# How companies are scored

> How Outscope scores a company from 0 to 10: postings read against your signals, quotes checked word for word, recent postings counted more, fit.

Canonical: https://outscope.co/docs/scoring
Last updated: 2026-11-09

A language model reads each posting against your signals and has to quote the line that matched. The quote is checked word for word against the posting, and the score is worked out in code from what passed, never by the model.

## Each posting

1. **The model reads it.** The posting's title and text, against every signal. For each it answers yes, possible or no, with a quote and how sure it is.
2. **We check the quote.** We look for it in the posting, word for word. If it isn't there, the match is thrown out. A quote that passes is the line you see marked.
3. **The posting gets a score.** Its matches added up by your weights and by how sure the model was. A match on a signal that rules out holds it down.

Postings and websites are read as data only. Text inside them that looks like an instruction is not followed.

## The company's score

A company's score, 0 to 10, comes from four things:

| Part | What it adds |
| --- | --- |
| **The strongest posting** | Most of the score |
| **More matching roles** | A little, so a company hiring several people for the same change ranks above one with a single posting |
| **How recent** | A match posted this week outweighs the same match from two months ago |
| **Fit** | From the company's homepage, read once: what it does, its size, and whether it sells to businesses or consumers. One that looks like your buyer ranks higher; one that clearly isn't ranks lower but stays on the list |

In the company panel, five bars show the score at a glance; point at it to see what went into it. The panel also says whether the company looks like your buyer, partly or not, from its homepage.

## Hiring around the signal

The company panel shows how many roles are open in each team and how many went up in the last 30 days. Five marketing roles, three of them new this month, says a team is being built, even before any one posting says so.

> These counts come from roles still open, so roles already filled are missing from the months before. Treat a rise as a hint.

## What a score doesn't tell you

A posting shows a company is about to change something. It doesn't show they'll buy from you, or that the person they're hiring has started. A good signal gets you a better reason to write; whether they buy is still up to your email.