Should a Houston business use paid search or paid social?
Paid search reaches people already looking and converts well at a high cost per click. Paid social interrupts people who are not looking, at a low cost per click and a much lower conversion rate. For most Houston service businesses paid search comes first, with social used for remarketing to people who already visited.
Meeting demand versus creating it
Paid search appears when someone types a problem. You are competing to be the answer they choose, and the click costs more because the person is closer to buying.
Paid social appears while someone is doing something else. You are competing for attention that was not looking for you, and the click costs less because it is worth less.
A business with existing search demand it is failing to capture should not be prospecting on social. A business selling something nobody searches for cannot fix that with search.
Check which situation you are in
Search the terms your customers would use, with and without a city name, and see whether competitors are advertising. Visible competition means demand exists and is being captured by someone else.
No demand means the problem is not the channel. It is that people do not know the service exists, which is an interruption problem.
Where each fits in Houston
Paid search: emergency and same-day trades, replacements and repairs, professional services, anything where the customer already knows what they need.
Paid social: services requiring explanation before anyone wants them, visual work where photographs do the selling, seasonal offers with a deadline, remarketing, and hiring.
Remarketing deserves emphasis. Reaching people who already visited your site is the strongest and cheapest use of social advertising for a service business, and most never set it up.
The geographic trap
Houston is enormous, and both platforms default to spending across more of it than you serve. Two settings matter:
- The radius, set to where you genuinely travel rather than where you would like to
- The location option, which by default frequently includes people merely interested in Houston rather than located in it
That second setting quietly wastes a large share of local budgets.
Comparing them honestly
Cost per booked job, not cost per click and not cost per lead. That needs call tracking, because most service enquiries arrive by phone — a business measuring only form submissions is comparing the two channels on the smaller half of its data.
A workable order
- Paid search on high-intent terms only
- Remarketing on social to site visitors who did not enquire
- Cold social prospecting last, and only with a specific reason
What it costs
Management sits inside Growth Engine — $5,500 setup, $1,500 a month and above, covering the account alongside the landing pages and tracking that decide whether clicks become jobs. Ad spend is paid to the platform from your own account and quoted separately.
The honest read
If a proposal quotes one monthly figure without separating management from media, ask for the split before anything else. That single question tells you a great deal about how the rest of the engagement will go.
Frequently asked questions
What is the core difference?
Paid search meets demand that already exists — someone typed a problem. Paid social creates demand by interrupting someone doing something else. That decides which fits your business.
How do I tell which situation I am in?
Search the terms your customers would use and see whether competitors are advertising. Visible competition means demand exists and someone else is capturing it. No demand means it is an interruption problem.
What is the strongest use of paid social for a service business?
Remarketing to people who already visited your site. It is cheap relative to search and reaches an audience that has shown interest — and most businesses never set it up.
What wastes local budget most?
The location setting, which by default frequently includes people merely interested in Houston rather than located in it, and a radius set wider than where you actually travel.
What should I ask about pricing?
For the split between management fee and ad spend. If a proposal quotes one monthly figure without separating them, that single question tells you a lot about the rest of the engagement.