Sitemap freshness
- + Sitemap URL and sitemap-index lastmod values are stamped to the build time on every production build
- + IndexNow key file contains only the key, with no trailing newline
Changelog
What's new, improved, and fixed across The Simple Toolbox.
This page records visible product changes, technical fixes, content improvements, and trust updates that affect how the tools work. It is intentionally public so users can see when formulas, page structure, redirects, privacy notes, and performance work change over time.
What gets logged
New tools, formula updates, schema changes, redirects, privacy edits, performance improvements, and important bug fixes are listed here. Tiny copy edits may not appear, but anything that changes the user experience or search index should be visible.
Why it matters
Calculator and reference sites need a clear maintenance trail. If a fee rate, tax assumption, sitemap rule, or page template changes, users and reviewers should be able to confirm that the site is actively maintained.
How to read these updates
Each entry groups related work by release date. Product updates usually mean new calculators, better examples, or cleaner navigation. Technical updates usually mean build, sitemap, schema, redirect, accessibility, or performance work. Trust updates cover author information, privacy language, source notes, editorial standards, and corrections.
The changelog is not a marketing timeline. It is a maintenance record for a utility site, so the important question is whether the tools are becoming clearer, safer, faster, and easier to verify over time.
When a page is removed from the sitemap, moved behind a redirect, marked noindex, or expanded with more original context, that change belongs here because it affects what search engines and human reviewers can evaluate. The goal is a smaller, cleaner index of pages that deserve to be found.
Older entries stay visible instead of being rewritten, so it is easier to understand how the project moved from a broad tool directory toward a more careful AdSense-ready site.
Crawler File and Trust Badge Honesty
- + Repaired llms.txt and llms-full.txt: removed phantom Loan Calculator and dead duplicate compound-interest/percentage entries, canonicalized /tools/p/ URLs, and added trailing slashes so every listed URL is a direct 200
- + Removed the unverified homepage speed claim
- + Replaced the unverified Lightning Fast tool-header badge with Browser Based
- + Pointed remaining /tools/dev related-tool links at live canonical pages instead of alias paths that only 301
Date Hub Target Honesty
- + Pointed thin hub /tools/date/ at /tools/date-calculator/ instead of the leftover wrong /tools/age-calculator/ target (age-in-days child stays on age-calculator)
More Leftover Wrong-Slug 301s
- + 301 /tools/epoch-converter/ to /tools/unix-timestamp-converter/
- + 301 /tools/subnet-calculator/ and /tools/ip-calculator/ to /tools/network-subnet-calculator/
- + 301 /tools/hex-to-rgb/ and /tools/rgb-to-hex/ to their live /tools/dev/ twins
Redirects Under Static Cap
- + Cloudflare Pages was only applying ~149 static _redirects rules; trimmed redundant /tools/p/* explicits (covered by :slug splat) and bare duplicates of trailing-slash rules so legacy short-slug 301s actually fire
Legacy Short-Slug 301s
- + Added 301s for common short aliases that were live 404s (bmi/bmi-calc/body-mass-index, uuid/guid/random-uuid, qr-code/qrcode/qr-generator, tip-calc, base64, url-encode, json-format, pomodoro, calorie-calc, compound-interest, password, invoice, gpa/gpa-calc, age/age-calc, timezone/time-zone, percentage-calc/percent-calculator, unit-convert/units) to their live tool pages
Date Redirect Target Honesty
- + Pointed retired date-cluster URLs (days-between, business-days, date-add-subtract) at /tools/date-calculator/ instead of the wrong /tools/age-calculator/ target
- + Added root-level 301s for those same slugs plus age-in-days → age-calculator, and timezone-converter → time-zone-converter
Leaf Tool Free Copy Honesty (batch 5)
- + Rewrote leftover completely free FAQ and benefit lines on 21 more leaf tools (rate calculator, readability score, risk reward, SaaS metrics, Scrabble word finder, shipping cost, sleep cycle, square footage, TikTok RPM, time card, tip calculator, tire size, Unix timestamp, Upwork fee, URL encoder, UUID generator, video bitrate, word scramble, words to pages, Words With Friends, YouTube sponsorship) to free to use now — ads are not live yet
Leaf Tool Free Copy Honesty (batch 4)
- + Rewrote leftover completely free FAQ and benefit lines on 20 more leaf tools (kitchen unit converter, LLM API cost, MAO, Markdown to HTML, meme generator, meta tag generator, micro futures sizer, N-400, name generator, network subnet, payment fee, pet age, Pomodoro, position size, pregnancy due date, pricing strategy, profit target, prop firm, QR code, random word) to free to use now — ads are not live yet
Leaf Tool Free Copy Honesty (batch 3)
- + Rewrote leftover completely free FAQ and benefit lines on 20 more leaf tools (debt snowball, diff checker, dropshipping margin, engagement rate, Etsy fee, flight time, follower growth, fraction, freelance reverse salary, freight, GPA, hashtag predictor, hours, house hacking, HTML entity encoder, image resizer, integral, investment property, JWT decoder, keyword ROI) to free to use now — ads are not live yet
Leaf Tool Free Copy Honesty (batch 2)
- + Rewrote leftover completely free FAQ and benefit lines on 20 more leaf tools (Amazon profit, anagram, audio trimmer, auto loan payoff, BAC, backlink, barcode, Base64, bcrypt, bio, BMI, BRRRR, calorie, calorie deficit, CD vs HYSA, color picker, compound interest, concrete, contract builder, date calculator) to free to use now — ads are not live yet
Leaf Tool Free Copy Honesty
- + Rewrote leftover Free forever / completely free FAQ and benefit lines on 20 leaf tools (string formatter, rhyme finder, syllable counter, unit converter, packing list, word/dev solvers, converters, and calculators) to free to use now — ads are not live yet
Always Free Badge Honesty
- + Renamed the tool-header Always Free trust badge to Free to use now so it matches live ads status (ads are not live yet)
pSEO Free Copy Honesty
- + Rewrote leftover Free forever / completely free FAQ and benefit lines on percentage, margin, gym, and UTM pSEO pages to free to use now — ads are not live yet
- + Matched the leaf percentage calculator FAQ to the same honesty line; dropped complete privacy overclaim on is-what-percent-of
JS Fallback on Client-Only Tool Islands
- + Added a tiny static 'This tool needs JavaScript' fallback as children of empty client:only islands (pseo gym/percent tools, convert/compare/salary/roi clusters, QR, salary calculator, and word tools)
- + Did not change client:only / client:load directives
Homepage FAQ Honesty
- + Rewrote the homepage account FAQ (visible + JSON-LD) so it no longer says 100% free; tools are free to use now and ads are not live yet
- + Renamed the inverted How-it-works heading from Accounts needed to No accounts needed so it matches the answer
Leftover 404s and Privacy Category Copy
- + 301 /category/pdf/ to /category/media/ (PDF tools live under Media & File Utilities)
- + 301 /tools/image-compressor/ to /tools/image-resizer/
- + Rewrote the Privacy category opening so it describes this site's password tool instead of claiming other generators send requests to a server
Terms of Use Expanded
- + Expanded /terms/ from a thin six-section page into a fuller Terms of Use covering agreement, warranties, liability, acceptable use, data practices, governing law (Texas), and contact
Author Pages & Trust Copy
- + Added /authors/alamzeb-khan/ with full bio, Person JSON-LD, and sameAs links for knowledge graph anchoring
- + Updated blog post bylines to link to /authors/alamzeb-khan/ across all posts
- + Updated BlogPosting schema author.url to /authors/alamzeb-khan/ sitewide
- + Rewrote copy on About, Team, Editorial Standards, Blog, Privacy, Terms, Contact, and Changelog pages
- + Added /authors/ to sitemap with priority 0.8
AdSense Remediation (Phase 14)
- + Removed /word-tools/ duplicate namespace; all word tool URLs 301 redirect to /tools/ equivalents
- + Noindexed 8 thin hub pages (/tools/dev/, /tools/fees/, /tools/date/, /tools/tax/, /tools/convert/, /tools/compare/, /tools/salary/, /tools/roi/)
- + Added /privacy/ as canonical URL; /privacy-policy/ 301 redirects to /privacy/
- + Cleaned sitemap: removed noindexed hub pages, duplicate /word-tools/ slugs, and /privacy-policy/
- + Replaced vague 'No tracking' / '100% Private' homepage claims with scoped, accurate statements
Editorial Standards Page
- + Published /editorial-standards/ documenting formula sourcing, accuracy testing, update cadence, AI disclosure, and correction process
- + Added WebPage JSON-LD schema to editorial standards page
SEO & Schema Overhaul
- + Added FAQPage and HowTo structured data to all 100+ tool pages
- + Added BreadcrumbList schema to category pages
- + Added datePublished and dateModified to tool schemas
- + Created /tools/ index page with full tool directory
- + Added cross-category Related Tools recommendations
- + Migrated /tools/p/ URLs to /tools/ with 301 redirects
- + Expanded category meta descriptions for better CTR
- + Added formula sections to 5 financial calculator pages
Performance & Security Improvements
- + Removed unused Material Icons font (saves ~100KB per page)
- + Added HSTS, Content-Security-Policy, and Permissions-Policy headers
- + Fixed Cloudflare asset caching with immutable headers for static assets
- + Added font preload hints for faster LCP
- + Configured IndexNow for instant Bing/Yandex indexation
Trust & Transparency Update
- + Updated About page to honestly reflect analytics usage
- + Removed cookie consent banner — tools do not set first-party tracking cookies on inputs
- + Fixed Organization schema logo to ImageObject format
- + Populated sameAs with GitHub profile link
Launch
- + Initial launch with 100+ free, privacy-first browser tools
- + 14 categories: Finance, Freelance, Real Estate, Trading, E-commerce, Social, SEO, Health, Travel, Everyday, Education, Privacy, Developer, Media