LLM SEO Case Study: Stingrai 0→32%, #1 Cited Source
When companies ask AI to recommend a penetration-testing provider, Stingrai went from invisible to a real contender.
It's now named in ~32% of “best pentesting company in the US” answers and ~28% of “top penetration testing services 2026” answers both up from 0% — standing alongside enterprise giants like Cobalt, Synack and Rapid7.
4.9
Trusted by 5,000+ brands
Why this one is notable: Stingrai is a newer challenger in a market full of large, well-funded incumbents yet its own website is now the single most-cited source in the entire category and it did this with almost no traditional Google traffic. It's a clean example of winning AI visibility directly, rather than waiting to climb Google first.
Introduction
Stingrai is a penetration-testing and PTaaS (pen-testing-as-a-service) provider in the offensive-security space. It competes against large, established and well-funded names such as Cobalt, Synack, NetSPI, Rapid7, HackerOne so as a newer challenger it was essentially invisible when buyers asked AI assistants to recommend a provider.
The goal was direct: break into the “best/top penetration testing company” answers that security buyers rely on, on the assistants they actually use.
What we did
CrowdReply helped Stingrai show up in the conversations its buyers were already having on Reddit like security engineers, MSPs and IT leaders discussing who to trust for a pen test.
The approach is to be genuinely useful and on-topic in each thread (never spammy), so that both buyers and the AI assistants reading these communities start to treat Stingrai as a credible option among the incumbents.
The questions Stingrai is winning on
The gains are concentrated on the high-intent “who should I hire” questions most of them from a standing start of zero:
More wins
Breaking into an enterprise-dominated field
Stingrai is now named alongside the biggest, best-funded names in penetration testing which, for a challenger, is the real achievement:
Cobalt
Synack
NetSPI
Rapid7
BishopFox
BreachLock
HackerOne
Bugcrowd
It wins on the assistants others overlook
Stingrai's visibility isn't spread evenly as it's strongest on AI models many brands ignore, which is a real competitive edge:
Positive and near the top
88% of mentions are positive and when AI names multiple providers Stingrai lands around 2nd on average, strong proof that it's being treated as a genuine recommendation, not a long-shot.
It owns the #1 cited source in the entire category
This is Stingrai's superpower. Its own website is the most-cited source of all which is ahead of every competitor, review site and Reddit driven by a focused content engine of “best/top penetration testing companies” guides, including by geography:
Biggest low-hanging fruit: Owning your citations is the part you fully control and Stingrai is a textbook example. Its “best/top pentesting companies” guides (broken out by country) are the exact pages AI cites to answer these questions.
Expanding this library with more geographies, more verticals (finance, healthcare) is the fastest, most repeatable way to win even more answers, because the source is internal.
Top cited sources overall
The sources AI cited most across these answers with Stingrai's own site at #1 by a wide margin:
Where it happened: the communities
Stingrai's traction came from being genuinely helpful in the communities where its buyers spend time such as security and IT professionals.
CrowdReply helped it join these conversations naturally and on-topic, contributing useful answers rather than promotions. The most active communities included:
Penetration-testing & offensive-security communities
General cybersecurity communities
MSP & IT-services communities
Ethical-hacking & netsec communities
A standout insight: AI visibility came before SEO
Most brands win Google first and hope AI follows. Stingrai did the opposite. Despite its content being the #1 cited source across AI answers, the site currently has almost no organic Google traffic at all.
The lesson is important: you don't have to win traditional search before you win AI. Well-targeted, genuinely useful content can be picked up and cited by AI assistants directly and the SEO traffic can be built on top of that foundation later.
Recommendations: how to win even more
Actionable next steps we'd prioritise to push Stingrai's AI visibility further:
Keep feeding the citation engine (highest ROI). The “best/top pentesting companies” guides are already the #1 cited source. Expand by geography and vertical (Europe, finance, healthcare) to win more geo- and segment-specific questions the same way.
Win the questions still at zero. “AI-assisted pentesting,” “vulnerability assessment services” and “one-time assessments” are at 0–1%. Dedicated pages plus on-topic community answers should open them up.
Build the SEO layer. Near-zero Google traffic is a missed compounding channel. The same content that wins AI citations can be optimised to rank turning today's AI-first win into a true two-channel flywheel.
Crack ChatGPT and Gemini. Stingrai is strong on Copilot and Grok but only ~4% on ChatGPT and Gemini. Targeting the sources those assistants favour would unlock the two largest audiences.
Convert position into the top spot. Stingrai already lands ~2nd. More third-party proof (G2/Clutch reviews, case studies) and head-to-head comparisons can push it to the first-named recommendation.
