When I started looking after a motorcycle tire distributor’s website, the first job wasn’t writing new content. It was making sure the site could be measured, found, and kept in good shape. Here’s the groundwork, in the order I did it.

Step 1: Make sure every visit is counted

You can’t improve what you can’t see. I connected the website to Google Analytics 4 through Google Tag Manager, so tracking can be managed in one place without touching the site’s code each time. I confirmed it was working by watching live visits come through in GA4’s real-time report.

Later, a closer check turned up something worth knowing: the tracking tag was sending data to two Analytics properties at once. Nothing was broken, but reports can disagree when the numbers are split, so the fix is to pick one as the main reporting home.

Step 2: Introduce the site to Google

Next I verified ownership of the site in Google Search Console by adding a small record to the domain settings. That record has to stay in place, so it’s on my “never delete” list.

Then I submitted the sitemap, the file that lists every page for search engines. Search Console accepted it with all 18 pages.

Step 3: Get the basics right on every page

Each page got:

• A clear page title and description, written for the person searching, not stuffed with keywords
• A canonical tag, which tells search engines which address is the “real” one for that page
• A language setting, so search engines know the page is in English

I also mapped one main search phrase to each key page. The homepage targets the brand name plus “tires Philippines,” and the products page targets “motorcycle tires Philippines.” One page, one main job, so pages don’t compete with each other.

Step 4: Record a “before” picture

Before changing anything else, I saved baseline numbers: Search Console and Analytics reports, plus PageSpeed scores for mobile and desktop. I keep these separate from anything measured after a change. Without a clean “before,” you can’t honestly say whether something worked.

Step 5: Clean up old errors

Search Console’s error reports showed old page addresses that no longer existed, a few of them misspelled. Instead of leaving visitors on a “page not found,” I set up redirects that send each one to the right page, and confirmed every redirect on the live site.

Step 6: Build a routine, not a one-time fix

SEO slips quietly when a site gets updated. So every update follows the same steps: edit the page, run the checks, upload, set the file permissions, then ask Search Console to re-check the pages that changed. Every change is written down with the date, the pages affected, and the result.

Where it stands

The foundation is in place and the site is indexed. Speed is the next focus: image optimization is underway, and I’ll compare new PageSpeed scores against the baseline once it’s done. I’m not claiming ranking jumps here. When I have before-and-after numbers worth sharing, I’ll add them.

What I’d tell any small business

• Set up measurement first. Everything else depends on it.
• Verify your site in Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. Both are free.
• Give every page one clear job.
• Keep a change log. It turns “I think it helped” into “here’s what changed.”