Free SEO Tools: Meta Tags, Robots.txt, Sitemaps & Schema

Free SEO checkers and generators, with a step-by-step checklist for crawling, titles, structured data, technical fixes and links.

Search engine optimisation is mostly a checklist done carefully: make sure search engines can find and crawl your pages, give each page a clear title and topic, mark it up so it’s easy to understand, and keep the site fast and free of broken links. This guide walks through that checklist in order and links to a free tool for each step. Most run in your browser; the live page checkers fetch the page from our server and don’t keep the addresses you check.

Pick the right tool

I want to…	Use this
Check a page’s SEO basics in one go	On-Page SEO Checker
See how my page looks in Google	SERP Snippet Preview · Title & Description Length
Write meta and social sharing tags	Meta Tag and Open Graph Generator
Create or test a robots.txt file	Robots.txt Generator · Robots.txt Tester
Build or check an XML sitemap	XML Sitemap Generator · Sitemap Validator
Add structured data	Schema Markup Generator
Check redirects, status codes and canonicals	Redirect Checker · Status Codes · Canonical Tag
Find broken links	Broken Link Checker
Plan keywords and page topics	Keyword Cluster Grouper · Keyword Density
Improve local search visibility	Local SEO Citation Checklist · Google Business Profile Posts

1. Make sure search engines can crawl and index your pages

Nothing else matters if Google can’t reach a page or has been told to ignore it. Check these first.

robots.txt tells crawlers which parts of a site they may visit. It is not a way to hide a page from Google: a blocked URL can still appear in results. To keep a page out of search, use a noindex tag or password-protect it instead. Create the file with the robots.txt generator and check specific URLs with the robots.txt tester.
XML sitemap: a list of the pages you want indexed. One sitemap can hold up to 50,000 URLs or 50MB uncompressed; larger sites split it into several. Use the sitemap generator and the sitemap validator, then submit it in Google Search Console.
Status codes: pages you want indexed should return 200. Check up to 10 at once with the HTTP status code checker.
Canonical tags tell search engines which address is the main version of a page, which matters when the same content is reachable at more than one URL: canonical tag checker.

2. Give every page a clear title and topic

Each page should target one main topic, and its title, main heading and opening paragraph should all make that topic obvious.

Title tags are often what people see as the blue link in results. Keep them unique, descriptive and short enough not to be cut off. Check the length in pixels with the title and description length checker and preview the result with the SERP snippet preview.
Meta descriptions don’t directly affect rankings, but a clear summary can win more clicks. Google sometimes writes its own from the page text.
Headings: use one H1 that matches the page’s topic, then H2s and H3s in order. The heading structure checker finds a missing H1 or skipped levels.
URLs: short, readable slugs with words separated by hyphens: URL slug generator.
Images: describe each meaningful image in its alt text, which also helps people using screen readers: image alt text checker.

The on-page SEO checker runs most of these checks on a live page and gives you a score with the fixes in order.

3. Plan your content around what people search for

Group related keywords into topics, then write one strong page for each topic instead of many thin pages for small variations. The keyword cluster grouper sorts a long keyword list into groups that share words. Then write naturally: the keyword density checker is useful for spotting a phrase you’ve repeated too often, not for hitting a target percentage.

Avoid publishing the same text on several pages. Compare two drafts with the duplicate content checker, and check the balance of visible text and code with the text-to-HTML ratio checker.

4. Add structured data

Structured data (schema markup) describes a page in a format search engines read easily, such as an organisation’s details, a product’s price or an article’s date. It can make a page eligible for richer results, but it doesn’t guarantee them. The schema markup generator writes JSON-LD for organisations, local businesses, articles, products and events.

A note on FAQs: Google stopped showing FAQ rich results in May 2026. The FAQ schema generator still produces valid schema.org markup, but don’t expect it to change how your page looks in Google.

For social sharing, Open Graph and X card tags control the title, description and image shown when someone shares your link: meta tag and Open Graph generator.

5. Fix technical problems

Problem	Why it matters	Tool
Redirect chains or temporary redirects	Each extra hop slows the page down. A 302 tells search engines the move is temporary.	Redirect checker
Moving pages or a whole site	Old addresses need 301 redirects to the new ones so visitors and links aren’t lost	.htaccess redirect generator
Broken links	Visitors hit dead ends and crawlers waste time	Broken link checker
Several language versions	hreflang tells search engines which version to show in each country	Hreflang tag generator
Messy shared links	Tracking parameters create duplicate addresses	URL tracking remover

For security and hosting checks, see the SSL certificate checker, DNS lookup and website technology lookup.

6. Links and local SEO

Links from other relevant sites are still one of the strongest signals of trust. Earn them with useful content rather than buying them. If you look at your backlinks, the anchor text ratio checker shows whether the link text looks natural. Most sites never need a disavow file. Google advises using one only if you have a large number of spammy, artificial or low-quality links pointing to your site and they are causing, or likely to cause, a manual action. If that applies, build the file with the disavow file generator.

For a business with a physical location or service area, local search matters most. Claim and complete your Google Business Profile, keep your name, address and phone number identical everywhere, and post updates regularly. The local SEO citation checklist lists the main UK and US directories, and the Google Business Profile post generator helps you write posts. To check how established a domain is, use the domain age checker.

All SEO tools

Related guides

Marketing and ads tools: UTM tracking, conversion rates and paid search.

SEO tools show what to check and fix; they can’t guarantee rankings. Search engines change how they rank and display results, so follow the official guidance linked below.

Frequently asked questions

Does robots.txt stop a page appearing in Google?

No. It stops crawling, but a blocked URL can still be listed. To keep a page out of search results, use a noindex tag or put it behind a password.

How many URLs can an XML sitemap hold?

Up to 50,000 URLs or 50MB uncompressed. Larger sites split their URLs across several sitemaps and list them in a sitemap index.

Do meta descriptions affect rankings?

Not directly. They can make people more likely to click, and Google may show its own snippet from the page instead.

Does FAQ schema still show in Google?

No. Google stopped showing FAQ rich results in May 2026. The markup is still valid, but it won’t change how your page looks in Google search.

Do I need a disavow file?

Most sites don’t. Google suggests it only when you have many spammy or artificial links pointing to your site that are causing, or likely to cause, a manual action.

Sources

Last updated: 12/11/2026