How UpBuild Helped Twistlock More Than Double Organic Conversions

Challenges

Keeping up with a new, rapidly changing industry

As the Marketing Strategy Director of Twistlock, Jeannie Christensen was in charge of boosting organic search traffic and rankings on Google. The issue was that increasing the organic visibility of their offering required a specialized touch.

“Cloud Native Technologies is highly technical and can confuse people who don’t immerse themselves in it,” Jeannie says. “Our previous SEO approach simplified what we offered, which wasn’t working. And, to make things more challenging, the overall ecosystem was being redefined almost daily.”

The industry’s fast pace also meant that changes to the website had to be made quickly. Because of this, Twistlock’s site structure wasn’t as optimized as it needed to be to support the level of SEO growth they needed. This affected their rankings and slowed down critical aspects of the website.

“Our URL structure had become a bit convoluted,” she says. “We had rewritten content to support those changes, but then hadn’t really gone back to change the URL structure. So we were having major redirect issues. We were also having problems with large images affecting load times, which was causing us to lose points with Google.” Jeannie didn’t just need someone to come in and make a few changes; she needed someone who could stay on top of things, take the time to learn about their ever-evolving industry, and come up with a plan that would get results.

Jeannie didn’t just need someone to come in and make a few changes; she needed someone who could stay on top of things, take the time to learn about their ever-evolving industry, and come up with a plan that would get results.

“We needed something new. Someone who would be able to understand the signals for keyword strategy, meta strategy, and content strategy,” she says. “We wanted a team that wouldn’t simplify what the product is. It had to be someone who could adjust to the ever-evolving market. And who could make changes as new terms rose to prominence in that market.”

It was a matter of finding a team who could focus on learning the ins and outs of a constantly- changing market and dedicate the time required to get the site where it needed to go.

“We wanted a team that wouldn’t simplify what the product is. It had to be someone who could ad-just to the ever-evolving market.”

Solution

A team of dedicated SEO experts, who took the time to learn the market

It was time to start looking for someone who could handle the job. Jeannie turned to industry colleagues for recommendations and one name kept popping up again and again: UpBuild.

“I talked to other people in the startup world and UpBuild was very well known and respected, specifically among people whose opinions I really trust,” Jeannie says. “I knew they were supposed to be excellent at being able to track success, which is where I found a lot of people fall down with SEO.” 

She adds, “They weren’t just interested in how a keyword is tracking. They were asking ‘Are you trending in the second place ranking? The third place?’ They also look at what the rankings meant for overall SEO efforts and how it relates to conversions. The more hardcore lead-oriented type metrics.”

UpBuild started things off by digging deep into the world of Cloud Native Technologies.

“They took the time to understand our very technical offering to help us better source keywords,” Jeannie says. “The way they demonstrated their understanding of technical terms based on past work told me they would be a powerful ally.”

And when the project shifted directions due to the ever-changing market or structural changes in Twistlock itself, UpBuild was able to roll with each one with ease. Their team showed an aptitude for adaptation that allowed them to stay current.

“UpBuild was really flexible,” Jeannie says. “Things were moving so fast that we would set up a scope for a project and, two months later things would change. They evolved in real-time to keep up.”

And, best of all, UpBuild was able to set up a plan to help Twistlock reach their goals.

“They showed that they very clearly understood the challenge and the keywords. They were able to identify the technical issues that we were having,” says Jeannie. “They helped build content that was optimized for volume and indexability.”

“They took the time to understand our very technical offering to help us better source keywords. The way they demonstrated their understanding of technical terms based on past work told me they would be a powerful ally.”

Results

An increase in organic traffic and conversions

UpBuild now makes life easier for Jeannie by handling day-to-day SEO-related tasks.

“I was looking for a consultant to come at it from a high-level view, leaving me to think about the tactical objectives to really make things happen. UpBuild did that for me,” Jeannie says “I don’t think about SEO every day. They do that for me.”

As a result, in just six months of working with UpBuild, organic search traffic went up 47.4% (over the previous six months) and 125.1% year-over-year. Conversions from organic traffic also increased by a whopping 127.1% year-over-year.

“They helped create realistic goals around what seemed like a Herculean task,” Jeannie says. “UpBuild’s advice helped us build a better mousetrap for the site, leading to those numbers.”

Best of all, Twistlock is now sitting in the #1 spot in Google for the keywords that matter.

“We were the originators of Container Security and Cloud Native Security,” she explains. “Reaching number one on Google confirms our status as thought leaders in the field we pioneered.”

Twistlock’s increased visibility and strengthening reputation in the Cloud Native Security space helped attract the attention of an industry leader, who purchased Twistlock for $410 million.

“They helped create realistic goals around what seemed like a Herculean task. UpBuild’s advice helped us build a better mousetrap for the site.”