SEO for website development starts with the brief
A website is built to last a few years, and its structure, templates and admin panel decide how easily it can be managed later. A developer is normally judged on whether pages look right and load. Whether a marketer can change a heading, add a page for a new service or move a URL without losing rankings rarely appears in the contract.
So after launch you discover that the page title cannot be edited, URLs are strings of numbers, and the Russian and Uzbek versions share one address. Each of these becomes a paid change request. Treat SEO requirements the way you treat Click or Payme payments: as a mandatory part of the project, not an extra.
Structure built around real demand
Before design, find out what people type into Google and Yandex in Russian and Uzbek, and map those queries to pages. A dental clinic needs its own page for implants, not a paragraph under Services. An online shop needs categories that match how buyers search, not the product names in the warehouse system.
Put these points in the brief:
- page types: home, category, product, service, article, branch
- section hierarchy and navigation
- blocks that staff can use to build a new landing page without a developer
- district or city pages only where there is demand and you really serve that area
URLs and editable fields in the CMS
A page address should be readable, in Latin letters, and reflect where the page sits in the structure. Pick one rule for trailing slashes and letter case and apply it across the site. When a URL changes, the system should offer a 301 redirect from the old one.
Every template needs its own editable fields. For large catalogues, add automatic templates that can be overridden by hand on important pages.
- title and meta description
- H1 independent of the menu label
- URL slug
- canonical and meta robots
- image alt text
- Open Graph title, text and image, which is what appears when a link is shared in Telegram
Indexing, speed and mobile
Describe how robots.txt and sitemap.xml are generated and which pages stay out of the index: internal search, user accounts, the cart, filter combinations. Protect the staging site with a password, and add a separate launch step to remove any blocks. A forgotten noindex on the live domain is one of the most common and most painful mistakes.
If the site runs on a JavaScript framework, page content must arrive as HTML from the server rather than being assembled in the browser. Many visitors tap a link from Instagram or Telegram on their phone, so treat mobile as the primary version and make Core Web Vitals targets part of acceptance. Agree on image compression and on a list of third-party scripts up front; chat widgets, pixels and plugins slow pages down faster than anything else.
Russian and Uzbek versions
Two languages are normal for Uzbekistan, so plan them from day one. Each language gets its own address, such as /ru/ and /uz/, and its own meta fields. Matching pages are linked with hreflang, and the language switcher leads to the equivalent of the current page, not the home page.
If a page has not been translated yet, it should not open in another language pretending to be translated. Hiding it for a while is better than showing visitors and search engines something unfinished.
Replacing an existing site
If the current site already brings enquiries from search, a redesign is the biggest risk. The brief needs a mapping table of old and new URLs, a 301 redirect for every old page, and migration of texts, meta tags and images. Keep pages that bring customers even if they do not fit the new layout; adjusting the design costs less than losing traffic.
Acceptance checks before launch
Analytics and goals, such as form submissions, calls and clicks to messengers, are set up before launch, along with site verification in Search Console and Webmaster. The staging version is accepted against a checklist:
Once critical issues are fixed, the site moves to the live domain, and the checks are repeated a few days later. If you want a specialist to write the SEO part of your brief or review a project already in progress, markdev works on SEO optimisation for websites in Uzbekistan, and you are welcome to discuss your task before development begins.
- a crawler pass: response codes, duplicates, redirect chains
- meta tags and headings on every template
- old URLs redirecting correctly
- mobile speed
- structured data: organisation, breadcrumbs, product, article
- indexing blocks removed
FAQ
At what stage should an SEO specialist join a website project?
At the brief and prototype stage. Changing a block or field on a prototype costs almost nothing, while after design and coding it becomes separate work.
Can SEO be done after launch if the site is already built?
Yes, but some tasks will run into the architecture: awkward URLs, locked fields, one address for two languages. Then you pay the developer to rework it.
Which CMS fields does SEO need?
At least title, meta description, a separate H1, URL slug, canonical, meta robots, image alt text and Open Graph fields. Catalogues also need auto-fill templates.
Do Russian and Uzbek versions need separate URLs?
Yes. Each language should have its own address and its own meta data so search engines can show users the right version.
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