Before opening day: Restaurant secures Google top 10 with CQM Inc. + SE Ranking

Meet Creative Quest Marketing Inc.: A digital agency that grows businesses through storytelling

Creative Quest Marketing Inc. (CQM) is a full-stack digital marketing agency with one clear focus, helping small and medium-sized businesses across a variety of industries hit their growth goals. Their five-person “small but mighty” team specializes in web design, SEO, SEM, Meta ads, and organic social media. But it’s never a cookie-cutter approach. Every plan, campaign, and service is tailored to fit the client’s needs, budget, and ambitions.

Meet the client: A TTRPG-themed restaurant blending food, games, and community

Adventurer’s Table is a start-up board game and tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) restaurant in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Combining a love for tabletop games with great food, it aims to create a space where guests can dine, play, and connect.

The client’s challenge: No location, no reviews, no rankings—but big pre-launch goals

When Adventurer’s Table came to CQM Inc., they were starting from absolute zero. No website, no search presence, no foot traffic.

On top of that, they faced an unusual disadvantage: the restaurant hadn’t even opened yet. Unlike established competitors, they couldn’t rely on customer reviews, location check-ins, or in-person buzz to build credibility. They were going head-to-head with local restaurants that had years of momentum, ones already ranking in search, stacked with glowing reviews, and well-known in the community. For a new restaurant still months away from opening, that’s a tough gap to close.

Without a smart SEO strategy, traffic would depend entirely on word-of-mouth. That meant the Founder Membership program (a key source of early support) would struggle to get off the ground. 

They needed a digital strategy that could put them on the map, both online and in the minds of future guests, before even serving the first meal.

Creative Quest Marketing’s strategy: SE Ranking at the core of building visibility and local awareness from zero

Starting from zero meant every SEO move had to be intentional. CQM Inc. couldn’t afford wasted time or scattershot tactics. Every step needed to build visibility, authority, and community interest before opening day.

With a full-scale SEO plan built on SE Ranking’s tools and insights, they could manage it all from one place; research, optimization, tracking, and reporting.

Here’s how it played out behind the scenes:

Step 1: Laying the groundwork with research

Using SE Ranking’s Keyword Research and Competitor Research tools, CQM Inc. built a clear roadmap. They analyzed local competitors to see which keywords, content topics, and backlink sources they were benefiting from. And, just as importantly, they reviewed the efforts that didn’t work. This uncovered keyword, content, and link-building gaps for Adventurer’s Table to fill to stand out before opening.

Step 2: Keyword research

The team went deeper, building a list of about 100 target keywords with SE Ranking’s keyword tool to monitor from the start. They focused on low-difficulty, high-search-volume keywords with search intent that matched the restaurant’s pre-launch goals and could attract the right local audience, which included people searching for game nights, TTRPG events, and great dining spots in Rock Hill.

Step 3: Implementation 

As the website took shape, CQM Inc. made sure the technical SEO foundation was flawless: fast load speeds, clean navigation, and clear page structures. They also selected target keywords for each page of the new website and optimized those first to get it to perform from day one.

SE Ranking’s Website Audit tool was crucial here. At launch, the audit confirmed that essential elements like meta tags, indexing, structured data, site speed, and mobile responsiveness were set up correctly. Running the audit regularly afterward helped them stay ahead of small but important fixes like broken links, duplicate metadata, and unoptimized images. This kept the site’s technical base strong, giving their content and backlink efforts the best chance to succeed.

From there, CQM Inc. rolled out a consistent content plan: publishing four blog posts per month to improve local rankings, target relevant searches, and keep the brand in front of the community.

Step 4: PR outreach and backlink building

Once the site had a foundation, CQM Inc. ran a PR and backlink campaign to build local awareness. 

SE Ranking’s Gap Analyzer helped benchmark Adventurer’s Table against established competitors by showing which sites linked to them but not to the client. This revealed outreach opportunities with local bloggers, community calendars, and regional publications.

At the same time, SE Ranking’s Backlink Checker allowed CQM Inc. to track and evaluate the quality of new backlinks as they came in. This way, they could measure outreach impact while keeping an eye on whether those links were driving real traffic.

As a result, Adventurer’s Table earned coverage from local news sites, gaming blogs, and event platforms. Those high-quality backlinks paid off twice: stronger domain authority and steady referral traffic that turned into pre-launch memberships and merch sales.

Step 5: Ongoing monitoring, adjustments, and reporting 

With SE Ranking’s GA4 and GSC integrations, CQM Inc. tracked keyword rankings, clicks, and impressions all at once via SE Ranking’s Project Overview and Rankings dashboards.

They kept monitoring and fine-tuning things over time. Using data-backed, automated SEO insights from SE Ranking, they regularly looked for new keyword opportunities, worked to prevent keyword cannibalization, and updated any content flagged as lower quality.

To keep the client fully in the loop, CQM Inc. leaned heavily on SE Ranking’s Report Builder for its flexibility and client-facing polish.

• They built custom reports from scratch that focused on the KPIs that mattered: keyword rankings, impressions, clicks, and backlinks gained.
• Thanks to White Label branding, every report looked like it came straight from the CQM team.
• Automated scheduling helped CQM Inc. send regular updates to Adventurer’s Table instead of doing it manually. 

The result was a clear, trustworthy view of progress and the confidence that momentum was building. Plus, by pulling in data directly from SE Ranking, GA4, and GSC, the reports gave a complete picture of performance without overwhelming the client with raw numbers.

Lauren Eames

Founder, President, & CMO of Creative Quest Marketing Inc.

With SE Ranking, we had all the data we needed in one place – from competitor insights to keyword tracking and backlink analysis. It meant we could act quickly, keep the strategy focused, and make every pre-launch month count. For a brand starting from zero, having that clarity and speed was a game-changer.

In under a year: 50% of keywords in the Top 10, 25K+ impressions, 500+ monthly clicks

In less than a year, CQM Inc. transformed Adventurer’s Table from completely unknown to a hot topic in Rock Hill. 

And the best part? They didn’t have to wait long to see signs of life. Within just five months, rankings started climbing, impressions snowballed, and Founder Membership sales followed. By the time the restaurant’s doors were ready to open, the community was already talking. And so was Google.

A year into the campaign, the numbers spoke for themselves:

• 50% of target keywords ranked in Google’s Top 10

• Around 500 organic clicks per month, up from zero
• 25,000+ monthly impressions in under 12 months

• A steady boost in Founder Membership sales before launch: 20+ members welcomed, with nearly half joining in a single month
• Local press mentions driving extra traffic and awareness

Zachary Schwehr

CEO at the Adventurer’s Table

Partnering with the Creative Quest Marketing team has been one of the best decisions we’ve made for Adventurer’s Table. Their strategic SEO work has helped us build real momentum online and reach the community that’s eager for what we’re creating. We appreciate their commitment, creativity, and the results we’re seeing — and we can’t wait to keep growing together!

Takeaways for agencies 

Adventurer’s Table and their journey proves you don’t need years of history or a big budget to make an impact. You just need a smart plan, the right tools, and the discipline to stick with it.

SE Ranking played a central role in this process, from finding low-competition, high-value keywords to tracking rankings, spotting optimization opportunities, and keeping the client engaged with branded, automated reports.

Halyna Kuzmovych

Senior Product Marketing Manager

For agencies, this case is a great reminder that starting from zero isn’t a setback – it’s a chance to do everything right from day one. You can create local buzz online well before the doors even open, and clear, consistent reporting keeps clients engaged and confident in the process.

Want to give your clients the same head start? Try SE Ranking to go from step one to step done. Get started with this 14-day free trial.

Written by

Anna Postol

Anna is an SEO and Content Marketing Expert at SE Ranking, where she finds joy in creating content for SEO, digital marketing, and social media. Her focus is on writing accurate, easy-to-digest, informative pieces that turn complex topics into engaging narratives that resonate with readers. Outside of work, she enjoys stretching exercises, workouts, planning her next travel adventure, and spending time with her beloved cat-daughter.