. The cost per click can be eye-watering, often 5-10x what you'd pay on Meta. And if you approach it with the same mindset, you will lose your shirt. Many people conclude that LinkedIn ads are useless because they fail to understand the economics.

The only reason to advertise on LinkedIn is when the precision of its targeting is worth the premium price. You can't target "Head of Engineering at UK Fintech companies with 50-200 employees" on Facebook. On LinkedIn, you can do that in five clicks. This is its superpower.

This kind of targeting is only viable if you have a high Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). If you sell a £50 product, LinkedIn is a black hole. If you sell a £20,000/year SaaS subscription, a £25 click that leads to a £250 qualified lead is a bargain. The maths only works if you understand the value of a customer over years, not just the first transaction.

You need to know your numbers. What's an average customer worth to you over their entire relationship with your business? Let's figure that out.

Once you know a customer is worth £10,000 to you, paying £250 for a qualified lead doesn't seem so crazy, does it? This is the maths that unlocks growth on LinkedIn. For one B2B client, we achieved a CPL of around $22 for highly targeted decision-makers. For another, we reduced their cost per lead by 84%. It's possible, but you must be strategic.

So how do I combine these for my UK business?

The most sophisticated advertisers don't see these platforms as competitors; they see them as complementary parts of a single acquisition machine. They work together. A great paid ads strategy for a small business in London or anywhere in the UK often involves using each platform for what it does best.

Here’s a common and effective approach for a B2B SaaS company:

1. Start with Google Ads: Capture all the high-intent search traffic. People searching for your solution, your competitors, or the problem you solve. This is your foundation.
2. Retarget on Meta: Not everyone who clicks a Google Ad converts immediately. Take all that website traffic and build a custom audience on Meta. Retarget them with case studies, testimonials, or different angles of your product. It's much cheaper than trying to re-acquire them on Google.
3. Attack with LinkedIn: While Google and Meta are running, use LinkedIn for surgical strikes. Build a list of 100 dream client companies. Target the exact decision-makers at those companies with highly specific ads that speak to their industry's pain points.

This integrated approach means you are present at every stage of the buyer's journey. For a hypothetical UK startup with a £10,000 monthly ad budget, it might look like this:

What's the main advice I should take away?

If you forget everything else, remember this: strategy before tactics. Understand your customer's intent before you ever open an ad manager. To make it easier, I've broken down the core differences in the table below. This should be your cheat sheet for making the right initial decision.

This sounds complicated. Can I do this myself?

You absolutely can. But you need to be honest with yourself about the cost. Not just the ad spend, but what I call the "learning tax"—the money you will inevitably waste while you figure all of this out. It takes time to learn the nuances of each platform, to understand how to write copy that converts, to set up tracking correctly, and to analyse the data to make smart decisions.

The choice between DIY and hiring a UK ads agency comes down to an opportunity cost calculation. Could the time you spend becoming a mediocre ads manager be better spent on product development, sales, or running your business? For most founders and business owners, the answer is a clear yes.

Getting this right isn't about just setting up a campaign. It's about building a scalable customer acquisition system. It's about continuous testing, optimising, and scaling based on real data. It's the difference between gambling your marketing budget and investing it for a predictable return.

If you're feeling a bit overwhelmed by all this and want a second pair of expert eyes on your strategy, we offer a free, no-obligation strategy session. We'll look at your business, your goals, and help you build a clear plan of action. It's the kind of practical, straightforward advice you need to stop wasting money and start seeing real results from your ads.

Hope that helps!