What counts as a keyword in a job advert?

A keyword is any specific term a recruiter or their software might search for to find a matching candidate. In practice that means hard skills and tools (SQL, Xero, safeguarding), qualifications (AAT, NVQ Level 3, registered nurse), the job title and its common variations, and the action verbs the advert repeats. Vague adjectives like motivated or hard-working are not keywords, because nobody filters a shortlist by them.

Where are the most important keywords in a job advert?

In the essential criteria or requirements section, and in the job title itself. Anything an employer marks as essential is a term you can expect to be filtered on, so those come first. A term that appears more than once in the advert is also a strong signal it matters. The nice-to-have or desirable list is second priority: useful if it is true of you, not worth stretching for.

Do I have to match the exact wording from the advert?

Close wording helps, because keyword matching is fairly literal. If the advert says management accounts and your CV says managed the accounts, a simple match may miss it. Where a phrase honestly describes your experience, use the advert's version of it. Add the obvious variant too, for example both CIPD and Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, so you match however the recruiter searches. Never claim a skill you do not have just to land the word.

How many keywords should I put on my CV?

Enough to cover the essential criteria you genuinely meet, worked naturally into your summary, skills section, and work history. There is no target number. Stuffing a long list of terms you cannot back up does not help: it reads as padding to a recruiter and, if the terms are hidden or irrelevant, some systems now flag it as manipulation. Match what is true, place it high on the page, and stop.

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How to find the keywords in a job advert

The software that reads your CV first ranks it on the words it shares with the advert. Here is how to spot those words, and how to use them without pretending to be someone you are not.

August 2026 · 6 min read

The 30-second version

Before a person reads your CV, an applicant tracking system often scores how well it matches the advert. That match is built on shared terms: skills, tools, qualifications, and the job title. So the job advert is not just a description of the role. It is the answer key.

Read it for the specific words a recruiter would search for, put the ones that are true of you high on your CV in the advert's own language, and skip the ones you cannot back up. That is the whole skill.

Where the keywords actually live

You do not need to weigh every word equally. The terms that matter cluster in a few predictable places:

The job title. The single most important phrase in the advert. If it says "Management Accountant" and your CV never uses those two words together, a title search steps straight past you.
The essential criteria. Sometimes headed "requirements", "what you'll need", or "essential". Anything an employer calls essential is a term they can be expected to filter on. Start here.
Anything repeated. If a skill or tool shows up three times across the advert, that is the employer telling you what the job is really about.
The desirable or nice-to-have list. Second priority. Worth including where it is genuinely true of you, never worth stretching for.

The four kinds of keyword worth pulling

1. Hard skills and tools

The concrete, checkable things: SQL, Excel, Xero, safeguarding, phlebotomy, forklift licence. These are what searches are usually built on.

2. Qualifications and certifications

AAT, NVQ Level 3, PRINCE2, NMC registration, a full UK driving licence. Often a hard filter: you either have it or you do not.

3. The job title and its variants

Recruiters search titles. Include the advert's exact title and its common synonyms where they honestly apply, for example "Care Assistant" and "Healthcare Assistant".

4. The verbs the advert leans on

Words like reconcile, coordinate, safeguard, forecast. They describe the actual work, and echoing the real ones in your bullet points strengthens the match.

Match the wording, not just the idea

Keyword matching is more literal than you would like. If the advert asks for "stakeholder management" and your CV says you "kept everyone in the loop", a human sees the same thing but a simple keyword check may not. Where a phrase in the advert honestly describes what you did, use that phrase.

Spell out acronyms both ways as well. Put "Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM)" and you match whether the recruiter searches the short form or the long one.

A worked example

Here is a slice of a real-sounding advert, with the keywords marked:

From the advert We are looking for a Finance Assistant to support the month-end close. You will reconcile supplier statements, maintain the purchase ledger, and process invoices in Sage. AAT qualified or studying is essential. Experience with bank reconciliations and strong Excel skills required.

Your keyword list from that one paragraph: Finance Assistant, reconcile, purchase ledger, invoices, Sage, AAT, bank reconciliations, Excel. Each of those that is true of you belongs in your summary, your skills section, or a work-history bullet, in those words.

The line that keeps this honest. The point of finding keywords is to describe your real experience in the language the employer uses, not to collect words you cannot stand behind. A term you land in the software but cannot evidence in an interview does more harm than the missing keyword ever would.

Then check it, do not guess

You can do all of this by eye, and it is a genuinely useful habit. But it is slow, and it is easy to miss a term you have paraphrased without realising. That is exactly the gap our free checker closes: paste the advert and your CV, and it lists the keywords the role is scanning for, which ones you match, which are near-misses, and which are missing entirely. No guessing, no sign-up.

Find the keywords automatically, free.

Paste a job advert and your CV. The ATS checker pulls out the terms the role scans for and shows exactly where your CV matches, so you know what to add before you apply. Nothing stored, no card.

See the keywords in your advert, free →