Many businesses face a frustrating paradox: high-quality products, strong user retention, yet stagnant website traffic and sluggish new user growth. Arkadium, a company specializing in premium gaming experiences for players worldwide, found itself in this exact predicament. While their games reached hundreds of millions through global media platforms, their flagship website remained underperforming until 2018.
Facing this challenge, Arkadium's three-person marketing team took charge of revitalizing their 19-year-old website, which showed signs of natural decline. The urgent mission: optimize the site and enhance search visibility. Their solution came through strategic partnership with Semrush, leading to remarkable traffic growth.
The SEO Blueprint: From Fundamentals to Excellence
Eric, Arkadium's VP of Marketing, structured their approach using a Maslow's hierarchy model—addressing basic technical issues first before progressing to advanced strategies like structured data and international SEO. "Our strategy wasn't about radical innovation," he noted, "but rigorous execution of SEO best practices."
Key Strategic Phases
- Technical Optimization: Comprehensive site audits revealed critical 404 errors and redirect issues that hindered search engine crawling.
- Keyword Intelligence: Search volume analysis identified untapped market potential for existing games.
- Content Realignment: New category pages targeted high-volume searches previously missed.
- Development Integration: API access allowed game designers to validate naming decisions with search data.
- Competitive Analysis: Studying rivals' successful strategies informed content creation.
- Technical Enhancement: Structured data and mobile optimization improved user experience.
Breakthrough Discoveries
The keyword analysis yielded surprising insights:
The Mahjong Revelation: Searches for "Mahjong" (single 'g') outnumbered "Mahjongg" (double 'g') by 13:1. Arkadium promptly created a single-'g' category page to capture this demand.
Solitaire Strategy: Analysis showed "Classic Solitaire" generated more searches than "Klondike Solitaire." By creating a dedicated page for the former term while maintaining the original, Arkadium captured both search streams.
Measurable Impact
The results surpassed expectations:
- 850% increase in organic search traffic
- 361% growth in mobile/tablet traffic
- Sustained performance improvements beyond initial projections
"What began as standard optimization in Q3 2018 delivered explosive first-quarter growth," Eric recalled. "The gaming market dwarfs television and Hollywood—we're now reaching that audience effectively."
Arkadium's case demonstrates how methodical SEO execution, supported by robust analytical tools, can transform even established digital properties in competitive markets.