Google Ads Got Expensive. RV Lead Volume Dropped. Here’s the Real Reason.
You open your performance report, and something doesn’t feel right.
Cost per click (CPC) is climbing. Leads are trending down.
Your sales manager mentions that foot traffic feels slower. You search your own dealership name on Google and don’t immediately see your ad. Suddenly, you’re wondering if something broke, if your budget is off, or if shoppers simply disappeared.
Nothing is “wrong” with your store — and you’re not the only dealer seeing this. The digital landscape has shifted under everyone’s feet the past few months. What you’re feeling is the combination of CPC inflation, seasonal demand swings, and Google’s evolving search experience, all hitting at the same time.
Let’s break down what changed — and what you can realistically do about it.
“My ads are running… so where are the leads?”
This question has come up in plenty of RV dealership meetings lately. And not just yours.
On paper, Google Ads looks simple enough: add strong keywords, build good ads, and wait for leads to roll in. But the reality is more like a live auction that never stops moving. Demand shifts, competitors come and go, new features roll out, and Google shuffles the deck every few months.
So when you see higher CPCs and fewer leads, you’re usually seeing several forces converging — not a single bad setting or overlooked keyword.
What Actually Changed This Year?
CPC climbed while demand cooled off
Beginning in August, Google’s cost per click began trending up. At the same time, fewer shoppers were actively searching for RVs — partly due to normal seasonality, partly due to broader economic cooling.
Across InteractRV accounts through November 2025, the averages look like this:
- Google Search CPC: ~$1.23
- Google Search conversion rate: ~4.1%
When CPC rises while demand dips, you end up paying more to reach fewer ready-to-buy shoppers. Even strong campaigns feel “expensive” during these stretches.
This pattern isn’t unique to RV. According to Search Engine Land, CPC inflation has been accelerating across Google Ads generally. RV dealers are simply feeling it alongside everyone else, but with the added complication of a seasonal sales cycle.
Seasonality made the impact even sharper
Anyone who’s worked in RV retail for more than one season knows the rhythm of shopper behavior. Some months, it feels like the entire region is gearing up for a road trip. In other months, interest slows to a crawl.
Historically, CPC peaks near December and hits its lowest point in June and July. This year, the seasonal dip coincided with CPC inflation, making performance drops feel more dramatic. You’re not just paying more — you’re paying more during one of the slowest shopper periods of the year.
That combination alone explains a large part of the CPC spike and the decline in leads.
AI overviews changed how much ad space you get
Google’s rollout of AI Overviews reshaped the search results page. Instead of a tidy list of ads followed by organic results, many queries now show a large AI-generated response at the top.
That shift has consequences:
- Fewer prominent ad slots
- Less predictable placement
- More scrolling before a user reaches ads
- More competition for the limited premium space that remains
Google is also incorporating ads into automated, AI-powered formats like Performance Max and emerging placements. With less traditional ad real estate available, dealers are often paying more for fewer impressions in familiar positions.
This isn’t a campaign issue — it’s a real estate issue.
Google continues to push automation — especially Performance Max
Performance Max (PMax) isn’t just a campaign option anymore. It’s becoming a core part of how Google wants advertisers to participate in their ecosystem.
PMax works across Search, YouTube, Display, Maps, and Discover. Over time, Google has added more transparency — improved search term reporting and better channel breakdowns — but the message hasn’t changed: Google wants advertisers leaning into automation.
That said, PMax performs best when it has something to work with:
- solid awareness from Facebook/Display
- clean inventory feeds
- strong creative
- pricing info
- accurate dealer data
PMax is powerful, but it does not replace demand. It amplifies demand when it’s there.
Google Vehicle Ads are becoming a major bottom-funnel channel
Google Vehicle Ads put real inventory in front of people who are deep in the buying journey — searching for specific units or types.
When set up correctly, Google Vehicle Ads:
- display real units with prices in new prominent ad slots
- connect shoppers with specific inventory
- reach buyers with clearer purchase intent
Over time, they’re likely to become one of the most valuable RV ad formats. But again, they capture shoppers who are already in-market. If there’s less demand, they too will show fewer results.
This is why bottom-funnel-only strategies struggle during low-demand periods.
The Real Problem: Too Much Weight at the Bottom of the Funnel
Many RV dealers put most of their spend into Search, Vehicle Ads, and maybe PMax — and very little into awareness or mid-funnel channels. In busy seasons, that approach works fine because people are already shopping. The faucet is fully open.
But when demand drops:
- Search auctions tighten
- CPC rises
- Click volume drops
- Leads slow down
It’s not that your ads stopped working.
It’s that your strategy was built around catching shoppers who aren’t there right now.
Search cannot create demand. It only captures it.
How Google and Facebook Actually Work Together (In Plain English)
Even if your goal ultimately is leads, it helps to understand how each channel plays its role.
Facebook & Display: Getting on the shopper’s radar
Think of these as the “plant the seed” channels. They introduce your dealership and your units long before someone is ready to type “RV dealer near me.”
From InteractRV performance data through November 2025:
- Facebook CPC: ~$0.23
- Facebook conversion rate: ~0.19%
These campaigns aren’t meant to convert at the same rate as Search. They’re meant to influence the buyer before they start searching — a dynamic supported by industry comparisons like those in Madgicx’s Google vs. Facebook analysis. This aligns with broader paid media benchmarks that show upper-funnel platforms shaping user behavior long before they convert.
Without this early influence, your bottom-funnel campaigns carry the entire load alone.
YouTube & Demand Gen: Building early interest
These channels help people imagine themselves camping, towing, traveling — all the reasons they started thinking about RV ownership in the first place.
They warm the audience so that when they do start searching, your dealership feels familiar.
PMax, Search & Vehicle Ads: Closing the loop
These are the channels that catch buyers who have already done their research and are ready to engage.
But they perform best when the buyer has seen you somewhere earlier in their journey.
Bottom-funnel channels rely on the groundwork built by the top and middle of the funnel. When you look at these shifts together, the symptoms dealers are seeing make sense.
So… Why Did Your Leads Drop?
When you pull all these threads together, the answer becomes clear:
- CPC is rising
- Demand softened
- Google’s AI Overviews reduced traditional ad space
- Automation is shifting how (and where) ads appear
- Many RV dealers are over-invested at the bottom of the funnel
Your Google Ads aren’t “broken.” Your dealership is going through a period when demand is low, costs are high, and the search page has less room than before. You can’t control CPC inflation or seasonality — but you can control how you respond to them.
What RV Dealers Can Do About It
Stop treating every month like peak season
Your June strategy shouldn’t be your December strategy.
Slow months call for more awareness and mid-funnel investment.
Peak months call for more PMax, Search, and Vehicle Ads to capture demand.
You already adjust inventory planning by season. Your marketing allocation should follow the same logic.
Use cheaper clicks to set up the expensive ones
If a Facebook click costs twenty-something cents and a Search click costs over a dollar, it makes sense to use Facebook and Display to start the relationship and let Search finish it.
The leads still come — they simply arrive in a more cost-effective way.
Clean inventory data and strong creative matter more than ever
Google can only work with what you give it. Dealers with accurate feeds, solid unit photos, clear pricing, and matching landing pages see stronger results in PMax and Vehicle Ads.
Shoppers expect to see real numbers and real inventory. Anything less hurts conversion.
Review performance in context, not isolation
If you only look at cost per lead, you may miss the real story. Ask:
- Is the entire market down this month?
- Are CPCs rising across all channels?
- Are my awareness efforts feeding my lower funnel?
Lead decline isn’t always a campaign problem. Sometimes it’s a demand curve.
Bottom Line
RV dealers aren’t dealing with broken Google Ads accounts. They’re dealing with:
- Higher market-wide CPCs
- Seasonal dips
- A changing search page dominated by AI
- New automation-driven campaign types
- Over-reliance on bottom-of-funnel ads
The dealers who adjust early gain a meaningful advantage when demand returns. Search is still where ready-to-buy shoppers show up — but Search alone can’t carry the load in a soft market. Dealers who balance their mix across awareness, demand creation, and conversion channels and shift that mix as the season changes will be in a far stronger position when the next wave of RV shoppers returns to the market. The game didn’t break. The rules changed — and now you know how to play the new one.
