If you run Google Ads for an RV park or campground, open your account and look at the Conversions column. Then ask one question: are those reservations? For most parks I look at, the honest answer is no.

The 73% conversion rate problem

One account I work on showed 5,196 conversions from 7,138 clicks. That’s a 73% conversion rate. No campground books seven out of every ten people who click an ad.

So what was being counted? Mostly things that look like intent but aren’t bookings:

• Clicks on a “Book now” button, whether or not anyone finished booking

• Map and directions actions from Google’s local results

• Page visits and form views set up as goals

• Phone calls of any length, including wrong numbers

Each of those is worth watching. None of them should steer your budget. When Google’s bidding is told a button click is a win, it goes and finds more button clickers.

What a real conversion looks like

A real conversion fires once, when a reservation is completed in your booking system, and it carries the reservation’s dollar value. For a park on Campspot, that means the confirmed booking gets passed back to Google with its total.

Most modern booking engines, Campspot included, can send completed reservations to Google Analytics or Google Ads, either through Google Tag Manager or a built-in integration. The exact steps depend on your booking engine settings, so start with your provider’s help docs or support team.

Make it the only primary goal

In Google Ads, every conversion action is either Primary or Secondary, and Primary goals drive bidding. Set the completed reservation as your only Primary goal and move button clicks, calls, and directions to Secondary. You still see them, but they stop pulling your budget sideways.

What changed at Stillwaters Creek RV Park

Once the tracking was rebuilt, the account reported Campspot reservations instead of button clicks. From September 18 to November 3, 2026, across all campaigns, it recorded 127 reservations worth $17.2K in tracked booking value, on $1.32K in ad spend. That’s about $10.39 in ad spend per reservation.

Those are numbers you can check against the booking system, which is the whole point. Your results will vary with your location, season, and rates.

Check your own account in 10 minutes

1. In Google Ads, open Goals, then Summary, and note which actions are marked Primary.

2. Look at your conversion rate for the last 30 days. Anything above 20% for a campground deserves a closer look.

3. Pull reservations from your booking system for the same dates and compare the count.

4. If Google’s number is far higher, you’re paying for clicks dressed up as bookings.

If you’d like a second set of eyes, send me your site for a free Booking Audit. I’ll check your tracking, ads, and pages and tell you what I’d fix first. More on how I work with parks is on the RV park and campground page.