How We Helped Particula 4X Their Organic Traffic and Purchases with SEO in Just 6 Months

When we first partnered with Particula, the goal was to launch their revolutionary AI chessboard, GoChess, on Kickstarter. And launch we did—raising $2M+ and turning it into one of the most talked-about tech campaigns of the year.

But this isn’t a crowdfunding case study.
This is what came after.

Because here’s the thing: going viral is great. But if you’re running an online store, you know that what really matters is sustainable growth—driving traffic to your website, ranking for the right keywords, and turning that traffic into real sales, consistently.

So after the campaign, the Particula team came back to us—not to launch, but to scale their ecommerce presence.

They didn’t just want to sell GoChess. They wanted to build a long-term brand around their entire lineup of smart gaming products: GoCube, GoDice and GoBalance.

Our job?

Build an SEO strategy that made sure when someone searched for “smart chess board” or “dice games for adults” or “balance board for kids,” they’d find Particula—not just big box stores or Amazon listings.

So that’s what we did. Over six months, we rebuilt their SEO foundation from the ground up.

The result?

• 278% growth in organic traffic
• 410% increase in organic purchases
• A massive jump in visibility across competitive search terms

If you’re an ecommerce founder wondering if SEO is worth the effort—this case study is for you. Let’s walk you through exactly how we made it happen.

The Challenges: Turning a Great Product Line Into a Scalable Store

When we first started working on Particula’s e-commerce growth, the opportunity was obvious. Their products were next-level—tech-infused versions of classics like the Rubik’s Cube, dice games, and even a motion-sensing balance board. The brand was strong, and the product quality spoke for itself.

But the numbers? They told a different story.

Most of the traffic coming to the site was from people who already knew the brand. They were searching for things like “GoCube” or “GoChess,” which is great if someone’s already familiar with your product. But when it came to discovery—when someone searched for “bluetooth dice” or “smart cube”—Particula wasn’t even in the conversation. There was a huge gap in visibility for high-intent, non-branded keywords, and that meant the brand was missing out on thousands of potential new customers.

Conversion rates from organic search were also extremely low because the traffic that did come in wasn’t always landing on the right page or seeing content that matched their search intent. We knew that if we could get more of the right people to the site—and give them a better experience once they were there—those numbers would shift quickly.

Technically, the site needed work. We found issues with:

• page structure,
• slow-loading media,
• lack of optimized metadata. Important product pages didn’t always have the right signals for Google to prioritize them. Canonical tags were missing in places where they mattered, and schema markup hadn’t been implemented.

These were all fixable—but until they were addressed, they were quietly hurting performance.

Content was another big gap. At the time, there was no content strategy in place. No blog posts targeting long-tail keywords. No category-level content. Nothing that helped capture the kind of informational or educational searches that bring new users into the funnel. There was no clear way to drive traffic from someone searching “best dice games for game night” or “balance board for kids.” In a competitive space, that’s a missed opportunity.

And finally, there was the question of scalability. Particula wasn’t just selling one product—they were building an entire connected ecosystem. Any SEO strategy we built had to work across multiple categories and audiences.

We weren’t just trying to grow traffic—we were building a long-term foundation for e-commerce growth.

The Strategy: Building an SEO Engine That Scales

When we looked at the challenges, it was clear that we didn’t need quick fixes—we needed a full SEO system built from the ground up. One that could grow with the brand, support multiple products, and drive consistent organic traffic month over month.

We kicked things off by building a 6-month roadmap. This gave everyone—us and the Particula team—a clear picture of what we were working toward, how we’d get there, and how we’d measure success along the way. The roadmap focused on three key pillars: technical cleanup, content and keyword strategy, and on-page optimization.

First, we tackled the technical issues:

• We audited every corner of the site,
• Cleaned up the URL structure,
• Implemented proper canonical tags,
• Added missing schema markup,
• Optimized images, and
• Optimized the page speed across the website.

These were the foundational changes—quiet but powerful—and they set the stage for everything that followed.

Then came the keyword and content strategy (actually we did it simultaneously with the technical fixes). This is where things got really fun.

Let’s dive right in.

Step 1: Target Audience

We started by studying every product—what problems it solves, who buys it, and what kind of language those people use.

Step 2: Initial Keyword Research

From there, we collected seed keywords, expanded them into long-tail queries, and grouped them by intent. For example, someone searching “how to play dice” is probably in a different mindset than someone looking for “brain games for kids.” We made sure to target both.

Step 3: Competitor Analysis

But we didn’t stop there. We went deep on competitor research and SERP analysis to understand what types of content were ranking—and more importantly, why. For every main keyword, we checked the intent behind the top-ranking pages, how they were structured, and what kind of value they delivered. This helped us not only choose the right topics, but also shape every piece of content to match what users (and search engines) were actually looking for.

Step 4: Grouping and Mapping

We organized all keywords into two main buckets: commercial and blog. If the keyword had clear purchase intent, like “smart chess board,” we mapped it to a product or collection page. If it was more informational—like “benefits of Rubik’s cube” or “best dice games for game night”—we turned it into a blog post. Each keyword group had a clear target keyword, supporting secondary terms, and a matching page format based on what was ranking in Google.

Step 5: Posting Schedule and Requirements

From there, we built a lean but powerful content engine. We published just 3–4 blog posts per month, but each one was deeply researched, carefully outlined, and designed to satisfy the reader. We weren’t just publishing for the sake of volume—we made sure every article had a clear goal, a strong angle, and real value behind it. Quality over quantity, always.

Step 6: Product Page Optimization

At the same time, we optimized key product and collection pages with targeted keywords, better copy, and improved meta tags. We also restructured some category pages to help them rank for broader, high-volume terms.

Step 7: Monitoring

Throughout the process, we tracked everything in Google Search Console and GA4. Every two weeks, we checked rankings, impressions, CTRs, and conversions. If a post was getting visibility but not clicks, we rewrote the title. If a product page was performing well in traffic but not in sales, we looked at layout, messaging, and calls-to-action. Everything was driven by real data and user behavior.

Step… Buckle up! We’re taking off.

And that’s when things started to shift. Rankings climbed. And traffic spiked!

The Results: 6 Months, 278% Traffic Growth, and 410% More Sales

By the time we wrapped up our 6-month SEO sprint, the numbers spoke for themselves. But more importantly, they told a story of consistent growth, steady traction, and compounding wins—the kind that every e-commerce brand wants to see from their organic efforts.

In June, the site had just under 8,000 sessions and 16 organic purchases. Fast forward to November, and monthly sessions had climbed to nearly 30,000, with 240 purchases directly attributed to organic traffic.

That’s a 278% increase in traffic—and a 410.6% increase in sales.

But it wasn’t just the volume that grew—it was the quality of the traffic. The biggest shift came from non-branded clicks, which grew by over 250%. That means people who had never heard of Particula were now discovering the brand through target keywords.

And we weren’t relying on massive content output to get there. We published just 3–4 high-quality blog articles per month—each one backed by deep SERP analysis, custom outlines, and hand-picked keywords. These weren’t filler posts. They were mini traffic machines that drove thousands of targeted visitors, many of whom converted.

What made this even more exciting is how often these articles grabbed featured snippets—prime real estate in Google’s search results. In multiple cases, Particula’s content outranked giants, securing top spots for high-intent keywords.

Product pages also saw a lift. After optimizing metadata, headers, and copy, we saw a noticeable increase in both impressions and clicks for key commercial terms. Some products moved from page 3 to page 1. Others started appearing in featured snippets and image results. It was clear that the technical and on-page improvements were doing their job.

Even blog content began converting. One article targeting an upper-funnel keyword led to over 1,000 clicks and multiple assisted conversions—a reminder that SEO isn’t just about traffic; it’s about building trust before the buy.

All of this was done with just a clear strategy, and clean execution!

What We Learned (And What You Can Steal)

This project wasn’t about chasing viral spikes or flashy SEO hacks. It was about doing the SEO stuff really well—building systems, writing with intention, optimizing things that don’t get headlines but move the needle every single day.

If there’s one thing this case study proves, it’s that SEO still works—if you care about your potential customer. Not just the bots.

But it’s changing fast. And if you want to keep winning, you’ve got to keep your finger on the pulse.

That’s one of the biggest takeaways from this project. While we focused on the fundamentals—site structure, content strategy, keyword targeting—we also paid close attention to how search is evolving. From algorithm updates to the rise of AI Overviews, the rules are shifting. It’s no longer just about being ranked #1. It’s about being included in the conversation, especially when Google starts generating answers on its own.

We saw it firsthand when Particula started showing up in AI-generated overviews. Not because we tried to game the system, but because our content was well-structured, genuinely helpful, unique, engaging, fun, and aligned with what people were searching for. That’s what modern SEO is about (yes, it’s not low effort if you want consistent growth).

Here are a few other lessons we walked away with—and ones you can apply to your own store:

• You don’t need a content factory—just a strategy.
  We didn’t flood the blog with 20 posts a month. We published 3–4 laser-focused articles backed by deep research and presented with character. Each one had a clear goal and was designed to help solve a problem while entertaining the reader (this is how you rank now).
• Start with intent, not keywords.
  Every page we optimized, every blog we wrote, started with: “What is this person really trying to find?” That’s how you get clicks and conversions—not by stuffing keywords, but by solving problems.
• Technical SEO is invisible until it isn’t.
  Fixing structure, improving speed, cleaning up metadata—it’s the kind of work no one sees but everyone benefits from. Skip it, and you’ll struggle. Nail it, and everything else performs better.
• SEO compounds.
  The work we did in June was still paying off in November—and will keep paying off next year. That’s the beauty of organic traffic. It doesn’t disappear when your ad budget runs out.

• Adapt or fade out.
  SEO isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it channel. Algorithms change. AI is entering the game. The brands that win are the ones that adapt early, stay curious, and stay consistent.

Ready to Grow Like This?

If reading this made you think, “Wait… why aren’t we doing this?” — good news: you can.

At TCF, we don’t just do SEO. We support e-commerce brands with the full marketing stack—strategy, PR, email, CRO, creative, and beyond. But when SEO hits right? That’s when everything else starts working better, too.

If you’re building something great and want more people to find it, we’d love to hear your story.