--- title: "Understand your content score and the 27 checks" description: "See what the 21 core checks and six research checks measure, how the score affects publishing, and how Premium works with Autopilot." url: https://help.pixelclaw.ai/en/articles/21-understand-your-content-score-and-the-27-checks collection: "PixelClaw guides" updated: 2026-11-04 language: en --- # Understand your content score and the 27 checks See what the 21 core checks and six research checks measure, how the score affects publishing, and how Premium works with Autopilot. PixelClaw scores a post out of 100 using 21 core checks and up to six additional checks when the post has research targets. The score helps you find missing structure, metadata, sources and reader aids. It is not a prediction of Google rankings or AI citations. ## Find your score 1. Open your Blog Site and choose a post. 2. Save your draft, then open Optimize. 3. Read the failed checks and their explanations. Make a manual edit or use an available fix, review the change, and save it. 4. Open Preview to read the saved article as a visitor would before publishing. Some fixes use AI. Check the displayed price before starting one, then use Credit activity to see the actual charge or refund afterward. ## Why the website says “up to 27 checks” Every scored post has the 21 core checks. Another six can apply when there is a target keyword, additional keywords, a planned length or reader questions from research. A post without those targets is not penalized for missing them; those checks are left out of its score. The planned-length and reader-question checks currently apply to English content. They are not applied to translations using those English research targets. This is why two posts can show different numbers of checks. An image check can pass when there are no images to inspect. A short article can also pass the table-of-contents check without needing that block. Those checks still belong to the core set. ## How the five areas make one score Each area gets a percentage based on how many of its applicable checks pass. PixelClaw combines those percentages using these weights: - Search engines (SEO): 30% of the overall score. - Answer engines (AEO): 20%. - Trust signals (AIO): 15%. - AI discovery (GEO): 15%. - Reader experience (SXO): 20%. For example, passing 80% of the applicable SEO checks contributes 24 points to the overall score: 80% of its 30-point share. Each check has equal weight within its area. The impact label helps you prioritize work; it is not an extra score multiplier. ## The 21 core checks ### Search engines: nine checks - Title length checks whether the title is present and fits PixelClaw’s length guidance for the article’s language. - Excerpt length checks the summary used as the meta description against that language’s length guidance. - Web address format checks for a short, lowercase address with words separated by hyphens. - One main heading checks that the post has a title and that the body does not add another H1. - Heading order checks that headings do not skip a level, such as jumping from H2 to H4. - Official page address checks that the post has a valid address from which its canonical URL can be built. - Social sharing details checks that both the title and excerpt are filled in for link-preview text. - Article details for search engines checks that there is a title for the article’s structured data. - Links to related posts checks for at least two internal-link blocks pointing to related published posts on the same Blog Site. If this is your first post, you may have no published articles to link to yet. Publish useful related content over time; do not add irrelevant links just to clear the check. ### Answer engines: four checks - Opening answer checks for a paragraph of 40 to 60 words before the first body heading. Use it to answer the reader’s main question directly. - FAQ section checks that the article contains an FAQ block. - Key takeaways box checks that it contains a key-takeaway block. - Lists or tables checks that it contains a bullet list, numbered list or table. The opening-answer check measures placement and length. The FAQ and takeaway checks detect those blocks. You still need to read them and decide whether the answers are accurate and useful. ### Trust signals: two checks - Author named checks that the post has an assigned author. - Sources for claims checks for at least two entries in Sources blocks or at least two external links. Having two sources does not prove that a claim is true or that either source supports it. Open the sources and check the relevant passages, especially for figures, quotes and professional advice. ### AI discovery: two checks - AI crawlers allowed checks whether your Blog Site’s settings allow AI answer engines to read it. - Publisher name for search engines checks that the Blog Site has a name to identify its publisher. Permission to crawl is not proof that a crawler has visited, indexed or cited the page. Measure actual search traffic and referrals separately. ### Reader experience: four checks - Image sizes saved checks that image blocks have width and height values. - Image descriptions checks that image blocks have nonempty alt text. - Table of contents on long posts checks for a contents block when the article exceeds 1,200 words. - Call to action checks that the article includes a CTA block with a next step for the reader. ## The six checks that depend on research targets - Keyword in the title runs when the post has a target keyword. It checks whether the title includes enough of that phrase. - Keyword in the opening uses the same target and checks the paragraph before the first body heading. - Keyword in a heading checks whether a body heading covers the target phrase. - Extra keywords used runs when additional keywords are available. It checks whether at least half of those phrases are represented in the content. - Length against the pages that rank runs when an English article has a positive planned word count. It flags a draft below 80% or above 120% of that target. Use the finding to look for unanswered questions or repetition, not to add filler. - Answers what readers ask runs when an English article has research questions. It uses text matching to check coverage of at least 80% of those questions. This is a coverage signal, not a factual review of the answers. ## What the score means for publishing The default score required for manual publication is 60 out of 100. An owner or admin can explicitly override that score when publishing manually. A post also needs to meet the other publication checks, including the minimum body-content requirement; overriding a score does not bypass every safeguard. Autopilot requires at least 77 out of 100 for automatic publication, along with its other publication checks. It waits for approval by default unless you enable automatic publishing. A draft below that score can receive a repair pass; if it still falls short, it waits for review. Meeting a publish threshold does not mean every check passed. The threshold uses the combined score. Review any remaining findings and the article’s facts before choosing to publish it yourself. ## How Premium works with Autopilot On a paid plan, an owner or admin can choose Premium under Settings → Appearance → Post layout. New Autopilot posts use that default unless the post has its own layout choice. Changing the default does not automatically restyle an already published article. Autopilot’s drafting instructions ask for three to five key takeaways and an FAQ. The draft-finishing step also adds a CTA. When your approved business profile contains a suitable offer, the CTA uses that offer’s wording and destination. Otherwise it links to your Blog Site’s primary address. To control those offers, open Settings → Brand and knowledge → Business profile and approve the calls to action drafts may use. Premium highlights the article’s CTA and takeaways; it does not require you to add them manually to each Autopilot post. The drafting polish pass checks for missing takeaways and attempts to repair them. AI output can still need attention, and a passing overall score does not prove that every block is present. Review the failed checks in Optimize if a draft is missing something. For a manually written or older article, add the CTA and key-takeaway blocks in the editor if they are missing. Choosing Premium changes the presentation; it does not rewrite existing content or invent an offer, reviewer or testimonial. The content checks apply regardless of the layout you choose. ## What this score cannot tell you The checks inspect the article’s fields, blocks and relevant Blog Site settings. They do not verify every factual claim, assess an author’s qualifications, certify legal or medical accuracy, or guarantee accessibility, rankings, traffic, subscriptions or AI citations. Treat the score as a practical editing checklist. Check the facts, open the links, read the preview on a phone and make sure the CTA takes readers to the intended destination. ## Related guides - [Create a blog and publish your first post](https://help.pixelclaw.ai/en/articles/1-create-a-blog-and-publish-your-first-post.md) - [Change your blog menu, homepage, and article layout](https://help.pixelclaw.ai/en/articles/4-change-your-blog-menu-homepage-and-article-layout.md) - [Set up Autopilot and review posts before they go live](https://help.pixelclaw.ai/en/articles/8-set-up-autopilot-and-review-posts-before-they-go-live.md) - [Compare PixelClaw plans and understand AI credits](https://help.pixelclaw.ai/en/articles/7-compare-pixelclaw-plans-and-understand-ai-credits.md) Checked against PixelClaw’s scoring rules on November 4, 2026. ## Related - [Create a blog and publish your first post](https://help.pixelclaw.ai/en/articles/1-create-a-blog-and-publish-your-first-post.md) - [Show PixelClaw posts on your existing website](https://help.pixelclaw.ai/en/articles/2-show-pixelclaw-posts-on-your-existing-website.md) - [Connect a custom domain to your blog](https://help.pixelclaw.ai/en/articles/3-connect-a-custom-domain-to-your-blog.md) - [Change your blog menu, homepage, and article layout](https://help.pixelclaw.ai/en/articles/4-change-your-blog-menu-homepage-and-article-layout.md) - [Connect your AI provider and choose a writing model](https://help.pixelclaw.ai/en/articles/5-connect-your-ai-provider-and-choose-a-writing-model.md)