Pinterest Ads Manager

Pinterest allows both keyword targeting and interest targeting on the same ad group, and the API explicitly supports combining them in a single targeting spec^[1]. The two signals operate together rather than as alternatives - keywords capture intent at the moment of search, interests capture longer-term affinity surfaced through the home feed and related Pins^[2].

The documented behavior is that keyword and interest targeting are OR'd within a single ad group, not AND'd. That means a user matching either signal becomes eligible, so layering them in one ad group widens reach rather than narrowing it^[3]. If your goal is to isolate which signal is driving performance, separate them into sibling ad groups instead.

Match-type discipline matters more than the keyword-vs-interest debate. Default keyword match is BROAD^[4], which on Pinterest extends to misspellings, synonyms, and related search terms regardless of word order - the closest analog is Google's old broad-modified behavior, not modern broad match. Cortex flags any ad group running >250 broad-match keywords without negative-keyword scaffolding, which is the most common driver of irrelevant impressions^[5].

For Performance+ Conversions campaigns, Pinterest restricts manual targeting and only permits Country, Age, and Customer lists^[6] - keyword and interest targeting are not available. If a campaign requires keyword granularity (e.g. exact-match brand defense), it cannot run as Performance+ and must use a manual campaign. The Cortex Pinterest Sentry alerts when a Performance+ campaign is migrated from a manual campaign that depended on exact-match keywords^[7].