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Media Monitoring

AI relevance check

How the AI relevance check sorts imported articles, and how to write relevance instructions that work

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aclipp Monitoring and every integration can run an AI relevance check. AI reads each new article in full and checks it against your relevance instructions: a short text in your own words that says which coverage you want and which you don't. The check runs before a clipping is created, so you see its result as soon as the clipping arrives.

The three settings#

  • Off: no check. Everything that passes your other filters is imported as usual.
  • Flag for review: every article is imported. Articles that do not fit your instructions, and borderline cases, go to the Review Recommended tab of your clippings instead of the Relevant tab.
  • Flag and discard: the same, but articles that clearly do not fit are not imported at all. They do not count toward your clipping allowance.

Discarding needs a very clear verdict. A borderline article always goes to review, never to the bin. The same goes for an article the AI could not read in full, for example behind a paywall or when only a snippet is available: it is never discarded on partial evidence.

If you are not sure yet, start with Flag for review. Look through the Review Recommended tab for a week or two, sharpen your instructions, and switch to Flag and discard once the tab only holds articles you really don't want.

Instructions are required

The check judges only against your instructions, so you cannot turn it on without them. Changes to the instructions apply to new articles. Clippings that are already in your project keep their status.

Writing good instructions#

The AI already knows your project's name and brand profile. When you write "we" or "our", it reads that as your brand. Your instructions only need to say what matters for this integration.

Say what to keep and what to leave out. Name both sides. "Only product news" leaves the AI guessing about an interview with your CEO. "Keep product launches, partnerships and interviews with our management. Leave out job ads and stock price reports" does not.

Name topics, not qualities. "Only important articles" or "high-quality coverage" cannot be checked. "Articles in which we are the main subject" can.

Say how much of a mention is enough. By default, a short mention or an article about several companies can count as relevant. If you only want articles that are mainly about you, write that.

Say how to handle competitors. If the integration also finds coverage of your competitors, say whether you want it: "Coverage of our competitors counts as relevant when it is about their products or prices."

Be specific about recurring noise. Look at the clippings you didn't want and name what they have in common: "Leave out event calendars, match reports about the club we sponsor, and articles about other companies with the same name as ours."

Keep it short. A few clear sentences beat a long list. You have up to 1,500 characters.

Example#

Too vague:

Text
Only relevant articles about our company.

Better:

Text
Keep articles in which our company or our products are a main subject: product launches,
partnerships, interviews with our management, customer stories and test reports.
Coverage of our competitors counts when it is about their products, prices or strategy.
Leave out job ads, stock price summaries, event calendars and press releases that were
copied without changes.

Let an AI assistant draft your instructions#

Copy this prompt into ChatGPT, Claude or another AI assistant, fill in the brackets and paste the answer into the Relevance instructions field. Read the draft before you save it: you know your coverage best.

Text
You are helping me set up a media monitoring tool. An AI reads every article the tool
finds and checks it against short "relevance instructions". Write those instructions
for me.

About us: [company or brand name, what you do, your markets]
What I want to see: [for example product coverage, interviews, test reports, crisis coverage]
What keeps showing up that I don't want: [for example job ads, stock reports, a namesake]
Competitors: [names, and whether their coverage should count]
How much of a mention is enough: [any mention / we must be a main subject]

Rules for the instructions:
- Plain language, 3 to 6 sentences, under 1,500 characters.
- Say clearly what to keep and what to leave out.
- Name concrete topics and article types, not qualities like "important" or "high quality".
- Write "we" and "our" for my company.
- Output only the instructions, without a heading or explanation.

Related#