Content Writer Resume: Complete Guide with Samples, Skills and ATS Tips
Have you ever noticed on LinkedIn, whenever there is a new opening for a content writer role, within 2 minutes, there are more than 500+ applicants. In this competitive time, it is next to impossible to get shortlisted and receive any calls from recruiters. That’s why a strong content writer resume matters today. Today, a lot of recruiters use ATS scanners to shortlist resumes. But if your resume is not optimised, then you have fewer chances of getting shortlisted.
In this guide, we are going to discuss what recruiters look for in your content writer’s CV, formatting, how to craft a summary, important skills, and common mistakes to avoid.
What Recruiters Look For in a Content Writer Resume
Let’s understand what a recruiter looks for in a content writer’s resume. Why? You can reverse-engineer your resume and make necessary changes.
Portfolio Link:
You can place your writing portfolio URL in the contact block and add 3-5 best links labelled with title, role, and outcome so recruiters can verify impact in one click. There are various ways you can add your portfolio link. For example, you can add the link to all the published articles in a Word document and share that doc link with the recruiter.
When you are building a resume for content writer role, you can add a short URL of your work samples at the top of your resume.
Another example is you can add your portfolio link to your LinkedIn profile as “Check my portfolio”. Make sure to have a short URL, You can also use any online platform, such as “shorturl.at”, for reducing the link and making it user-friendly.
Make sure to add only 5 to 6 relevant samples and not more than that. Why? Because a recruiter has very little time to review the portfolio.
Quantify and highlight outcomes:
A good resume of a content writer has outcome based bullet points. Hence, replace task-only bullets with action + metric + timeframe statements in your resume. For example:
- Replace “collaborated with team” use “increased team collaboration efficiency by 4% in 30 days with the help of a project management tracking system”.
- Replace “Improved organic traffic” use “increased organic traffic by 30% in 3 months with keyword optimisation.
Skills relevant to Job Description:
Recruiters are extremely familiar with job descriptions; hence, when they skim through your resume, they are looking for a relevant skill set. Hence, it is important that before you apply for that role, you make sure to go through the job description, pick essential skills (which are relevant to your experience), and modify them and add them to your resume.
If you look at some strong content writer resume examples, you will notice how well the skills are tailored to match the job description.
This reverse-engineering tactic helps you make your resume ATS-friendly. For example, if you have worked in content marketing and collaborated with the product marketing team. You are applying for a product-based company, hence try to highlight how you collaborated with the product team and worked on similar projects.
Collaboration and Tools:
A recruiter looks for cross-functional work and tool fluency. For the content writer role, the recruiter will analyse if you have worked in tools/platforms such as WordPress, HubSpot, Google Analytics, and SEO tools.
Best Content Writer Resume Format & ATS Optimisation
In your content writer resume, structure and scannability matter and always choose a formate recruiters can digest in 6-10 seconds, ensure ATS can parse it cleanly.
Format:
- You can use reverse-chronological order, start with the latest role or project first.
- Make sure to add clear, standard headings: Summary, Skills, Experience, Education, Certifications.
- Avoid tables, graphics, and text boxes; they often break ATS parsing.
- Look at content writer resume examples online, yet keep yours simple and structured.
File & Style:
- Save as PDF unless the job post specifies otherwise. Stick to standard fonts (Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman) in 10-12pt size.
- Add generous white space to make it skimmable.
- Keep bullets consistent: Action verb + scope + metric + timeframe.
Keyword Mapping:
- ATS systems rank resumes by how well they match the job description
- Lift exact keywords from the JD and place them in:
- Summary
- Skills
- Experience bullets
Action verbs:
- Initiate every bullet with strong, active language.
- Avoid passive phrasing like “responsible for” or “tasked with”.
- Example: Spearheaded, Optimised, Authored, Orchestrated, Delivered, Implemented.
Crafting a Strong Content Writer Resume Summary
Summary is not an introduction; it’s a complete story of your career. It is the most difficult part to craft in any resume for a content writer. Your summary should name your niche, and it must hint at your best proof in under 45 words. Let’s understand the differences in summary and how you can make it better.
- Template:
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- You can utilise a template which has a proper structure, has some metrics, and links to the portfolio.
- For example: SEO-driven content writer (FinTech/EdTech) who grew organic by 30% in 90 days; portfolio’ yoursite.com‘.
- It indicates niche, metric, and proof for a content writer’s resume sample.
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- Keep it short, under 45 words:
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- Cap the summary at ≤45 words with role, niche, 1–2 outcomes, and a portfolio link so your resume is skimmable.
- The recruiters hardly have 6 to 10 seconds to read your summary, hence keep it short.
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- Lead with niche + role:
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- The opening of your summary should be clear, and it must highlight your identity.
- For example, a B2B SaaS Content Writer in the Tech industry with 5 years of experience derived a 10% traffic increase in 30 days.
- Make sure to write a summary which aligns instantly with the JD.
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- Surface 1-2 Metrics:
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- Try to add measurable wins which communicate that you convert duties into outcomes in your role.
- For example, 30% organic traffic was achieved in 6 months through keyword strategy and high-value content. Improved open rates in the newsletter by 4% in 45 days.
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- Link the portfolio prominently:
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- Add a short, clean portfolio URL in the summary (and header) to validate claims fast in your content writer resume examples.
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- Mirror JD keywords
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- Analyse the job description and filter out important keywords and add them to your resume strategically.
- For example, if your job description clearly mentions a content writer role in the SaaS industry, try to add keywords such as “Software As A Service, SEO content writer, CTR, Google Analytics, SERMrush SEO tools”
- It is a strategic approach to fine-tune your resume, aligning towards the JD.
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- For Freshers:
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- Being a fresher, if you have done internships or freelancing, you can highlight your project experience. Talk about your writing projects during your internship. Also, highlight tools and software you learned during your journey. A content writer resume sample for freshers usually shows internships, freelancing gigs, and skills more prominently.
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- Optional differentiator:
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- You can position yourself with a hook or industry niche, channel strength or distribution to highlight your role as a specialised expert. For example: SEO Content Writer in the Ed-Tech industry for founders and Entrepreneurs.
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- Tone and focus:
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- Write in active voice with specific outcomes and avoid using buzzwords to maintain the credibility of the content writer’s resume summary.
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- Placement:
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- Always place your summary under the header and above the experience for maximum visibility.
Let’s explore the three examples of summary for the content writer role:
- For the Enterprise/Consulting industry: Content Writer with 5+ years of experience crafting B2B blogs, case studies, reports, and whitepapers which translate complex business solutions into engaging narratives.
- E-commerce Content Writer: Content strategist in the e-commerce industry, driving sales and customer loyalty with 3+ years of experience in writing product descriptions, email campaigns, and social media copy which convert browsing into buying.
- SaaS Content Writer: B2B Tech and SaaS content writer with 3+ years of experience, producing high-quality content that has resulted in a 10% increase in organic traffic.
Show Results, Not Just Roles, in Your Resume Experience
Mostly recruiters look for measurable achievements with metrics and context in a resume of a content writer. Each bullet should reveal the goal → action → impact, highlighting numbers and impact over tasks.
Quantify outcomes:
- When you write your experience in the resume, make sure to quantify results with traffic percentage, rankings gained, CTR uplift, time-on-page, lead assists, or newsletter subscribers.
- Also, add examples or projects which showed a measurable impact.
- For example, increased blog traffic by 45% in 3 months through SEO-driven articles. Enhanced newsletter open rates from 18% to 28% by A/B testing subject lines.
Show cross-functional collaboration & tools:
- A content writer’s role is not limited to writing; it also involves cross-functional collaboration and tools.
- Highlight tools such as SEMrush, Moz, Grammarly, HubSpot, or Google Keywords.
- For example: Optimised existing blogs with SEMRush keyword data and tracked results in Google Analytics.
Document optimisation impact:
- While you write content, it is also important to highlight how you update content and repurpose it for higher impact and ROI.
- For example: Repurposed 20 legacy posts, which delivered 20% organic traffic within 60 days.
Here are some of the examples and short bullets you can use in your content writer resume:
- Completed 70 blogs → Increased 20K organic visits within 5 months with 70 high-quality blogs.
- Worked on landing page copy → Improved sign-up conversion rate by 17%
- Created weekly email campaigns → added 4,500 new subscribers in 1 year.
- Worked with the design team → Collaborated with the design team to launch 12 interactive infographics.
- Produced social copy for LinkedIn ads → reduced CPC by 22%.
Skills to Highlight in a Content Writer Resume
A winning content writer CV has a job description aligned with skills cluster. You should mention skills you have actually used and can prove via your portfolio, and not a laundry list of every tool you have seen. Let’s explore what the hard skills and soft skills a content writer resume have:
Hard Skills
- SEO (on-page/briefs):
- You can highlight how you create SERP-aligned briefs, optimise titles/H1s/meta/internal links, and map keywords to intent on your resume.
- For example: Optimized H1s, meta tags, and internal linking for 20+ blogs | Improved ranking into the top 6 for 12 high-density keywords.
- CMS (WordPress/HubSpot):
- Add proof that you can publish, format, interlink, add alt text, and manage basic page settings in common CMS tools on your resume.
- For example: Published and formatted 100+ articles in WordPress | Improved formatting for better readability.
- Analytics (Google Analytics):
- Highlight you can track traffic, CTR, time-on-page, and conversions to inform content iterations on your resume.
- For example: Monitored website traffic for 3 websites | Boosted average session duration by 15%
- Research:
- Indicate rigorous primary/secondary research, source vetting, and SME interviews to produce credible, insight-led content on your content CV.
- For example: Conducted SME interviews and vetted 20+ industry sources to develop insight-led whitepapers.
- Basic HTML:
- Highlight comfort with headings, lists, links, images, and embeds to fix layout quirks without dev help on your content writer CV.
- For example: Applied HTML for headings | Reduced turnaround time by 15% without dev support.
- Editorial calendars:
- You can showcase planning cadence, seasonality, and stakeholder alignment to deliver a predictable publishing pipeline.
- For example: Maintained 3-month editorial calendar with seasonal campaigns and stakeholder input | 95% on-time publishing rate.
Soft Skills
- Research rigour:
- You should highlight accuracy, citations, and synthesis to turn research into clear arguments on your content writer resume.
- For example, researched and crafted 15+ in-depth SEO blogs per month and integrated 10+ credible sources to build thought leadership.
- Deadlines:
- You can state consistent on-time delivery against SLAs while managing multiple drafts and stakeholders on your CV.
- For example: Delivered 40+ content pieces per quarter, consistently meeting tight SLAs while managing multiple drafts.
- Collaboration:
- You can highlight cross-functional work with design/SEO/paid/Product to ship content which meets shared goals on your resume.
- For example, Collaborated with SEO, design, and product teams to launch a landing page campaign, which increased sign-ups by 18%.
- Feedback loops:
- You can explain how you incorporated editor notes and performance data to iterate and improve content quality on your CV.
- For example: Incorporated editor feedback and utilised Google Analytics insights to fine-tune blog series.
What a Content Writer Must Include in a Resume: Portfolio, Links & Samples
If you ever look at the content writer resume sample online, it has different elements which are not relevant to the role. A content writer’s resume must include proof and breadth. It should include a portfolio, links and samples.
2 SEO blog posts (discovery and growth):
- You can pick two keyword-researched posts which show intent mapping, internal linking, and measurable organic uplift, labelled clearly in your content writer resume sample.
1 Landing page (conversion):
- You can include a landing page you wrote or optimised that demonstrates benefits-led copy, clear CTAs, and a conversion result to strengthen your content writer resume examples.
1 email/newsletter (retention):
- You can add a campaign email which highlights subject line testing and a CTR/open rate.
- You can also highlight your email copy or revamped email writing, which has improved open rates.
1 long-form guide (authority):
- Highlight a structured guide/whitepaper which showcases deep research, clear outlining, and credible sourcing for topical authority.
- You can also share a long-form guide which has copy and clear writing.
Byline & role clarity:
- When you add each sample, make sure to add your role (author/editor/SEO collaborator) and add publication/byline where available to establish credibility.
- It helps to add more credibility and clarity.
- For example: Collaborated with the product marketing team as a product content writer for writing product descriptions.
One-liner content under each link:
- Write a single line with goal, audience, and outcome. For example: Revamp for mid-funnel SaaS buyers → +18% demo sign-ups in 6 weeks.
- This one-liner content acts as an instant proof.
Place links high and order by impact:
- You can put at least five links near the header or in a prominent portfolio block, sorted by relevance and results, so the best work is seen first.
Note collaboration & tools:
- You can mention many design/SEO/paid collaboration and tools, such as Google Analytics, Content Management System (WordPress), and Ahrefs.
- It signals real-world execution behind the samples.
Show format and industry range:
- Add at least two niches to prove versatility without diluting focus.
- Include different formats such as blog, landing page, email, and guide.
Sometimes it happens that a content writer has worked on ghostwriting projects which have NDAs. Hence, provide anonymised snippets when needed. A good content writer resume examples have portfolio, links and samples included.
Content Writer Resume for Fresher
Articulating experience for content writer resume for fresher is difficult. Many students find it difficult to communicate their project experience in measurable words. Let’s dive into and learn how to write a resume for content writer fresher in detail.
Freshers can win interviews with projects, internships, campus magazines, or self-initiated blogs framed as outcomes. You can highlight a project as an experience in your resume. You can highlight keyword research, published blog series, and if you have revamped a newsletter.
You can follow a proper structure to highlight your experience.
- Structure example: Summary → Projects (metrics) → Skills → Education → Certifications.
Here are some hypothetical examples with the same structure:
- Summary: B2B SaaS content writer with experience in writing high-quality blogs, keyword-researched blogs, email newsletters, and digital campaigns through internships and self-driven projects. Skilled in SEO, CMS, and content optimisation.
- Published 5+ keyword-optimised blogs on WordPress → Improved site traffic by 38% in 2 months.
- Revamped a student newsletter → boosted open rates from 20% to 31%
- Created website copy for a cultural society → improved visitor retention by 25 seconds per page.
Freelance Writer Resume
You can translate project work into a coherent narrative to highlight it as an experience. You need to prove reliability and measurable outcomes. So, instead of scattering short-term projects, you can group them by niche or outcome. It creates coherence while showing you deliver consistent value.
Block format for clarity:
- It is a type of format to communicate your experience concisely.
- It has only 6 to 8 words communicating your overall project experience and the outcome you delivered.
- It makes every entry skimmable and impact-focused.
- Format: Client/Niche | Scope | Outcome | Link
- Example: Produced 30+ blogs | Boosted traffic by 46% in 3 months.
Trust Markers to Highlight:
- You can highlight your retainer clients, repeat clients, average project size, and platform with top-rated badges as trust markers in your content writer resume.
- For example, Retained “Heavenly Writers” (Client) for over 3 years with 20% year-to-year growth.
Here are some sample project blocks you can utilise in your freelance writer resume:
- Evaluated 70 existing blogs | Used keyword strategy and repurposed content | boosted traffic by 20% in 120 days.
- Created e-commerce landing pages | Improved add-to-cart rate by 12%
- Improved website landing copy | Increased traffic and visibility by 20%
- Developed SEO content for travel blog | Secured top-5 rankings for 10 keywords.
Adding Extra Credibility to Your Content Writer Resume
You can add more credibility to your content writer resume by adding certifications, awards, and education clearly and compactly. This is an optional section, but it helps early-career candidates to stand out if their experience is lean. But it is important to keep this section concise and strictly relevant on your content writer CV/content writer resume.
Certifications:
- You can add Google Analytics and HubSpot Content Marketing certification.
- It adds ATS-friendly credibility without clutter on your content writer’s resume.
Awards:
- Include editorial awards, hackathons, or writing contests with a one-line context (result/scale/date) to give instant proof of excellence on your content writer’s CV.
Education:
- Mention degree, institution, graduation year, and one relevant highlight.
- For example: Capstone on SEO content strategy to anchor fundamentals without overshadowing your portfolio on the content writer’s resume.
Common Resume Mistakes to Avoid
Usually, content writers get rejected due to no portfolio link, zero metrics in their resume, or a wall of text which is hard to skim. Here are the common resume mistakes to avoid in your content writer resume:
Turn Duties into achievements:
- Writing basic details in your resume is not enough; without any metrics, it sounds like a to-do list. Hence, rewrite bullets using the goal → action → impact framework.
- For example: Optimised 20 product pages and derived 20% organic traffic in 50 days.
Keep your resume ATS-friendly:
- Fancy resume templates look eye-catching but often break ATS systems. A strong resume of a content writer uses clean layouts, standard headings, and consistent bullets.
- Add keywords, keep short bullet points, and use simple Word format resumes.
Make Your Summary Count:
- Your summary is a short trailer of your journey. Avoid using generic lines such as “best SEO writer”. Instead, try to specify your niche, outcomes, and add proof of concept.
- Example: B2B SaaS & Tech Content Writer for mid-scale agencies with 3+ years of experience. Achieved blog traffic by 30% in 50 days (portfolio link included).
Start Your Career Journey with Kraftshala
If you’re serious about starting a career in content writing, Kraftshala’s Marketing Launchpad (MLP) stands out as the most reliable choice. Unlike short crash courses that only scratch the surface, this is a 22-week, full-time program built in partnership with top recruiters like Nykaa, Mamaearth, Publicis, and GroupM – so the skills you learn are exactly what the industry is hiring for.
Here’s what makes it the best option:
- Placement Accountability: With 94%+ placement rates, the program ensures you don’t just learn digital marketing—you start your career in it. You only pay the full fees if you land a job paying ₹4.5 LPA or more.
- Hands-On Learning: Instead of theory, you execute 8 live projects—Meta Ads, Google Ads, SEO, Programmatic, Social Media, E-commerce, Content Creation, and Blog Building—giving you proof of work that recruiters trust.
- High ROI: The program fee is ₹1.4 lakhs, and graduates consistently secure jobs paying ₹4.5–10 LPA. The return on investment outperforms most local institutes that lack placement accountability.
- Personalised Career Support: From one-on-one mentorship to CV prep, mock interviews, and recruiter-driven feedback, you get individualised guidance designed to help you crack interviews with confidence.
- Future-Ready Skills: The curriculum integrates AI tools, automation, and data analysis, ensuring you’re equipped not just for today’s roles but also for the future of digital marketing.
For students and young professionals in India, Kraftshala’s Marketing Launchpad is the fastest, most reliable way to launch a digital marketing career with the skills and confidence recruiters already trust.
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