What Metrica gives a business owner
Yandex Metrica is a free web analytics service. It shows how many people visit your site, which sources they arrive from (Instagram, Telegram, Google, Yandex, paid ads, direct visits), which pages they read and where they leave. For sites aimed at Russian-speaking audiences in Tashkent and the regions, it is a familiar everyday tool.
Its real value is answering which channel brings enquiries, not just visits. Without that, a Meta Ads or Google Ads budget gets split by gut feeling, and arguments with contractors rest on numbers nobody can verify.
Create the counter
Sign in to Metrica with a company Yandex account rather than an employee's personal email. If that person leaves, access to your data leaves with them. Click to add a counter and fill in the fields:
- Name: something your team will recognise, such as the site domain.
- Site address: the main domain; add mirrors or subdomains separately.
- Time zone: Tashkent, otherwise hourly reports will be shifted.
- Webvisor, scroll map and form analytics: useful almost every time, because they show where visitors get stuck.
- E-commerce: only for online shops that pass product and order data.
- Hash tracking in the URL: for one-page sites where sections change without a page reload.
Where to put the counter code
Once the counter exists, Metrica gives you a snippet. It must load on every page, in the head block or as close to the top as possible. Pick just one of these four methods:
- Manually in the shared site template, which suits custom-built sites.
- Through a CMS or plugin: WordPress, Bitrix and similar systems usually have a field for the counter number.
- Through a site builder: look for a Metrica integration section in the settings.
- Through Google Tag Manager, as a custom HTML tag, if your team already works with GTM.
Check that it actually works
Do not rely on a feeling that it was probably installed. Open the counter status in the Metrica interface; it tells you whether the code was found. Then visit your own site and confirm the visit appears in reports. Add the _ym_debug=1 parameter to the URL and watch the browser console to see what data is being sent.
Test more than the home page: a product card, a blog post, the contact page, anything built on a different template. The most common mistake is code present in one template and missing in another. The second is a double install, with the code in both the template and GTM, which doubles pageviews and makes bounce rate meaningless.
Goals: the reason you did all this
Without goals, Metrica only counts traffic. It will see enquiries only if you tell it what success looks like. Set goals for the actions that bring revenue:
- form submission, via a JavaScript event or a visit to a thank-you page;
- tap on the phone number;
- click through to Telegram or another messenger;
- checkout completion, including payment via Click or Payme;
- a multi-step goal if the customer journey has several stages.
Filters, access and privacy
Exclude your staff's visits by office IP, otherwise your own traffic distorts the picture, especially on a small site. Filters only apply to future data, so set them up the day you connect the counter. Link the counter to the site in Yandex Webmaster, and if you run Yandex Direct ads, connect that too.
Give contractors guest access instead of sharing a password. And do not skip privacy: Metrica uses cookies and records visitor behaviour, so mention it in your privacy policy. In the Webvisor settings, hide the contents of form fields where people enter personal details.
Bilingual sites and sites already live
If your Russian and Uzbek versions share one domain, one counter is enough: compare language sections using URL-based segments. If the versions sit on different domains or subdomains, list every address in the counter settings so that moving between them does not split a visit.
If the site ran without Metrica, past periods cannot be recovered; data starts only from the moment of installation. That is why it is better to put the counter on a test version and check goals before launch.
When a site is built from scratch, analytics belongs in the development plan from the start. markdev builds websites in Uzbekistan on a turnkey basis with counters and goals configured, and for existing projects we can audit the installation and find where data is being lost. Tell us about your task and we will work out where to begin.
FAQ
Is Yandex Metrica free?
Yes. You only need a Yandex account, preferably a company one, and the ability to add code to your site.
How soon does data appear in reports?
The first visits usually show up quickly, but conclusions about sources and goals are reliable only after enough traffic has accumulated. The counter status in the interface confirms whether the code was found.
Do I need separate counters for Russian and Uzbek versions?
If both versions share one domain, one counter with URL segments is enough. If the domains differ, list all addresses in a single counter to keep transitions intact.
What if the counter is installed twice?
Keep one method and remove the duplicate from the template or Tag Manager. Otherwise pageviews double and behaviour metrics become distorted.
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