AI Content Score: The New Standard for AI-First Content Quality

As AI changes the search landscape, old quality metrics are obsolete. Meet AI Content Score—a new standard for content quality for the AI era.

The world of content is changing faster than ever. The rise of AI content generation has unlocked unprecedented speed and scale, but it's also created a massive new problem: how do you ensure quality when you're producing more content than ever before?

For years, we’ve relied on outdated metrics. Content scores based on keyword coverage and simple readability checks were fine for a simpler time. Today, they are fundamentally broken. They can't distinguish between high-quality, authoritative content and mediocre, AI-generated fluff. In the new era of AI-driven search and answer engines, that distinction is everything.

It’s time for a new standard.

Introducing Conductor’s AI Content Score

To solve this challenge, we went back to the drawing board. We asked ourselves: What does quality really mean to a modern search engine or a large language model (LLM)? The answer isn't about stuffing in the right keywords or word count. It’s about depth, authority, and satisfying user intent.

That's why we're excited to introduce the AI Content Score, now in beta within Writing Assistant. It’s not just an update; it’s a complete re-engineering of how we measure content quality, built from the ground up for the demands of modern AI.

Our new score moves beyond surface-level checks to focus on two core pillars of high-performing content:

1. Comprehensive topical coverage

To be seen as an authority, your content needs to be comprehensive. It's no longer enough to target a single keyword. You need to cover a topic in its entirety, addressing related subtopics, answering common user questions, and demonstrating a true command of the subject matter.

Our AI Content Score analyzes your draft to see how well it covers the topic, ensuring you provide the deep, valuable information that both users and AI systems reward.

2. Precise intent alignment

Why is the user searching for this topic? Are they trying to buy something, learn how to do something, or compare options? Matching this underlying intent is arguably the most critical factor for success.

The AI Content Score evaluates how well your content structure, tone, and information align with the likely intent behind the search query. This ensures you're not just creating content, but creating the right content for your audience at that specific moment.

From AI-generation to strategic governance

As businesses eagerly adopt AI to scale their content efforts, a critical question emerges: Who is minding the store? Speed without quality is a recipe for brand damage and wasted investment.

This is where AI scoring becomes a system of governance. By establishing a meaningful, multi-dimensional quality benchmark, marketing leaders can empower their teams to leverage AI with confidence. It provides the essential control and governance needed to ensure that every piece of content—whether written by a human or assisted by AI—is authoritative, helpful, and ready to perform across the entire search landscape.

How AI Content Score works

AI Content Score is more than just a number—it’s a comprehensive grading system built right into Writing Assistant. The score breaks down into key components that give you actionable insights for improvement.

The magic happens in real-time. As you write and edit, your score updates instantly, showing you exactly how each change impacts your content’s potential performance. No more waiting for reports or guessing about quality, you see your content’s strength as you create it.

Making AI Content Score work for you

Your AI Content Score ranges from 0 to 100, but here’s the thing—you don’t need to obsess over hitting a perfect score.

• Think context, not perfection. A score of 78 isn’t “bad” just because it’s not 100. Consider your goals, industry, and content type. A quick FAQ might naturally score lower than a comprehensive guide, and that’s perfectly fine. The score is a means to help you improve, not a grade to stress about.
  
• Set team standards that work. Some of our alpha testers found success setting content score thresholds for their teams—maybe requiring a minimum score of 80 before publishing, or flagging anything below 60 for review. Others use it for continuous improvement, always trying to beat their previous score.
  
• Focus on the insights, not the number. The real value isn’t in the overall score, it’s in understanding what’s driving it. If your intent alignment is strong but topical coverage is weak, you know exactly where to focus your improvements. Use the expandable scoring buckets to dive deeper into specific areas.

Ultimately, the most important thing to remember is that AI Content Score is designed to empower your content creation, not constrain it.

The future of content is quality

The ability to generate content is now a commodity. The new competitive advantage is the ability to consistently create and optimize high-quality, authoritative content that builds trust. Conductor’s AI Content Score is the first step in a new direction, giving marketers the tools they need to win in the AI era.