Google Ads or Facebook Ads for a St. John's Restaurant?

A restaurant in St. John's often has to decide where a limited ad budget goes: Google, or Facebook and Instagram. Google Ads show when someone is already searching. Ads on Facebook and Instagram show while someone is scrolling. You set the budget, and an auction decides what that budget buys. There is no single price for a restaurant campaign.

Jellybean Row Marketing Inc. is in St. John's. We manage Facebook, Instagram, and Google ads for small businesses in Mount Pearl, Paradise, Conception Bay South, and across Newfoundland and Labrador. If you run a restaurant, this is how the two options differ.

Google Ads, for people already looking

A Google Search ad can appear when someone types a search. “Restaurants open now,” “brunch in St. John's,” or “fish and chips near me” are the kind of searches from a person who is already choosing where to eat. Your ad can sit beside those results.

Every search runs an auction. Google does not give the top spot to the highest bidder. How the Google Ads auction works lists what Google weighs: your bid, the quality of the ad and the page it opens, extra details such as a phone number, minimum quality thresholds, the context of the search (including location, device, and time), and how close the competition is. Your bid is the most you will pay for a click, and what you are charged is often less. A relevant ad for the real restaurant can win a better position than a higher bid.

The budget is an average amount per day that you set for the campaign. Google says a campaign may spend up to twice that average on a given day. Over the month, you will not be billed more than 30.4 times the average daily budget. That limit is in About overdelivery and your average daily budget. For a fixed run, such as a holiday menu, a campaign total budget caps spend at the amount you set between a start and an end date.

Google is the closer match when you want people who are already searching: a table tonight, takeout, a private room, or a dish you are known for. Send the click to a page that is easy on a phone, with the hours, the address, the menu, and a way to call or book.

Facebook and Instagram, for people who are not searching

Facebook and Instagram ads appear while someone scrolls. They might be in St. John's, Mount Pearl, or Paradise. A photo of the room, a quiet weeknight, or a link to reserve can introduce the restaurant.

You pick the places in Meta Ads Manager, including cities. About location selection in Meta Ads Manager says the ads are aimed with a mix of signals, and that the match is not exact. Some impressions can come from outside the locations you selected.

Meta runs an auction each time it can show someone an ad. The ad with the highest total value wins, not automatically the highest bid. About ad auctions names three parts: your bid for the result you want, such as a click or a visit to a booking page; Meta's estimate of whether that person will take the action; and ad quality, including whether people hide the ad. A relevant ad can beat a higher bid. Meta says clickbait does not improve performance.

The budget is the amount you want to spend to show the ads, and it controls that spend. About budgets describes two kinds. A daily budget is the average you want to spend each day across a calendar week, Sunday through Saturday. It is not a hard cap on one day. Meta says spend may go up to 75% over the daily budget on some days and under it on others, and that a full week will not go over seven times the daily budget. A lifetime budget is a hard cap on the whole run. That fits a short booking push when you do not want to pass a set amount.

Pick one job first

Use Google when people are already searching for a meal like yours. Use Facebook and Instagram when you need people nearby who are not searching: a slow night, a new menu, or reservations before a weekend. If the budget is modest, start with one job and one area, such as a weeknight in downtown St. John's or Sunday lunch in Paradise or Conception Bay South. One offer and a page that can take a booking will teach you more than splitting a small budget on the first day.

Before you spend, make the basics true. The hours in the ad, on the website, and on your Google listing should match. Use photos of your food and your room. Local SEO covers the Google listing. The ad budget itself is paid to Google or to Meta. If you want the account managed, that fee is separate, and the rates are on our paid ads page.