30 Performance Marketing Interview Questions and Answers (2025)

Quality Score (1–10) measures ad relevance, expected CTR, and landing page experience. A higher QS means you pay less per click than competitors for the same ad position. QS of 7+ is good — QS below 5 means you’re paying a penalty. Improve it by aligning keyword, ad copy, and landing page around a single intent.

Exact Match: Ad shows for the keyword or close variants with same meaning. Phrase Match: Ad shows for searches that include the keyword’s meaning, with words before/after allowed. Broad Match: Ad shows for any search Google deems related — widest reach, lowest control. In 2025, Google has blurred the lines significantly — always review search terms reports weekly regardless of match type.

Use Target CPA when you have 50+ conversions/month and need to control cost — Google will optimize to hit your CPA target. Use Maximize Conversions when a new campaign needs to gather conversion data without a CPA constraint. Never use Target CPA on a new campaign with no conversion history — set it too low and the campaign gets no impressions.

Performance Max is Google’s fully automated campaign type that runs across Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, and Maps with one campaign. Its main limitation is transparency — you can’t see which channel is driving results or what search terms triggered ads. I always run PMax alongside manual Search campaigns to balance automation with control.

Recommended structure: Campaign 1 — Brand Search (protect brand terms, exact match, small budget). Campaign 2 — Non-Brand Search (core keywords, Exact + Phrase, largest budget). Campaign 3 — Competitor (bid on competitor brand names, separate budget). Campaign 4 — Performance Max (automated, supplemental). Each non-brand campaign should have 3–5 tightly themed ad groups with 10–15 keywords each.

I run through a 5-point diagnosis: 1) Check conversion tracking is firing correctly, 2) Check landing page speed on mobile (3G test), 3) Check message match between ad and landing page, 4) Check form — number of fields, CTA text, mobile usability, 5) Check keyword intent — are you getting searches from people looking for information vs ready to buy? 70% of “clicks but no leads” issues are landing page problems, not campaign problems.

Top of Funnel (TOF): Cold audiences — people who don’t know you. Goal: awareness and reach. Creative: video, brand story. Middle of Funnel (MOF): Warm audiences — people who engaged but didn’t convert. Goal: consideration. Creative: social proof, benefits, demos. Bottom of Funnel (BOF): Hot retargeting — people who visited landing page or started form. Goal: conversion. Creative: urgency, specific offer, testimonials.

The levers in order of impact: 1) Improve creative CTR (better hook in first 3 seconds), 2) Improve landing page conversion rate, 3) Tighten audience targeting to remove low-intent segments, 4) Test CBO vs ABO to allocate budget to best-performing sets, 5) Switch to Advantage+ if manual targeting has plateau’d. CPL reduction is almost never about lowering bids — it’s about improving click-through and conversion rates.

Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) in iOS 14 broke third-party cookie tracking. Up to 40% of iOS conversions became invisible to Meta Pixel. The fix: Conversions API (CAPI) sends conversion data directly from the server to Meta, bypassing browser-level restrictions. All serious advertisers should now have both Pixel AND CAPI running together for accurate measurement.

Advantage+ Shopping (formerly ASC) is Meta’s fully automated campaign type for e-commerce — it combines prospecting and retargeting in one campaign, automated audience, and automated placements. Use it when: you have clean pixel data with 500+ purchase events, selling products with broad audience appeal, and looking to scale. Not recommended for niche B2B, high-ticket services, or campaigns needing geographic precision.

ROAS = Revenue from ads / Ad spend. Example: ₹1,00,000 revenue from ₹20,000 ad spend = 5x ROAS. Good ROAS depends on margins: E-commerce with 50% margin needs minimum 2x ROAS to break even, 4x+ to be profitable. For lead generation, use CPL instead of ROAS — track CPL against close rate and deal value to calculate effective ROAS.

Scale in 3 ways simultaneously: 1) Vertical: increase budget by 20–25% per week (faster increases disrupt learning), 2) Horizontal: add new audience segments, new geographies, new keyword themes, 3) New format: if Search is working, add Display or Video for a new audience layer. Never just dump more budget into the same setup — scale by expanding coverage, not just spend.

Monthly client reports should include: Spend, Impressions, Clicks, CTR, CPL/CPA, Leads/Conversions, Conversion Rate, ROAS (for e-commerce), and Lead Quality commentary. More important than metrics is the narrative: what changed, why it changed, and what we’re doing about it. I always include a “3 optimizations made this month” section so clients understand the value of active management.