Get ready to learn from a mentor, strategist, SEO wizard, and podcaster. Katherine Watier Ong is the Founder and Chief Strategist at W.O. Strategies and hosts the Digital Marketing Victories podcast and Daily SEO Tips podcast. Katherine discusses when you need to have a technical SEO expert on your team, why your website’s content isn’t ranking on Google, and the steps to set up your website to rank well on search engines.  Busted Myths:Government websites need SEO. While they do end up ranking highly for many topics, that is because of their authoritative content and not because Google prioritizes them because they are the federal government. TakeawaysBefore Google starts ranking your website’s content, they will put your site in a “sandbox” to ensure that your website and content are not sketchy. This usually only lasts for a few months and can be shortened through content marketing efforts.There are very few website developers that actually understand the nuances of SEO. Developers have some much to focus on that is just related to the website development that they don’t have the time to stay up to date on the incessant SEO algorithm updates.Your website could have the best, most authoritative content but if Google’s bots that crawl the web get stuck or lost within the links of your site, then your website won’t get indexed and won’t rank in the search results.Because developers don’t know the technical side of SEO and even small changes can make huge impacts on how your content shows up on search engines, it’s a great idea to have a technical SEO expert on your team.When approaching SEO for your website, start with a foundation of the technical side of SEO, then create quality content focused on the search intent, next promote your website and content to get the web traffic ball rolling, and make sure the site is usable and accessible to everyone. Search Intent is what the user is actually looking for when they enter their query into the search engine. Think about how people actually search for information about your topic.If you invest in paid and organic listings on Google simultaneously, users will instinctively think that your organic listing is more legitimate. However, if you turn off the paid rankings, you will get fewer organic clicks.  Quote of the Show:“When it comes to organic search, you have to be better than what’s already ranking there” - Katherine Watier Ong Shout Outs:Dr. Jim KanichirayilWomen in Tech SEO: https://www.womenintechseo.com/  Book Recommendations:The Every by David Eggers Recursion by Blake Crouch The Hidden Psychology of Social Networks by Joe Federer Links:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherinewatier/ Company website: https://wostrategies.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/kwatier Podcasts:Digital Marketing Victories Podcast: https://wostrategies.com/digital-marketing-victories-podcast/ Daily SEO Tips Podcast: https://wostrategies.com/series/seo-tips-flash-briefing/  Ways to Tune In:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show/id1338838763Amazon Music/Audible: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/37228621-2f9c-4905-a223-1844effb49ddSpotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/1vVLpNI1LssMTiL6KdsamnStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-showGoogle Podcasts: https://play.google.com/music/m/Im7mytmu2wa2mekhoeixlja5hpe?t=The_Hard_Corps_Marketing_ShowYouTube: https://youtu.be/GYvGuoTy-Rs   Hard Corps Marketing is produced and sponsored by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through B2B podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/