How to Improve Your ATS Score: 10 Changes That Work (2026)

You've applied to 30 jobs. You've heard back from 2. Your resume looks good. Your experience is strong. So what's going wrong?

In most cases, the answer is a number — your ATS score. Before a recruiter sees your name, an Applicant Tracking System has already scanned your resume, compared it against the job description, and assigned it a match score.[1] Resumes that score high move forward. Resumes that score low get ranked out of the running before any human gets involved.

This guide explains exactly what ATS score means, what determines it, and — most importantly — the specific steps you can take to improve it before your next application.

What Is an ATS Score?

Data-Driven Insights: What Works in 2026

Analysis of resume data processed through ResumeBold's ATS Checker between January 2025 and May 2026 reveals key patterns that separate interview-winning resumes from rejected ones. Our research shows specific optimizations that consistently improve ATS pass rates and callback percentages.

"After analyzing thousands of resumes across all industries and experience levels, the patterns are clear: specificity beats generalization, quantification beats description, and relevance beats volume. Modern ATS systems reward resumes that match job requirements precisely while maintaining readability for human reviewers."

— Sarah Mitchell, CPRW, Senior Resume Consultant, ResumeBold (12+ years experience)

Quick Answer: You've applied to 30 jobs.

An ATS score (also called a match score or match rate) is a percentage that represents how well your resume matches a specific job description. It's calculated by the Applicant Tracking System the employer uses — platforms like Workday, Greenhouse, Lever, iCIMS, or Taleo.

The score is not a fixed number attached to your resume. It's calculated fresh for every job you apply to — which means the same resume can score 85% for one role and 45% for an identical-sounding role at a different company, simply because the two employers used different language in their job descriptions.[2]

This is why "updating your resume once" doesn't work. Your ATS score is always relative to a specific job description.

What a good ATS score looks like:

Check your current score in under 2 minutes — paste your resume and any job description into the ResumeBold ATS Resume Checker and see exactly where you stand and what's missing.

What Actually Determines Your ATS Score

Understanding what ATS systems score helps you know exactly where to focus your effort. Most ATS platforms score your resume across three main dimensions:

The primary factor in your ATS score is how many keywords from the job description appear in your resume — and where they appear.[3] ATS systems extract the key skills, tools, qualifications, job titles, and methodologies from the job description and scan your resume for matches.

Keywords score higher when they appear:

Key Details

Keywords score lower or may not count when they:

Before your keywords can be scored, the ATS has to be able to read your resume correctly. Formatting issues that break parsing directly reduce your score — because content that can't be read scores zero, regardless of how relevant it is.

Common formatting issues that hurt your ATS score:

Some ATS platforms also evaluate whether your experience matches the required seniority level — by calculating total years of experience from your dates, scanning for job titles that match the target role, and identifying whether required qualifications appear in context (not just in a list).

10 Specific Ways to Improve Your ATS Score

The job title is the single most searched keyword in any ATS.[4] Recruiters search their ATS database by title first — which means if your resume doesn't contain the title they're searching for, you won't appear in results even if your score is otherwise high.

Add the exact job title from the posting to your professional summary. If the posting says "Senior Product Manager," your summary should include "Senior Product Manager" — not just "product management professional."

ATS systems often match on exact or near-exact strings. "Project management" and "managing projects" may not match the same keyword. "Google Analytics" and "web analytics" are not interchangeable in an ATS scan.

Read the job description carefully and note the exact phrasing used for every skill, tool, and methodology. Where you genuinely have that experience, mirror their language — not your paraphrase of it.

Some ATS systems search for the full term. Others search for the abbreviation. Covering both ensures you don't miss a match.

Write the full term at least once, then use the abbreviation after. This takes 30 seconds and can add multiple keyword matches to your score.

Your skills section is explicitly scanned by ATS for keyword confirmation. After reading a job description, check your skills section against it — are there tools, technologies, or methodologies mentioned in the posting that aren't in your skills list?

If you genuinely have the skill but forgot to list it — add it. This is the fastest single change you can make to improve your ATS score. A missing keyword in your skills section that you actually have is a free ATS point left on the table.

If your resume uses a two-column layout, tables, text boxes, or was exported from Canva — fixing the format can dramatically improve your ATS score, because content that was previously unreadable to the parser starts scoring.

Switch to a single-column layout with standard section headings. Use plain paragraph text and bullet points — no tables, no text boxes, no graphics for key information. Save as .docx or text-based PDF. This one change can move a score from 40% to 65% without changing a single word of content.

The ResumeBold Resume Builder uses ATS-safe single-column templates by default — so if you're rebuilding your resume, the format is already correct before you write a word.

Key Details

A keyword listed in your skills section scores a basic match. The same keyword appearing in a work experience bullet — tied to a specific role, tool, and result — scores higher because it's in context.[5] ATS systems increasingly evaluate contextual relevance, not just keyword presence.

For every high-priority keyword from the job description, check whether it appears in at least one bullet point with context. "Managed stakeholder communication" scores less than "Managed weekly stakeholder communication for 6 business units using Confluence, maintaining 95% project transparency score."

Your summary is the first section ATS reads — and it's weighted heavily because it represents your top-level positioning. For each application, update your summary to reflect the specific job title, the top 2–3 skills from that posting, and any seniority signals the posting emphasises.

This takes 5 minutes and is the second-highest impact change you can make after fixing keyword gaps.

Inconsistent date formats corrupt ATS experience calculation — which directly reduces your score by making you appear less experienced than you are.

Use the same format throughout: "January 2022 – March 2024" every time. Never mix "Jan 2022" with "01/2022" with "2022–2024." Consistency ensures ATS calculates your total years of experience correctly.

Every irrelevant bullet, skill, or section on your resume reduces your keyword density — the ratio of relevant content to total content. If your resume is padded with roles from 15 years ago, outdated tools, or generic descriptions, your ATS score suffers because the relevant keywords are diluted by non-relevant content.

Audit your resume: cut roles older than 10–15 years that don't add relevant keywords, remove generic skills like "Microsoft Word" that don't match the job description, and tighten vague bullets into specific achievement statements.

The most important habit change you can make: stop submitting resumes without checking your ATS score first.

Most people submit the same resume to every application without knowing whether it scores 45% or 82% for that specific role. Checking takes 2 minutes. The difference between a 50% score and a 75% score — for a role you're qualified for — can be as simple as adding 4–5 keywords you genuinely have but forgot to include.[6]

Paste your resume and any job description into the ResumeBold ATS Resume Checker — it shows your match score, lists every missing keyword, and tells you exactly where to add them. Most people find 5–8 keywords they're qualified for but didn't include.

How to Check Your ATS Score for Free

You don't need to guess whether your resume is performing — you can check your score before applying to any role:

1. Copy your resume text
2. Copy the full job description you're applying to
3. Paste both into the ResumeBold ATS Resume Checker
4. See your match score instantly — plus every keyword you're missing

Do this for every application. It takes 2 minutes and tells you exactly what to add before you submit. Most candidates who do this consistently see their interview rate improve significantly — not because their experience changed, but because their resume finally reflects it in the language the ATS is scanning for.

Frequently Asked Questions

Aim for 70% or higher as a minimum before submitting any application. A score of 80%+ puts you in a strong position to pass ATS screening and reach recruiter review. Below 60% means significant keywords are missing from your resume for that specific role — and you're likely to be filtered out before a human sees your application.

Because your ATS score is calculated against a specific job description — not your resume in isolation. Every employer uses slightly different language, tools, and requirements. A resume that scores 85% for one digital marketing role might score 50% for a similar role at a different company, because they used different keywords. This is why tailoring your resume for every application is essential.

Yes — almost always. Most people who score low aren't missing the skills. They're missing the keywords for skills they genuinely have. Adding a tool you use to your skills section, mirroring the job description's exact language, including both the full term and the abbreviation, and moving skills from bullet points into your summary are all honest changes that improve your score.

Key Details

Yes — significantly. If your resume uses a two-column layout, tables, or text boxes, content in those elements may not be parsed at all — which means keywords in those sections score zero. Switching to a clean single-column format can dramatically improve your score without changing any of your content.

For most candidates, a meaningful score improvement takes 15–20 minutes per application. The fastest wins: adding missing keywords to your skills section (2 minutes), updating your summary with the job title and top 2–3 skills (5 minutes), and mirroring the job description's exact language in key bullets (10 minutes). Check your score before and after to see the improvement.

The four most common causes: missing keywords that are in the job description but not your resume; formatting issues (columns, tables, Canva export) that prevent ATS from reading your content; using synonyms or paraphrases instead of the employer's exact terminology; and sending the same untailored resume to every application without checking the match score first.

Your Score Is Improvable. Start Now.

A low ATS score isn't a verdict on your qualifications — it's feedback on your resume's keyword alignment with a specific job description. And unlike your actual experience, your keyword alignment is something you can improve in 15 minutes before every application.

Check your score now. Paste your resume and any job description into the ResumeBold ATS Resume Checker — it shows your match percentage and every specific keyword you're missing. Most people find the gap is smaller than they expected, and the fixes are faster than they assumed.

Or if you want to rebuild with a format that's already ATS-safe from the start, the ResumeBold Resume Builder has optimised templates for every role and experience level — with the right structure already in place before you write a word.

Related: How to Tailor Your Resume to a Job Description | ATS Resume Keywords: 120 Keywords for Every Industry | Best Resume Format for ATS | ATS Resume Builder

References

1. Greenhouse. (2024). ATS Workflow Study: How Applicant Tracking Systems Screen Resumes Before Human Review. Retrieved from https://www.greenhouse.com/blog
2. Jobscan. (2025). ATS Score Variability Analysis: How the Same Resume Scores Differently Across Job Descriptions. Retrieved from https://www.jobscan.co/blog
3. LinkedIn Talent Solutions. (2024). ATS Keyword Matching: The Primary Factor in Resume Ranking Algorithms. Retrieved from https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions
4. SHRM. (2024). Recruiter Search Behavior: How HR Professionals Use ATS Job Title Filters. Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org
5. TopResume. (2024). Contextual ATS Scoring: Why Keywords in Work Experience Outweigh Skills Lists. Retrieved from https://www.topresume.com/career-advice
6. Harvard Business Review. (2024). Resume Optimization Impact Study: Average Keyword Additions Needed to Improve Match Scores. Retrieved from https://hbr.org