Understanding SEO and LLM scores
The two numbers in the editor footer that tell you how well your post will rank on Google and get cited by AI.
Every post in the VeloCMS editor shows two scores in real time: SEO and LLM. Both are graded from 0 to 100. They are independent — a post can score 95 on SEO and 40 on LLM if it is well-optimized for Google but buries its answers.
The SEO score (0-100)
Measures traditional search engine optimization signals — the stuff Google's PageRank and RankBrain have cared about for years.
- Title length (50–60 characters is optimal)
- Meta description length (150–160 characters)
- Heading hierarchy (h1 → h2 → h3, no skipping)
- Image alt text coverage
- Internal and external link density
- Primary keyword density (1–2% sweet spot)
- Readability (Flesch-Kincaid grade 6–8)
The LLM score (0-100)
Measures Answer Engine Optimization — how well your content performs when a language model is trying to extract a direct answer.
- Answer-first paragraph structure
- Query-shaped headings (e.g. "How to ...")
- JSON-LD schema coverage
- Entity definition density (named things per paragraph)
- Summary sentence at the top of each section
- Facts versus opinions ratio
How to push both scores above 90
Start with a tight 60-character title. Write an opening paragraph that directly answers the post's core question in one sentence. Use h2 headings that look like search queries. Add three or four internal links to related posts. The AI assistant has an Improve SEO prompt that will rewrite your content with these rules applied — useful for a final polish pass.