Conversations about SEO usually start at the wrong end: links and "keywords". In practice the first month goes on far duller things, and those are what produce the result.
Step 1. Turn on measurement
Before changing anything, you need to know where you are starting from. Three tools, all free:
- Google Search Console — shows which queries already surface your site and which pages Google has indexed.
- Google Analytics 4 — where traffic comes from and what visitors do.
- Yandex Metrica — useful for a Russian-speaking audience, and it has Webvisor.
Search Console matters most. Without it SEO is guessing rather than working. The data accumulates over time, so connect it today even if promotion starts in three months.
Step 2. Check the site is reachable at all
The most common and most expensive mistake is a site closed to indexing. Check:
- Open your-site.am/robots.txt — there should be no Disallow: /.
- Confirm a sitemap.xml exists and is referenced from robots.txt.
- In Search Console, look at how many pages are indexed.
That is five minutes of work that can explain months of silence.
Step 3. Pick queries by intent
Queries are not equal. Someone typing "what is a landing page" is learning. Someone typing "landing page development price" is buying. Start with the second kind: there are fewer of them and they are more competitive, but they bring clients.
Armenia has one particularity: people search in three languages, and Armenian is often typed in Latin script — "kayqeri patrastum". If your audience is mixed, three languages need separate pages, not one URL with three translations behind it.
Step 4. Fix the technical base
Without this foundation the rest does not matter:
- Every page has its own title and description — not one shared across the site.
- Every page has exactly one H1.
- The site opens in under three seconds on mobile.
- Images are compressed and carry alt text.
- For a multilingual site, correct hreflang and canonical tags.
Step 5. Work on local search
In Armenia local SEO often pays off faster than the classic kind. Create and fill in a Google Business Profile: exact address, opening hours, photographs. The address on the site and in the profile must be written word for word identically.
Step 6. Write content that answers questions
Each article answers one question. Not "an interesting piece about SEO", but "how much does a website cost", "how to choose a studio". One page, one query.
How long it takes
Realistic expectations: technical fixes show within two to four weeks, new content starts working in two to three months, competitive queries take six to twelve.
Anyone promising first place in a month is talking about a sale, not about SEO.
