TLDR;
- The "best" platform depends entirely on who your course is for. Selling to individuals for personal development is a completely different game to selling corporate training packages.
- Google Ads is for Intent: Use it to capture people in the UK actively searching for a course like yours or a solution to a problem your course solves. It's usually the best starting point for most B2C and many B2B courses.
- LinkedIn Ads is for Identity: Use it when you need to target specific professionals by job title, industry, or company size in the UK. It’s a precision tool for high-ticket B2B courses, but often overkill and too expensive for B2C.
- Don't obsess over cost per click (CPC). A £15 click on LinkedIn that gets you a £5,000 corporate training deal is a bargain. A £1 click on Google for a £50 hobby course can be a waste of money if it doesn't convert. Focus on return on ad spend (ROAS).
- This guide includes a decision-making flowchart to help you choose the right platform and an interactive calculator to estimate your potential ad spend.
I see this question pop up a lot. You’ve built a brilliant online course, you know it delivers value, but now you need to get it in front of the right people in the UK. The choice between Google and LinkedIn feels massive, and it is. Picking the wrong one is like trying to sell steak at a vegan festival – you're in the wrong place, talking to the wrong people, and you'll just end up burning cash.
The honest truth is, there is no single 'best' platform. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something. The right choice depends entirely on one thing: who is your ideal student? Is it a marketing manager at a FTSE 100 company in London needing compliance training, or is it a hobbyist in Manchester wanting to learn watercolour painting? The answer to that question changes everything.
Let's cut through the noise and figure out which platform will actually make you money, and which will just drain your bank account.
So, who are you actually selling to?
Before you spend a single penny, you need to be brutally honest about your target market. This is where most course creators go wrong. They say "my course is for everyone," and that's a recipe for disaster in paid ads. You need to get specific.
- B2C (Business-to-Consumer): You're selling directly to an individual for their own personal use or development. Think courses on photography, creative writing, fitness, coding for beginners, mindfulness, or learning a musical instrument. The buyer is the user.
- B2B (Business-to-Business): You're selling to a company for their employees. This could be leadership training for new managers, advanced Excel skills for finance teams, cybersecurity certification for IT departments, or a programme on digital marketing for a sales team. The buyer (e.g., a Head of HR) is often not the end user (the employees).
This distinction is everything. If you're selling a B2C course, 9 times out of 10, LinkedIn is a horrendously expensive and inefficient way to find your students. If you're selling a high-ticket B2B training programme, LinkedIn could be your most profitable channel, while Google might bring in leads who can't afford you.
Focus on search intent.
Target problem/solution keywords.
Google for intent, LinkedIn for targeting specific roles.
When should you use Google Ads? When people are looking for you.
Google Ads is a machine powered by intent. Its job is to put you in front of people who are actively typing into a search bar, looking for a solution. They already have a problem, and they're looking for an answer. For course creators, this is gold.
Think about the searches your ideal student might make:
- Problem-Aware Searches: "how to manage a remote team effectively", "improve public speaking skills", "learn python for data analysis". They have a pain point, and your course is the painkiller.
- Solution-Aware Searches: "best project management course UK", "online creative writing workshop", " PRINCE2 certification online". They already know what kind of solution they want; they're just choosing the provider.
For B2C courses, this is your bread and butter. No one goes on LinkedIn to find a sourdough baking course. They go to Google. I remember one campaign we worked on for a client selling courses where we generated $115k in revenue in just 1.5 months using Meta Ads, but for capturing active searchers, Google is the place to be.
For B2B courses, Google is still incredibly powerful. Decision makers at UK companies search for solutions too. A Head of Sales will search for "sales training for SaaS teams" long before they'll happen to see an ad for it on LinkedIn. By targeting these specific, high-intent keywords, you get in front of buyers at the exact moment they need you. The main challange is that competition can be fierce and clicks can be expensive.
So when is LinkedIn Ads the right move? When you need to find specific people.
LinkedIn Ads is a different beast entirely. It’s not about intent; it’s about identity. Its superpower is allowing you to target people based on their professional profile with scary precision.
Want to show your ad only to "Marketing Directors" at "Software companies" with "51-200 employees" located in the "Greater London Area"? You can do that. Want to target "Chartered Accountants" who are members of the "ICAEW" group? You can do that too. This is impossible on Google.
This makes LinkedIn the go-to platform when:
- You sell a high-ticket corporate course: If your course costs thousands of pounds per seat or is sold as a company-wide package, you can't afford to waste money on clicks from people who don't hold the company credit card. You need to get straight to the decision-maker.
- Your course is for a very niche profession: Selling a course on "Advanced Geotechnical Engineering Software"? Good luck finding keywords for that on Google. But on LinkedIn, you can target "Geotechnical Engineers" directly.
- You have an Account-Based Marketing (ABM) strategy: If you have a list of 50 dream companies in the UK you want to sell to, you can upload that list to LinkedIn and show ads exclusively to the senior decision-makers at those firms.
The trade-off is cost. Clicks on LinkedIn are significantly more expensive than on Google. We’ve seen B2B campaigns where a single click can cost £10-£20. But if that click turns into a qualified lead for $22, as we achieved for one B2B software client, that's a cost you'll happily pay. You just have to be sure your course's price tag and your sales process can support it. Many course creators find that LinkedIn Ads fail for them simply because their offer isn't strong enough to justify the higher ad costs.
What should you expect to pay? A dose of UK reality.
Let's talk numbers, because that's what this really comes down to. These are ballpark figures based on our experience running campaigns in the UK market, but they should give you a realistic starting point. Your own results will vary based on your niche, ad quality, and landing page.
As you can see, LinkedIn is more expensive on the surface. But this is the wrong way to look at it. The real question is: "How much can I afford to pay to acquire a student?" This comes down to your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). If your course is a £50 one-off purchase, you can't afford a £40 CPL. But if your course is a £3,000 certification that leads to corporate packages, a £250 CPL might be an absolute steal.
You need to do the maths for your own business. That's why we built this little calculator to help you get a sense of the numbers.
It's not just about clicks, it's about the funnel
Getting the click is just the first step. What happens next is what separates successful campaigns from failed ones. And the ideal funnel is different for each platform.
Google Ads Funnel: Because you're capturing intent, you can be more direct. The journey is typically:
Search Ad -> Landing Page -> Direct Purchase / Webinar Signup / Free Trial
The landing page needs to be hyper-relevant to the search term, with clear copy, social proof (testimonials, case studies), and a single, unmissable call-to-action. You need to answer their question and convince them you're the best option, fast.
LinkedIn Ads Funnel: People on LinkedIn are not in "buying mode." They're working, networking, or procrastinating. You can't just throw a "Buy Now" button at them. You need to earn their attention and trust. The journey is often longer:
Sponsored Post -> Lead Gen Form (offering a guide, whitepaper, or webinar) -> Email Nurture Sequence -> Sales Call / Demo -> Purchase
The goal here is to start a conversation, not make an immediate sale. The offer in your ad needs to be high-value and low-friction. Nobody wants to "Request a Demo," but they might download a "Free Checklist for Hiring Your First Developer" if that's what your course is about.
If you're unsure which platform is best for you, our guide on comparing Google and LinkedIn for UK B2B businesses goes into even more detail on funnels and strategy.
So, what's the verdict for your course?
There's no one-size-fits-all answer, but after running countless campaigns for course creators, we've developed a pretty reliable framework. I've summarised my main recommendations below to make it as simple as possible.
| Course Type / Scenario | Primary Platform | Secondary Platform | Key Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| B2C Hobby / Personal Interest (e.g., Cooking, Music, Art) |
✔ Google Ads | ✘ LinkedIn Ads | Your audience is searching on Google for these topics. LinkedIn targeting is irrelevant and far too expensive. |
| Low-Ticket Professional Skills (e.g., under £500 course on Excel) |
✔ Google Ads | ✘ LinkedIn Ads | Capture search intent. LinkedIn's CPL would likely be higher than the course price itself. Not profitable. |
| High-Ticket Certification (e.g., £2,000+ Project Management) |
✔ Google Ads | ✔ LinkedIn Ads | Use Google for high-intent searchers. Use LinkedIn to proactively target professionals with the right job titles who might not be searching yet. |
| Niche B2B/Corporate Training (e.g., Leadership for Legal Firms) |
✔ LinkedIn Ads | ✘ Google Ads | Search volume on Google will be too low. You must use LinkedIn's precise targeting to reach this very specific audience. |
| Selling Team/Corporate Packages (Selling multiple seats at once) |
✔ LinkedIn Ads | ✔ Google Ads | LinkedIn is perfect for getting in front of the Heads of Department and HR managers who make these buying decisions. Google can catch them when they search for team solutions. |
Ultimately, the best approach is often to test. But test smartly. Don't split a tiny budget between both platforms and give neither a chance to succeed. Start with the platform that makes the most sense based on the table above. Give it a proper budget (I'd recomend at least £1,000-£2,000/month) and run it for at least a month or two to gather enough data. Once you have a profitable system on one platform, you can think about expanding to the next.
Navigating this landscape is complex. It requires a deep understanding of audience psychology, technical platform skills, and a rigorous approach to testing and optimisation. Getting it wrong can be a very expensive learning curve. If you're serious about scaling your online course in the UK and want to make sure your ad spend is an investment, not an expense, it might be worth getting some expert help.
We offer a completely free, no-obligation strategy session where we can look at your specific course, your target market, and help you build a paid advertising plan that actually works. It's a chance to get some expert eyes on your business and walk away with actionable advice, whether you decide to work with us or not.
