A classic B2B cybersecurity SEO case study
A B2B threat detection and response platform that uses AI and automation to reduce false positive alerts and improve remediation times worked with Content Visit to boost SEO traffic and lead acquisition.
Breaking into a crowded marketplace
Just like other young security companies, our client was held back by:
Lack of visibility. With just 77 ranking keywords, the client did not have a large online presence and lacked visibility on search engines for relevant keywords. This meant potential customers could not find our client’s solution, even if it was the perfect fit for their problem.
High competition. The SEO space within the client’s niche was very competitive and dominated by well-established brands.
A hard-to-reach/skeptical audience. Prospective buyers of cybersecurity solutions have grown weary of cybersecurity marketing content. With so much confusing messaging from cybersecurity businesses, who would blame them?
Content Focused SEO Growth
We developed a three-pronged B2B marketing strategy to increase our client's visibility on search engines, grow brand awareness and convert leads.
1. Content Clusters
The first step in our strategy was talking to the client's internal SMEs to identifying their product's unique features and build clusters of content around the kind of keywords searchers would use to find those features.
When done well, cluster content (interlinked blogs and web pages) can improve your chances of ranking for competitive keywords. This is for two reasons:
Breadth of coverage. Rather than covering a topic that's important to you in one or two content pieces, you cover it extensively in multiple related content pieces, hitting every possible query/keyword that a potential buyer might have. This signals your authority on a particular topic to Google and is great for SEO optimization.
Interlinking. Every piece of content covering a specific topic is interally interlinked. The semantic relationship between the different pages makes it easier for Google to find your articles and rank them. For buyers, interlinking helps their user experience (UX). Your target audience can go from one article to the next in a seamless buyer's journey without leaving your site. For example, from "what is a siem" to "disadvantages of siem" to "siem alternatives."
Clusters can also act as a map of all the blog content that has already been created, as well as content that will be created, and identifies where it fits within the clusters.
An example of a content cluster around the theme of “incident response.”
By focusing on cluster content, we gave our clients two core assets straight away:
A solid strategy to rank for competitive keywords.
A roadmap of what content they needed.
Results: 10X more keyword rankings
By building out pillar pages and cluster content, our client could rank for ten times more keywords, going from 77 keywords at the start of 2022 to 808 keywords in mid-2023.
By mid-2023, about a year after we had started working with them, we had earned the client >10x more keywords than they had when we started working with them.
This giant leap in keyword acquisition was possible because all the pillar pages we created ranked for more than one or two keywords.
For example, our pillar page on endpoint detection and response ranks for 148 keywords. That’s almost 150 keywords from just one article.
Multiple keywords per content assset
Using this strategy, we were also able to deliver front page ranking our client’s site for competitive keywords.
These keywords continue to bring organic traffic and qualified leads to the site.
Some of the keywords we ranked for were highly competitive, typically requiring a lot of backlinks and domain expertise. We managed to rank for them without either.
2. Targeting low-volume but high-intent keywords
Although high-volume keywords can help bring in a lot of traffic and raise awareness, they don’t tend to have great conversion rates, at least not in the B2B cyber security industry.
In cybersecurity, high volume keywords = (mostly) awareness
The reason why is that when searching for high-volume general questions or definitions, people are just learning; they’re not necessarily looking to buy.
As a result, we also focused on high-intent keywords with lower volume but higher intent to capture the people who are ready to buy. These keywords also usually (but not always) have a high CPC.
The benefit of targeting low-volume/high-intent keywords is twofold:
You’re targeting people who are actively seeking a solution to their problems.
You’re (hopefully) going to rank for these keywords organically, whereas (if the CPC is high) your competitors are likely paying to appear in searches for these results.
Results: A blog that converts at >0.5% .
Blog posts built around lower volume but higher intent keywords bring some of the most valuable traffic to our client’s site.
For example, a blog post we wrote on insider threat detection tools brings in an average of 17% traffic to the site. It also converts that traffic into leads and demo downloads at rate of 0.5%.
This traffic is valuable because it comes from a high-intent keyword, searched by people looking for a specific solution, aka leads at the “bottom of the funnel.”
Our blog post on the best insider threat detection tools brings in around 17% of traffic to our client’s site.
This blog also appears in the people also ask SERP feature:
SERP feature for a blog we wrote.
3. Expert led content
No one likes low-effort, superficial content.
Google doesn't; updates like the EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust) are making the search giant better at finding nuggets of real value. CISOs and security architects don't either.
False or boring content gets high bounce rates and is off-putting to actual experts.
So how do you get good content? Here's one weird trick - you speak to experts and do extensive research.
We researched what people in the industry were interested in and talking about. We read multiple reports, surveys, and news articles to find an original angle on each topic.
In addition to keyword research, we monitor cybersecurity forums and online communities to find out what people in the industry are talking about and the questions they have to ensure our content is valuable and speaks to them.
We also spoke to subject matter technical experts on our client’s team to better grasp how their solution solved their buyers challenges.
Armed with expert knowledge and in-depth research, we :
Wrote laser-focused cybersecurity blog posts.
Developed whitepapers and case studies to help the sales team convert leads.
Scripted webinars aimed at buyer personas.
Optimized technical blog posts (CVE reports, attack chain analyses, etc.) written by our client’s internal team to ensure they ranked on search engines.
Results: A brand voice that scaled through a record Series A funding round
Working hand in glove with our client's internal marketing team, we helped them multiply their marketing efforts before, during, and after a record funding round that saw the company double in size.
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