Most SEOs run the same daily checklist: check positions, inspect a page's technical stack, look at speed, validate the sitemap, sort out robots.txt. Each used to mean opening a separate service or unpacking Screaming Frog locally. Now they are all free: the checks live on sitemetricstool.com/en/tools with no signup, and positions live on the free plan in the dashboard. This overview walks all five — what each does, where it helps, and what the free version doesn't cover.
1. Rank checking — on the free plan
The most common task. There is no anonymous checker — every SERP measurement is paid, so positions are checked in the dashboard: up to 5 keywords on the free plan, with the position appearing 5–10 minutes after you add a keyword. Useful for verifying edits: rewrote a title, and a couple of days later the history shows the position climbing from 14 to 7. For hundreds of keywords with schedules and alerts — the paid plans.
2. robots.txt Validator — check directives
A heavily underused tool. robots.txt is a 5-line file but one wrong Disallow drops your site from the index. The tool checks: syntax (user-agent, allow, disallow placement), conflicting rules, sitemap references, Googlebot vs Yandexbot divergence. The dangerous scenario it catches: you shipped staging with Disallow: / and forgot to remove it on production. Two weeks later Google deindexes half the site. With this tool such bugs surface instantly. URL: /tools/robots-txt-validator.
3. Sitemap Validator — sitemap checker
sitemap.xml is your explicit hint to engines about which URLs matter. The validator checks: XML schema (broken tags?), URL reachability (do they all return 200?), lastmod freshness (if every date is 2023, that's a signal), hreflang correctness for multilingual sites. Catches the classic "generated the sitemap 6 months ago, 30% of URLs are now dead". URL: /tools/sitemap-validator.
4. Meta Tags Checker — page tag inspector
Enter a URL — get a full breakdown of every SEO tag on the page: title (50–60 chars is fine, > 70 truncates in SERP), description (140–160 ideal), canonical presence, Open Graph correctness for socials, hreflang for multilingual, Schema.org markup. Invaluable during pre-publish content review. URL: /tools/meta-tags-checker.
5. PageSpeed Tester — Core Web Vitals
Measures LCP, INP, CLS via the Google PageSpeed Insights API, for mobile and desktop. If the domain has enough traffic, the tool shows CrUX field data over 28 days — the exact numbers the engine uses for ranking; otherwise Lighthouse lab metrics. Run it after every significant release — LCP up from 2.1 to 3.4 is a roll-back-or-optimise signal. URL: /tools/pagespeed-tester.
Scenario: "my traffic dropped — what to check"
The most common SEO pain: open Google Analytics, see -30% organic for the week. What now? Algorithm for the free express audit: first — check the position of your most commercial query in the dashboard (or add it on the free plan) and see if it dropped. If it didn't, the problem isn't SEO, dig into CRM or conversion. If it did — open Meta Tags Checker on the page, verify title and canonical. Then robots.txt Validator on the root robots.txt — nothing accidentally blocked? Then PageSpeed Tester — did speed regress? Finally Sitemap Validator — is the page still in the map? Fifteen minutes for a full lap — and you have an answer.
Why it's free
The logic is simple. Free online SEO tools are the funnel entry. Some users decide one-off checks are enough and move on — that's fine. Others realise one-off checks are not enough and want it all automated: scheduling, position history, alerts, GSC and Yandex Webmaster integration. They sign up and connect a project. Site Metrics Tool's free plan (1 project, 5 keywords) is also card-free — you can connect your real site and try. Paid plans start at $12/mo.
What free tools don't do
- No position tracking — that takes a project, 5 keywords on the free plan.
- No history — close the tab and the data is gone.
- No drop alerts — you find out only by checking yourself.
- No GSC / Yandex Webmaster integration — all data is "anonymised", no impression-weighted aggregation.
- No continuous competitor tracking — you re-enter the domain every time.
Frequently asked
Do I need to sign up to use the free tools?
For the checks on /tools — no: robots.txt, sitemap, meta tags, speed, SSL, redirects and hreflang run anonymously, up to 5 checks per hour. Rank checking needs a free account: every SERP measurement is a paid request, and its spend cannot be capped without one.
Will the free tools become paid later?
No. They're part of our "free entry into the product" strategy and will stay that way. Limits may change (e.g., increase as infra scales) but one-off checks remain free.
Which tool should I use first?
If you're starting an SEO audit — begin with Meta Tags Checker on the homepage. It surfaces the state of your main SEO signals. Next — robots.txt Validator to confirm crawling isn't broken. Then PageSpeed Tester and rank checking in the dashboard. Sitemap Validator goes last, once the first four are clean.
Can I embed the tools on my own site?
Not yet — the tools live only on our pages. If you're interested in white-label widgets for agencies, email sales@sitemetricstool.com and we'll discuss.