Case Study United States · Cybersecurity · SEO + Paid

X-PHY: ranking a
category buyers
didn't know
to search for.

X-PHY defends enterprise data at the firmware and hardware layer — a category most security buyers don't know exists yet. We own the SEO program that's built their organic footprint in zero-trust and endpoint-security queries, plus paid campaigns tuned for CISO, security architect, and MSP decision-makers.

  • Geography United States
  • Industry Cybersecurity
  • Service SEO + Paid
The headline

Non-branded organic, up 5.2×.

  • 5.2×Non-branded organic
  • +68%Qualified demos
  • 3.0×ROAS on paid
01 The situation

A real category,
with almost no
search demand yet.

X-PHY protects data where most vendors don't look — at the firmware and hardware layer, beneath the operating system. The technology is ahead of the market's vocabulary: the buyers who need it most are searching for the problem, not the solution, because the category is still forming.

01 · Buyers

Three technical audiences

CISOs, security architects, and MSP decision-makers each evaluate firmware-layer security differently — and each arrives through different queries. A single generic funnel would have missed all three.

  • CISO
  • Security architect
  • MSP
02 · Demand

Category before keyword

Branded traffic already worked. The gap was non-branded — the zero-trust and endpoint-security queries where new buyers first encounter the problem, long before they know X-PHY by name.

  • Zero-trust
  • Endpoint
  • Non-branded
03 · Trust

A high-consideration buy

Security-hardware purchases are scrutinized, referenced, and slow. The content has to earn credibility with technical evaluators — not just rank, but survive the read that follows the click.

  • Technical depth
  • Proof
  • Long cycle
02 The challenge

Own the problem queries — then convert the buyers those queries pull in.

Ranking for an emerging category means competing for the queries buyers actually type — the problem, not the product name — and building the authority that makes technical evaluators trust the answer. Paid had to reach the same three personas without burning budget on curiosity clicks.

Non-branded firstBeyond brand traffic
Zero-trust queriesCategory demand
Endpoint securityHigh-intent terms
Firmware layerTechnical depth
CISO targetingDecision-maker paid
Security architectTechnical buyer
MSP channelPartner demand
Demo pipelineQualified, not vanity
03 What we run

The SEO program,
plus paid tuned
to the buyer.

OwnSEO

Non-branded footprint

We own the SEO program that's built X-PHY's organic footprint in zero-trust and endpoint-security queries — mapping the category's real vocabulary to content that ranks and earns the trust of technical evaluators.

ReachPaid

Persona-tuned campaigns

Paid campaigns tuned for CISO, security architect, and MSP decision-makers — so budget reaches the people who specify and buy firmware-layer security, not the merely curious.

ConvertDemos

Demo-grade demand

Both channels are pointed at qualified demos, not raw clicks. The measure of success is a security team that books time — the pipeline event that matters in a long, high-consideration sale.

CompoundProgram

An owned program

This is an ongoing program, not a one-off audit. As the category matures and buyers learn the vocabulary, the organic footprint we've built keeps compounding ahead of the demand curve.

04 The results

The numbers that
moved.

The program grew non-branded organic more than five-fold, lifted qualified demos, and kept paid efficient enough to return three dollars for every one spent.

Organic

5.2× non-branded organic

Organic traffic from non-branded, category-level queries grew 5.2× — buyers finding X-PHY through the problem they're trying to solve, before they know the brand by name.

  • Zero-trust
  • Endpoint
  • Non-branded
Pipeline

+68% qualified demos

Qualified demos rose 68% — not raw form fills, but the security teams worth a sales conversation, pulled from search and paid alike.

  • CISO
  • Architect
  • MSP
Paid

3.0× ROAS on paid

Paid returned 3.0× on ad spend — persona-tuned targeting kept budget on decision-makers, so the demand it bought paid for itself three times over.

  • Efficient
  • Targeted
  • Accountable
Your turn

Building a
category too?

If your product is ahead of the market's vocabulary, send us your domain and the three queries where you wish you'd show up. We'll send back an honest read of where you'd win first — on Google and in an AI overview.