Riding Upwind: How an Upstart Cybersecurity Company Challenged Entrenched Leaders

There are over 4,000 cybersecurity companies globally in one of the most competitive markets. Here’s how Upwind used content scaling, SEO strategy, and PR to gain a foothold in this crowded cloud security market.

Since 2022, Upwind has helped Chief Information Security Officers gain visibility and reduce risk more effectively when it’s needed most: at runtime.

They were excelling at it; Upwind’s all-in-one Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) reduces alert noise by up to 95%, which doubtlessly helped it win Cyber Defense Magazine’s “Most Innovative Cybersecurity Company” award in 2024 and Frost & Sullivan’s “Company of the Year” in the Cloud-Native Application Detection and Response market in 2025.

The next step? Making sure their marketing signal cut through the noise in their own niche so their marketing signal was crystal clear to clients.

Upwind case study at a glance

In short: Green Flag Digital built a CISO-level glossary and ran digital PR for Upwind, a cloud security company up against a far larger rival. Over 10 months the glossary added 2,229 newly ranked keywords and grew to 55% of all website traffic. Sixteen media placements reached 23.3 million readers.

Problem: a competitor with a three-year head start

When your primary competitor has a three-year head start, 4X the raise, and a valuation 32X your own, getting ahead in the SEO game can feel daunting. Add a saturated niche with little “low-hanging fruit” and getting started with an SEO play is a tall ask.

Upwind had an idea that combined the threads of brand awareness, thought leadership, and SEO: a company glossary.

Could such a project be SEO-forward, traffic-minded, differentiated from the competition, and future-proofed in a niche where information-based TOFU content is disappearing to AI engine explanations every day?

Approach: a CISO-level glossary, backed by digital PR

We developed an approach that went beyond the existing SEO landscape. Instead of doubling down on the foundational content that’s already out there, we helped conceive a higher-level content strategy that spoke directly to CISOs who didn’t need to be schooled in the basics, and that also stood a fighting chance in the search results.

Then we added digital PR, helping buoy domain authority (and ultimately, the SEO performance of all the glossary articles).

SEO performance was paramount. Without organic traffic, B2B sales cycles can be dead before they get started; research shows that 80% of B2B buyers reach out to sales on their own, and they only do so once they’re already 70% of the way through the buying journey. We’d have to make glossary entries perform like they did before the niche was crowded with competitors, reducing noise, and amplifying signal.

Results: organic traffic growing 7X faster than the top competitor

By the end of the engagement, Upwind’s organic traffic grew 7X faster than Upwind’s top competitor, narrowing the competitive gap.

Today, organic SEO traffic from the glossary now accounts for 55% of overall website traffic, adding 2,229 newly ranked keywords over 10 months.

In digital PR, 16 media placements across top-tier and trade outlets meant 23.3 million readers reached, plus executive exposure that solidified the team as thought leaders.

That visibility can’t hurt for a company that just raised a $250 million series B round in January 2026.

Summary

With new traffic, authority, and referring domains, Upwind brings in 2K potential new leads every month, all interested in diving deeper than the competition on cloud security. And while it’s still a crowded field, Upwind stands out with a voice that speaks directly to their target audience, while growing traffic, too.

The multifaceted Green Flag Digital approach created a foundation that continues to generate new monthly traffic in the thousands.

And ultimately, that’s made scaling a newcomer in a content-dependent industry easier. So while Upwind continues to rewrite the cloud protection playbook, they no longer have to forge their marketing playbook, too.

Frequently asked questions

Up against a bigger, better-funded competitor?

Tell us who you are chasing and what you sell. We will show you where a glossary, content and digital PR could close the gap. See how we work with security companies on our cybersecurity marketing and PR page.

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