---
title: Scoring & levels
description: How dualmark verify weighs checks and assigns conformance levels.
---

## Check weights

The `dualmark verify` CLI runs 14 checks, weighted by importance:

| Check | Weight | Required? |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `md.fetch` | 20 | ✅ |
| `md.contentType` | 10 | ✅ |
| `md.tokensHeader` | 10 | ✅ |
| `md.noindex` | 10 | ✅ |
| `md.vary` | 10 | ✅ |
| `md.body` | 10 | ✅ |
| `md.aeoVersion` | 5 | ⚠ recommended |
| `md.nosniff` | 5 | ⚠ recommended |
| `html.reachable` | 5 | ✅ |
| `html.linkAlternate` | 10 | ✅ |
| `html.vary` | 5 | ⚠ recommended |
| `negotiation.botUa` | 10 | ⚠ recommended |
| `negotiation.acceptHeader` | 10 | ✅ |
| `negotiation.notAcceptable` | 5 | ⚠ recommended |

**Maximum**: 125 points.

## Conformance levels

The AEO Spec defines three conformance levels matching CLI scores:

| Level | Score | What it means |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Basic** | >= 60% (75/125) | Markdown twin reachable, basic headers present |
| **Standard** | >= 80% (100/125) | Full headers, Link alternate, Accept negotiation |
| **Advanced** | >= 95% (119/125) | Bot UA negotiation, 406 fallback, all recommended checks |

See [spec/conformance](/docs/spec/conformance) for the normative definitions.

## Exit code

The CLI exits `0` when **all required** (✅) checks pass, regardless of recommended ones. So a Standard-level implementation can pass CI even without optional headers.