What basic website SEO covers, and what it does not
A common scenario in Tashkent: a company pays for a new site, the developer hands it over, and the link goes into the Instagram bio and Telegram channel. Weeks later nobody can find the pages on Google. Often the cause is mundane, such as a site that was blocked from indexing during development and never reopened.
Basic SEO is hygiene. It will not push you to the top for competitive searches, and it is not meant to. What it does is remove the technical and structural problems that make every later effort less effective. It applies equally to a brochure site, a service landing page and an online shop.
Search tools and analytics come first
Connect the site to Google Search Console and Yandex Webmaster and verify ownership. They report indexing errors and show which queries already bring impressions. Without them, you learn about problems only when enquiries drop.
Then install Google Analytics or Yandex Metrica and set up goals, so you can tell whether search brings customers rather than just visits. Useful goals for a local business include:
- a submitted contact or order form
- a tap on the phone number
- a click through to your Telegram bot or chat
- a click on a Click or Payme payment button, if you take payments on the site
Indexing: let search engines in, but only where you want them
Check that crawlers can reach the site and that only the right areas are closed:
- the whole site is not blocked from indexing, a frequent leftover from development
- robots.txt closes only service areas such as the cart, account pages and internal search
- an XML sitemap exists and has been submitted in both tools
- key pages return a normal 200 response
One site version, titles and page structure
Your site should open at a single address: HTTPS only, with or without www. Every other version should redirect to it with a permanent 301. Otherwise a search engine may treat them as separate sites with identical content.
Next, the text search engines read first. Each page needs its own title that includes the main query and your brand, a clear meta description and exactly one H1. Look out for the same default title repeated across the whole site, which many content management systems produce.
Structure matters just as much. Give every core service or product category its own page with a readable Latin-letter URL. If all services sit on one long page, it is hard for Google to match you to someone searching for one specific service in Samarkand or Tashkent.
Mobile speed, contact details and map listings
Many visitors arrive from a link in Instagram or Telegram on a phone, so test the site the same way, on mobile data rather than office Wi-Fi. Can you read the text, tap the buttons, and get past any pop-ups? Then run key pages through PageSpeed Insights and fix the heaviest item first, which is usually uncompressed photos.
Trust signals belong here too. Put your address, phone, opening hours and messenger links on the contact page and in the footer. If customers visit you in person, create listings on Google and Yandex maps and in 2GIS, using exactly the same name, address and phone as on the site. Mismatched details confuse both people and search engines.
How to check your work and plan the next step
Search Google and Yandex for site: followed by your domain to see which pages are indexed, then compare with the indexing reports in Search Console and Webmaster. If pages are missing or far fewer than on the site, go back to indexing and the single address.
Save a screenshot of the indexing report so the next check has something to compare against. Repeat the checklist after any major update, template change or hosting move, because that is when launch settings tend to break. It also works well as an acceptance checklist when you receive a site from a developer.
After a month, open the query reports. They show which pages Google already finds relevant and which services still lack a dedicated page. That tells you whether you need ongoing SEO or just regular upkeep.
If you would like your site reviewed against this list, markdev can help with SEO optimisation in Uzbekistan. Describe your task and we will discuss where to start.
FAQ
What does basic website SEO include?
Search Console and Webmaster setup, analytics with goals, an indexing check, one site address with redirects, unique titles and H1s, separate service pages, mobile usability, page speed and consistent contact details.
Will basic SEO get my site to the top of Google?
No. It makes the site visible and understandable to search engines. Ranking for competitive queries needs further work: new pages for real demand, deeper content and external mentions.
When should I do basic SEO?
Right after launch or after a first audit, then again after a redesign, template change or hosting move, since those often break robots.txt and redirects.
How can I tell if my site is not being indexed?
Search for site: plus your domain in Google or Yandex and open the indexing reports in Search Console and Webmaster. An empty result or very few pages means you should check for blocking and robots.txt.
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