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Entertainment

Escape Room Chain: +113% Traffic, Top-3 Maps in 14 Cities

+113%
Organic Traffic Growth
/ 01 · Overview

The starting point.

A national escape room brand with over a dozen locations across the U.S. approached us with a clear goal: improve local search visibility, boost Google Business Profile performance, and drive more bookings through organic traffic across multiple competitive markets including Tampa, Orlando, Chicago, Queens, and Minneapolis.

/ 02 · Challenges

What we were up against.

  1. Strong brand recognition but inconsistent local performance across 16 locations
  2. Some locations buried in search results while others lacked proper pages or map visibility
  3. Thin content, weak backlinks, and under-optimized Google Business Profiles
  4. Slow development team holding back implementation of changes (~30% implemented)
/ 03 · Our approach

What we shipped.

Pillar 01

Technical & On-Page Optimization

Multi-location site audit and page optimization at scale
  • Fixed 404 errors, redirect chains, and insecure content across 16 locations
  • Rewrote 70+ meta titles and descriptions sitewide
  • Built and refined landing pages for all 16+ locations
  • Integrated local and entity terms for better search salience
Pillar 02

Link Building & Outreach

Scalable outreach across national and local targets
  • Landed 50+ quality backlinks from blogs, travel sites, local news, and Reddit
  • Ran 11+ outreach campaigns targeting local and national sites
  • Secured PR backlinks from major outlets including Chicago Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, Buffalo News, and Knox News
  • Landed 20+ Reddit links in threads across major city subreddits
Pillar 03

Multi-Location GBP & Scalability

Google Business Profile optimization across all markets
  • Fully optimized GBP listings in Orlando, Chicago, Rochester, Minneapolis, and more
  • Built 50+ high-authority directory listings segmented by city
  • Prioritized high-potential cities based on search volume and visibility
  • Maintained content and link-building cadence tailored to each location's performance
/ 04 · Results

What it produced.

Organic Traffic
12,542/mo → 26,744/mo
Impressions (YoY)
929K → 1.5M
Local Map Rankings
Inconsistent → Top 3 in 14 cities
Target Keywords
Scattered → Top 5 for 16 main terms
/ 05 · Proof

The screenshots.

Ahrefs organic traffic over 18 months: 12,542 to 26,744
Ahrefs organic traffic over the 18-month engagement: 12,542 (before) → 25,441 (month 9) → 26,744 (month 18).
Ahrefs keyword rankings table: 16 escape-room city terms in top positions
16 city-level target keywords landed in top positions: escape room tampa #2, queens #1, royal oak #2, and more.
Search Console YoY: clicks 78K vs 71.7K, impressions 1.5M vs 929K
Search Console year-over-year: clicks 78K vs 71.7K, impressions 1.5M vs 929K (+61%).
Multi-location local map rankings: Asheville NC and Akron OH
Local map rankings: Asheville, NC and Akron, OH.
Local map rankings: Tampa FL, St. Pete FL, Royal Oak MI, Rochester NY
Local map rankings: Tampa, St. Pete, Royal Oak, Rochester.
Local map rankings: Queens NY, Providence RI, Pigeon Forge TN, Orlando FL
Local map rankings: Queens, Providence, Pigeon Forge, Orlando.
Local map rankings: Minneapolis MN, Grand Rapids MI, Chicago IL, Burlington VT
Local map rankings: Minneapolis, Grand Rapids, Chicago, Burlington.
/ More work

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