What SEO tools do, and what they don't
A tool collects data: how a search engine sees your pages, which queries your site appears for, what visitors do after they arrive. The decisions still belong to a person: what to fix, which page to write, what to stop doing. An expensive subscription won't replace knowing what to do with the numbers. Small businesses often end up with many services, many reports and no actions.
One useful test for any tool: what decision will I make from its data? If there is no answer, it is too early to pay for it.
The free core set for a site owner
Start with what the search engines themselves provide. They are the only sources of real data about your site; third-party services mostly give estimates.
The most important item here is goals. Without them, SEO gets judged by rankings, while an owner needs enquiries. If traffic grows but orders don't, you will only see it when a phone tap, a Telegram click or a Click or Payme payment is tracked as an event.
- Google Search Console: queries you appear for, indexing, errors, real-device speed data.
- Yandex Webmaster: the same for Yandex, plus site region and markup checks.
- Google Analytics 4 or Yandex Metrica: where visitors come from, which pages they view, where they leave.
- Goals in analytics: phone clicks, Telegram clicks, form leads, payments.
- PageSpeed Insights: speed and usability on a phone.
What a specialist adds: crawler, markup, speed
A crawler walks through your site like a search robot and records, for every URL, the response code, titles, meta tags, duplicates, redirects and internal links. It is the basis of a technical audit. For a small site, the free version of a desktop crawler with a page limit is often enough. An online store with a large catalogue will probably need a paid plan or a cloud service.
For structured data there are free validators from Google, Schema.org and Yandex. They show whether a search engine can read your price, rating, address or FAQ. Lighthouse helps spot heavy images and scripts that slow the site down for people on mobile internet, including outside Tashkent.
Keyword data: what exists for Uzbek-language queries
Demand research uses Yandex Wordstat, Google Ads Keyword Planner, search suggestions and platforms with large query databases. But international databases often hold little data for Uzbek-language queries, so phrases like “sayt yaratish narxi” or “oshxona mebeli Toshkent” may look weak there or not appear at all.
That is why your own data is worth more. The Search Console query report shows which phrasings your site already appears for, in Uzbek and Russian. Search suggestions show how people actually type: Latin or Cyrillic, with typos, mixing languages. Put it all into one sheet and map each query to a specific page.
Rank tracking and backlinks: when to pay
Rank trackers check your position for a list of queries on a schedule. Look at two things: whether the service can report for the right city and device, since results in Tashkent can differ from other cities, and whether it treats Google and Yandex separately. For a rough picture, average position in Search Console and Webmaster is enough.
Backlink and competitor analysis is where free tools usually run out. Search Console shows links to your site but not to your competitors'. For that you need a paid platform. Each one has its own link database, so numbers from different services should not be compared with each other.
- Free set first, paid tools only for a specific task.
- Check that the service has data for your region and language.
- Test it on a real project during the trial.
- Don't keep two services that do the same job.
A spreadsheet and a change log
The most underrated tool is a shared spreadsheet. It holds keywords mapped to pages, the task plan and monthly figures: impressions and clicks from Search Console, visits from analytics, number of enquiries. Add a separate sheet as a change log: the date and what exactly changed on the site. When traffic rises or drops, you don't guess, you open the log.
Checking a contractor with this set
If an agency runs your SEO, ask for access to Search Console, Webmaster and analytics under your own account, not the contractor's. Then any report can be checked against the source. Good questions for a meeting: which pages gained impressions, which queries bring enquiries, what was done this month and why.
At markdev we start SEO optimisation in Uzbekistan with exactly this minimum: we connect the dashboards and goals first, and only then decide whether paid services are needed. If you want to know what is already set up on your site and what is missing, get in touch and we will talk through your task.
FAQ
Which SEO tools are essential for a small website?
Google Search Console, Yandex Webmaster, Google Analytics 4 or Yandex Metrica with goals configured, and PageSpeed Insights. Add one spreadsheet for monthly figures.
Do I need to buy paid SEO tools right away?
No. A paid tool makes sense for a specific job, such as competitor backlink analysis or regular rank tracking. Use the free set and trial periods first.
Why do third-party tools handle Uzbek queries poorly?
International databases often have less data for Uzbek than for Russian or English. The Search Console query report and search suggestions are more reliable sources.
How can I tell SEO brings customers and not just traffic?
Set up goals in analytics for calls, Telegram clicks, leads and payments. Then you can see which pages and queries produce enquiries, not only visits.
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