Pinterest Media Planer Certification Exam Practice Test Answers with Explanations

The latest Pinterest Media Planer Certification Exam Practice Test answers with explanations. Updated. The file contains all possible questions, answers and explanations. Includes free lifetime updates. No AI genereated fluff, 100% correct and human-vetted.


  • Related trends
  • Demographics
  • Popular Pins
  • Interest over time

Explanation: The selected answer is correct because Interest over time provides a visual graph that shows the historical and seasonal search volume for specific keywords over the past 12 months. For a health and wellness brand, this data is critical for identifying exactly when the “peak season” of health awareness begins and ends, allowing the advertiser to time their campaign to launch just as interest starts to surge. By understanding the relative popularity of fitness-related terms week-over-week, the brand can ensure their sustainable equipment is seen when user intent is highest, maximizing both reach and engagement by aligning creative delivery with documented spikes in audience planning and search behavior.

  • Top yearly trends
  • Seasonal trends
  • Growing trends
  • Top monthly trends

Explanation: The selected answer is correct because Seasonal trends are specifically defined as search terms that experience a peak in volume for at least 30 days and reoccur during the same period year-over-year. By applying this filter in the Pinterest Trends tool, a media planner can isolate long-standing cyclical behaviors—like the annual interest in “spring decor” or “garden refresh”—rather than one-off “Growing trends” or broad “Top yearly trends.” This allows the retailer to align their creative strategy with established planning windows where high-intent Pinners are historically known to search for and save home decor ideas in preparation for the upcoming season.

  • Growing trends
  • Trends your audience loves
  • Top trends on Pinterest this week
  • Seasonal trends

Explanation: The selected answer is correct because Trends your audience loves is a personalized feature within the Pinterest Trends tool that specifically highlights trending topics and search terms among an advertiser’s own engaged audience. While “Seasonal trends” and “Top trends” provide broad platform-wide data, “Trends your audience loves” uses the advertiser’s first-party data to reveal the exact interests and emerging behaviors of people who have already interacted with their brand. This allows the media planner to align their creative strategy for the upcoming holiday with the specific visual and topical preferences of their core customers, effectively bridging the gap between general seasonal interest and high-intent, brand-specific action to drive conversion sales.

A beverage brand wants to implement lower-funnel campaigns on Pinterest with the goal of driving traffic and increasing sales. Which feature supports lower-funnel performance? (select one)

  • Product Pins open a product detail page
  • Rich Pins sync with product groups
  • Promoted Pins open a direct link
  • Ad-only Pins can be saved to boards

Explanation: The selected answer is correct because Promoted Pins open a direct link is a performance-focused feature designed to reduce friction in the consumer journey by bypassing the standard “close-up” view and sending the user directly to a website or landing page with a single click. For lower-funnel campaigns, this accelerated path is crucial for driving high-intent traffic and maximizing sales, as it brings motivated shoppers closer to the point of purchase more quickly. While Rich Pins and Product Pins provide valuable context like pricing and availability, they typically require an extra step to navigate to the retailer’s site; in contrast, direct linking streamlines the experience to significantly improve conversion rates for beverage brands and other performance-driven advertisers.

A beauty brand wants to launch a campaign for their new line of makeup. This is their first time advertising on Pinterest and they want to reach new customers. What campaign objective and bidding option meets the client’s goals? (select one)

  • Catalog sales and oCPM
  • Consideration and CPC
  • Conversion and CPA
  • Awareness and CPM

Explanation: The selected answer is correct because an Awareness objective using CPM (cost per thousand impressions) bidding is the standard strategic approach for a brand launching a new product line and advertising on Pinterest for the first time. Since the primary goal is to reach new customers and introduce the brand, an awareness campaign optimizes for maximum visibility and broad reach at the top of the funnel, whereas conversion or consideration objectives are better suited for audiences who are already familiar with the brand or closer to a purchase decision. CPM bidding allows the beauty brand to pay for impressions, ensuring their new makeup line is seen by as many unique users as possible to build the foundational brand recognition necessary for future performance campaigns.

A retail clothing brand wants to run a catalog sales campaign optimizing for conversions on Pinterest using a product catalog. To help set them up, the media planner consults on the requirements for placing ads using a retail catalog. What two requirements are needed to set up catalog sales ads using retail catalogs? (select two)

  • Product tagging
  • Pinterest Conversions API
  • Merchant verification
  • Pinterest tag
  • Pinterest profile

Explanation: The selected answers are correct because Merchant verification and the Pinterest tag are the two foundational technical requirements for running high-performance catalog sales campaigns. To use a retail catalog, an advertiser must first pass through the Verified Merchant Program, which ensures the business meets Pinterest’s high-quality standards for customer service and website reliability. Simultaneously, the Pinterest tag must be installed on the retailer’s website to track user actions—such as “Add to Cart” or “Checkout”—and map those events back to specific product IDs in the catalog. This tag-to-catalog connection is what allows Pinterest’s algorithm to optimize for conversion events and power dynamic retargeting, ensuring that the right products are shown to the users most likely to purchase them.


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A home improvement client wants to use video ads to showcase a video series of step-by-step home improvement projects. They want to drive more traffic to their new line of home improvement tools for an upcoming promotion. What Pinterest campaign objective and ad format combination would meet the client’s needs? (select one)

  • Consideration and Idea ads
  • Conversion and Showcase ads
  • Catalog sales and Premiere Spotlight
  • Awareness and Standard ads

Explanation: The selected answer is correct because Consideration is the optimal objective for driving high-quality traffic to a specific product line, while Idea ads are the ideal format for showcasing immersive, multi-page storytelling such as step-by-step video tutorials. Idea ads allow the advertiser to combine video, images, and text to guide Pinners through a project, naturally leading them to explore the tools used; when paired with the consideration objective, the campaign optimizes for clicks and visits to the advertiser’s site, directly supporting the goal of increasing traffic for the upcoming promotion.

A hotel brand wants to promote its amenities and spa treatment packages to new customers. Its goal is to get its image ads delivered as many times as possible. Which metric can the media planner use to track performance? (select one)

  • Reach
  • Engagement
  • Video views
  • Outbound clicks

Explanation: The selected answer is correct because Reach is the primary metric used to track the total number of unique people who have seen an ad, aligning directly with a brand’s goal of maximizing how many times and to how many people their images are delivered. While engagement and outbound clicks measure specific actions taken on a Pin, and video views are exclusive to video content, reach provides the most accurate assessment of top-of-funnel exposure and brand awareness. By monitoring reach, a media planner can ensure the hotel brand’s amenities and spa packages are being introduced to the widest possible audience of new customers within their target demographic.

A large coffee brand wants to run a conversion campaign with a goal of 5000 purchases during the winter season. Their goal is to achieve an average cost of $15 per Add to Cart event and $25 per Checkout event. What estimated budget would closely align with the coffee brand’s goal? (select one)

  • $125,000
  • $200,000
  • $75,000
  • $250,000

Explanation: The selected answer is correct because the estimated budget is derived from the brand’s primary goal of 5000 purchases (Checkout events) multiplied by their target cost of $25 per Checkout event. By applying the basic formula for campaign budgeting ($5,000 \times $25$), the required investment to achieve the conversion volume at the specified efficiency is exactly $125,000. While the advertiser also tracks the “Add to Cart” event at a $15 target, the total campaign budget must be anchored to the final conversion goal of 5000 purchases to ensure the campaign is sufficiently funded to meet its primary objective during the winter season.

  • Max bid cap
  • Pinterest Performance+ lifetime
  • Pinterest Performance+ daily
  • Fixed daily

Explanation: The selected answer is correct because Pinterest Performance+ lifetime budgets allow the platform’s AI to dynamically optimize spend across the entire duration of the campaign, which is ideal for time-sensitive events like a summer holiday weekend. Unlike a fixed daily budget that spends the same amount regardless of traffic, a lifetime budget with Performance+ automation can frontload spend or capitalize on high-intent search windows leading up to the holiday, ensuring the brand maximizes its reach and total impressions when audience activity is at its peak. This flexibility allows the system to prioritize efficiency and “roll over” budget to the most impactful moments within the defined campaign period.

A beverage company wants to drive online traffic to their site. The company’s goal is to increase clicks on a seasonal promotion they run in December. The promotion is valid from December 1st to December 31st. What flight period and campaign objective meets the company’s goal? (select one)

  • Run a 7 day Awareness campaign in November, and a 7 day Consideration campaign in December.
  • Run a 30 day Awareness campaign a month in November.
  • Run a 7 day Awareness campaign in November, and a 30 day Conversion campaign in December.
  • Run a 30 day Consideration campaign in December.

Explanation: The selected answer is correct because the Consideration objective is specifically designed to optimize for clicks and site visits, aligning perfectly with the goal of driving online traffic, while a 30 day flight period in December ensures the campaign remains active for the entire duration of the promotion. Since the goal is specifically to increase engagement during the valid promotion dates (December 1st to 31st), running an Awareness campaign or limiting the flight to 7 days would either prioritize broad reach over traffic or miss the majority of the promotional window. By focusing on consideration during the exact month of the sale, the beverage company maximizes its opportunity to capture high-intent traffic when users are most likely to click through and explore the seasonal offer.

A large fashion client wants to launch a holiday campaign. It has a high budget of $500,000 for a 2 week campaign. What budget strategy would meet the client’s goals? (select one)

  • Pinterest Performance+ lifetime
  • Fixed daily
  • Fixed lifetime
  • Pinterest Performance+ daily

Explanation: The selected answer is correct because Pinterest Performance+ lifetime is the most effective strategy for managing a large budget over a specific, short-term window like a two-week holiday campaign. By using a lifetime budget, the Pinterest algorithm has the flexibility to distribute the $500,000 dynamically, spending more on days when high-value traffic is available and less during quieter periods, ensuring the entire budget is utilized efficiently by the campaign’s end. When combined with Performance+ automation, the system further optimizes delivery and bidding in real-time to maximize results, which is superior to a “fixed daily” approach that would rigidly spend $35,714 every day regardless of fluctuating holiday search trends or auction competitiveness.

A home goods retailer wants to expand reach to their Gen Z market for an upcoming awareness campaign. Their goal is to use a targeting strategy with audience segmentation that boosts impressions over a significant period of time. The media planner leverages the Pinterest Predicts report to help develop the strategy. How does the Pinterest Predicts report inform the strategy? (select one)

  • Keyword search metrics
  • Trend data by month
  • Audience affinity metrics
  • Seasonal trend comparisons

Explanation: The selected answer is correct because the Pinterest Predicts report provides a curated list of emerging trends that are specifically backed by rising Keyword search metrics. Unlike standard trend reports that look at what is currently viral, Pinterest Predicts identifies topics with “not-yet-trending” search volume that is forecast to grow significantly over the coming year. By leveraging these specific, high-growth keywords in their creative copy and metadata, a home goods retailer can ensure their brand is discoverable by Gen Z users who are in the early planning stages of their next project. This allows the advertiser to stay ahead of the curve and capture impressions over a significant period of time as the trend moves from an early prediction to mainstream popularity.

A retail brand wants to use A/B testing to compare Pinterest Performance+ creative ads with generative AI lifestyle backgrounds versus Shopping ads with blank white backgrounds. Their goal is to determine which ad to use for engagement metrics.What is the minimum amount of time required for A/B testing? (select one)

  • 7 days
  • 30 days
  • 3 days
  • 14 days

Explanation: The selected answer is correct because 7 days is the minimum recommended duration for a Pinterest A/B test (split test) to ensure the results are statistically significant. Running a test for at least one full week allows the algorithm to account for “intra-week seasonality,” as user behavior and engagement levels often fluctuate significantly between weekdays and weekends. While longer tests of 14 to 30 days are frequently suggested for higher confidence levels or lower-volume accounts, the platform’s technical requirement and best practice for a “fast” test is a 7-day window, providing enough data for the Pinterest Performance+ system to stabilize and identify a clear winner between the generative AI lifestyle backgrounds and the blank white backgrounds.

A large furniture retailer wants to launch a conversion campaign using a mix of images and videos that highlight their line of modern furniture without a product feed. What ad format and KPI metric meets the retailer’s goal? (select one)

  • Showcase ad and CPC
  • Collection ad and CPA
  • Shopping ad and CPA
  • Carousel ad and CTR

Explanation: The selected answer is correct because Collection ads are uniquely designed to display a multi-asset experience—featuring one large “hero” image or video above three smaller secondary assets—which can be created manually without the need for an automated product feed or catalog. Since the retailer wants to highlight a specific line of modern furniture using both images and videos to drive a conversion campaign, CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) is the most appropriate KPI metric as it allows the advertiser to optimize for and measure the cost of specific bottom-of-funnel actions, such as purchases. While Showcase ads also support multiple cards, Collection ads provide a more integrated mobile-first storefront experience that is specifically recommended for retailers aiming to drive product discovery and sales.

A large men’s fashion client wants to run a full-funnel campaign on Pinterest. The goal is to maximize performance using video assets with one type of ad format. What ad format would meet the brand’s goal? (select one)

  • Premiere Spotlight ad
  • Video shopping ad
  • Standard video ad
  • Max-width video ad

Explanation: The selected answer is correct because Standard video ad is the only format listed that supports all campaign objectives across the full funnel, including Awareness, Consideration, and Conversion. While formats like Premiere Spotlight are restricted to high-impact awareness and Video shopping ads require a product catalog for bottom-funnel sales, the standard video format (appearing at the same width as a regular Pin) offers the versatility to build brand recognition, drive traffic with direct links, and optimize for specific conversion events. This allows the men’s fashion brand to maintain creative consistency and maximize performance across every stage of the customer journey using a single, unified ad format that scales effectively across the entire Pinterest home feed and search results.

A food brand wants to run a campaign using video assets. Their goal is to increase reach with people searching for recipe ideas. What campaign objective and KPI metric should be used to measure success? (select one)

  • Consideration and CPC
  • Awareness and ROAS
  • Catalog sales and oCPM
  • Awareness and CPM

Explanation: The selected answer is correct because Awareness and CPM is the standard combination for advertisers aiming to maximize reach at the top of the marketing funnel. For a food brand targeting users in the discovery phase—such as those searching for recipe ideas—an Awareness objective optimizes the delivery of video assets to as many unique individuals as possible to build brand recognition. CPM (Cost Per Mille) is the corresponding KPI metric that measures the cost of every 1,000 impressions, allowing the brand to track the efficiency of its broad visibility efforts. In contrast, objectives like Consideration or Catalog Sales prioritize actions like clicks or purchases, which are more restrictive than the brand’s primary goal of broad audience exposure and reach.

An established shoe brand wants to launch an awareness campaign on Pinterest. The brand’s goal is to use a first-party Pinterest measurement solution to better understand action intent with Gen Z audiences on the platform. What Pinterest measurement solution meets the brand’s needs? (select one)

  • Multitouch attribution
  • 2Q brand lift study
  • Marketing mixed modeling
  • Kantar 6Q brand lift study

Explanation: The selected answer is correct because the 2Q brand lift study is a streamlined, first-party Pinterest measurement solution designed to measure top-of-funnel impact through two key questions: ad recall and action intent. While third-party options like the Kantar 6Q study offer more extensive questionnaires, the 2Q study is specifically optimized for brands looking for a high-confidence, “always-on” style measurement that captures how likely a Pinner is to take action after being exposed to an ad. This is particularly valuable for reaching Gen Z audiences, who use Pinterest as a visual search engine for planning; by measuring the lift in action intent, the shoe brand can prove that its awareness campaign is successfully moving young consumers from mere discovery to the active planning and purchase consideration phase.

A large e-commerce retailer wants to use a measurement solution to better understand the impact of their Pinterest lower-funnel campaigns. The media planner proposes a conversion lift study. What are the success metrics for a Pinterest conversion lift study? (select two)

  • Offline sales
  • In-app behaviors
  • Brand association
  • Segmentation
  • Purchase intent

Explanation: The selected answers are correct because Offline sales and In-app behaviors are the two primary technical signals that a conversion lift study can measure beyond standard website-based conversions. While a brand lift study focuses on upper-funnel metrics like “Purchase intent” or “Brand association,” a conversion lift study is designed to measure actual business outcomes and incremental actions. By integrating third-party data or server-side signals through the Conversions API, an e-commerce retailer can track offline sales (connecting online ad exposure to real-world store purchases) and specific in-app behaviors (such as subscriptions or level completions within a native app). These metrics allow the media planner to prove the true causal impact—or incrementality—of their lower-funnel ads by comparing the conversion volume of a group that saw the ads against a control group that did not.

A jewelry retailer wants to launch awareness campaigns for their new line of men’s watches. The campaign has a budget of $30,000 and is set to run for 30 days. The campaign has been running for 7 days and is pacing lower than expected. Which optimization strategy can the media planner use? (select one)

  • Turn on Pinterest Performance+ lifetime budget
  • Turn on Pinterest Performance+ creative
  • Turn on enhanced match
  • Turn on dynamic retargeting

Explanation: The selected answer is correct because Turn on Pinterest Performance+ lifetime budget allows the platform’s automated systems to dynamically redistribute the remaining $30,000 across the rest of the 30-day flight to improve pacing and delivery. When a campaign is pacing lower than expected, it often indicates that manual bidding or rigid daily caps are preventing the ad from winning enough auctions; by switching to a Performance+ lifetime budget, the Pinterest algorithm gains the flexibility to increase spend during high-traffic periods and adjust bids in real-time to capture available impressions. This optimization ensures the retailer’s budget is fully utilized by the end of the campaign period while maximizing total reach for the new line of men’s watches without the need for constant manual adjustments to daily spend limits.

  • Use daily budgets
  • Use a frequency cap
  • Use enhanced match
  • Use Pinterest Performance+ bidding

Explanation: The selected answer is correct because Pinterest Performance+ bidding (formerly known as automatic bidding) allows the platform’s machine learning models to adjust bids in real-time to maximize the number of conversions at the lowest possible cost. In this scenario, the campaign is spending its full budget but failing to meet KPI goals, which suggests that the “Custom bidding” strategy is likely setting bids either too high (wasting budget on expensive impressions) or incorrectly for the specific users most likely to convert. By switching to Performance+ bidding, the system can leverage signals from the Pinterest tag and existing keyword/interest targeting to find the most efficient auction opportunities, ensuring that the spend is redirected toward the highest-performing hotel packages and improving the overall return on investment.

A retailer that sells paper products online is running a two-week consideration campaign with two unique ad images per ad group. They are using relevant keywords and interests for targeting. After 7 days, one of the ad groups is underperforming with click-through-rates (CTRs).How can the media planner optimize for better performance? (select one)

  • Change ad formats
  • Use Pinterest Performance+targeting
  • Pause the campaign
  • Change the campaign objective

Explanation: The selected answer is correct because Pinterest Performance+ targeting uses automated machine learning to expand and optimize an ad group’s reach beyond manual keyword and interest selections, specifically finding users most likely to engage with the content. When an ad group is suffering from low CTRs after 7 days, it often suggests that the initial manual targeting is too narrow or not perfectly aligned with the creative; by enabling Performance+ targeting, the system analyzes real-time signals and Pinner behavior to find additional high-intent audiences that the media planner may have missed. This automated optimization helps improve click-through rates by delivering the paper product images to the specific users most likely to click, without requiring the planner to manually research and test hundreds of new keyword combinations.

A beauty brand ran an awareness campaign on Pinterest with successful reach and CPM KPIs. They want to measure the strength of category interests for people who have seen and engaged with the brand’s Pins compared to Pinterest’s total audience for a future campaign. What metric should the media planner use? (select one)

  • Outbound clicks
  • Affinity score
  • Saves
  • Engagements

Explanation: The selected answer is correct because the Affinity score is the specific metric within Pinterest Audience Insights that measures how much more likely a given audience is to be interested in a specific category or topic compared to the average Pinterest user. While engagement metrics like outbound clicks, saves, and engagements track direct interactions with Pins, they do not provide a relative comparison against the total platform audience. By analyzing the affinity score, the media planner can identify which specific beauty sub-categories—such as “skincare routines” or “vegan makeup”—resonate most strongly with their exposed audience, allowing them to refine their future targeting strategy based on actual user interests rather than broad assumptions.

A large retailer is running a consideration campaign for one of their promotions. They are using a customer list for targeting, but they are not reaching CTR benchmarks. What optimization strategy can improve performance? (select one)

  • Use Pinterest Performance+ targeting
  • Use a frequency cap
  • Use an exclusion audience list
  • Use negative keyword targeting

Explanation: The selected answer is correct because Pinterest Performance+ targeting utilizes automated machine learning to expand an ad’s reach beyond the constraints of a specific customer list, identifying new high-intent users who are likely to engage with the promotion. While a customer list is effective for retargeting known shoppers, it can often be too narrow to achieve broad CTR benchmarks if the audience size is small or the users have already seen the creative; by enabling Performance+ targeting, the system looks at real-time Pinner signals and interests to find additional users whose behavior mirrors that of the retailer’s best customers. This automated optimization broadens the pool of potential clickers, allowing the algorithm to serve ads to users most likely to interact with the content, thereby lifting the overall click-through rate of the consideration campaign.