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Understanding Opportunity Scores and What They Mean

Packleads scores every business on a 0-100 scale. Learn how scores are calculated, what drives them, and how to use them to prioritize your outreach.

How the Opportunity Score works

Every business gets a score from 0 to 100. The score combines two components: SEO Need (weighted at 60%) and AEO — Answer Engine Optimization (weighted at 40%). A higher score means a bigger gap in the business's digital presence, which means a bigger opportunity for you. A score of 80+ means the business has significant, obvious gaps. A score of 40-70 means moderate opportunities. Below 40, the business is relatively well-optimized.

SEO Need Score breakdown

The SEO Need Score (0-100) evaluates traditional search signals: Is their GBP profile complete? Are they responding to reviews? Do they have a website? Is the website technically sound? Where do they rank in the local pack? How active is the business owner? Each signal contributes points based on how critical that gap is for local search performance.

AEO Score breakdown

The AEO Score (0-100) measures readiness for AI-powered search — ChatGPT, Google AI Overview, Perplexity, and similar. It checks: Is the business mentioned in AI search results? Do they have LocalBusiness schema markup? Is there FAQ structured data? Are OpenGraph tags present? As AI search grows, businesses without these signals will become increasingly invisible.

Using scores to prioritize outreach

Sort your scan results by Opportunity Score (highest first). The top businesses are your warmest leads — they have the most to gain from your services and the clearest problems you can point to. But don't ignore the middle range. Businesses scoring 50-70 often have specific, fixable issues (like no review responses or a missing website) that make for easy, high-value pitches.

Scores in context

A score is only meaningful in context. A plumber scoring 75 in a small town is a different opportunity than a restaurant scoring 75 in Manhattan. Use the Market Dashboard to see how scores distribute across your scanned markets. If 80% of businesses in a niche score above 60, that's a market with massive, systemic gaps — perfect for volume outreach. If scores are mostly low, the market is well-served and you'll need to differentiate more.

Put this guide into action

Run a free scan on any niche and city. See which local businesses have the digital gaps you can fix.

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