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imran
imran

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I Built a Free ATS Resume Checker With Zero Budget (And Got It Indexed by Google in a Day)

#javascript #webdev #career #showdev

I'm Imran, a beginner developer from Pakistan. Last week I had an idea: job seekers keep getting rejected by Applicant Tracking Systems before a human ever reads their resume. The tools that check this are either paid or covered in ads. So I built my own — 100% free, no signup, no backend.

Try it: https://swiftcv.neocities.org/

What it does

  • Resume builder with live preview — fill a form, watch 4 ATS-safe single-column templates build in real time
  • ATS score checker — overall score plus section-wise A–D grades (Contact Details, Content, ATS Format)
  • Bullet Coach — scores every bullet on action verbs, numbers, length, and weak phrases ("responsible for", "helped", "etc.") with specific fix tips
  • Job-description keyword matcher — paste any job ad, see matched vs missing keywords
  • PDF CV import — uploads your old CV and rebuilds it in ATS format (parsed 100% client-side with pdf.js)
  • Cover letter builder — matching cover letter with one click

The tech (boring on purpose)

One HTML file, one CSS file, one JS file. No framework, no build step, no database, no server. Everything runs in the browser:

  • Resume data lives in localStorage — it never leaves the user's device
  • PDF parsing via pdf.js CDN with a heuristic section parser
  • ATS scoring is ~40 hand-written checks (regex + heuristics), not an LLM — deterministic and instant
  • Hosted free on Neocities, deployed by uploading 3 files

Total cost so far: $0.

What I learned about SEO as a beginner

  1. On-page SEO is free and fast — semantic HTML, a keyword-rich <title>, meta description, Open Graph tags, JSON-LD schema, robots.txt, sitemap.xml. Took one evening.
  2. Google Search Console is non-negotiable — submitted the sitemap, and the site was indexed within hours. Watching the "Performance" tab fill up with real queries is addictive.
  3. Backlinks > everything else — the site ranks for its own name already; ranking for real keywords ("free ats resume builder") is a months-long game won with genuine links, not spam.

What's next

I'm adding more checks (readability, skill-gap analysis) and writing about each step. If you're job hunting, run your resume through it — and if a bullet gets flagged, the coach tells you exactly how to fix it.

Repo/profile: https://github.com/IMRAN-stack53

Built with vanilla JS and stubbornness. Feedback welcome in the comments.

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