Orion Registrar, Inc.Web development case study

Website development – the strategic challenge:

Orion Registrar was a well-established brand in the United States, known for providing comprehensive certification services across various industries. The company (now Amtivo in the United States) specialises in ISO certification, offering expertise and support to businesses looking to adhere to national and international standards.

Submerge was tasked with growing organic traffic and modernising the Orion brand, with a focus on our SEO agency services. However, it quickly became clear that in addition to SEO work, a complete website overhaul was a unique opportunity to improve the brand’s online presence. Our goal was to highlight Orion’s commitment to quality, safety, and efficiency in the US market.

To reach potential clients throughout their buyer’s journey, we created a strategy that tapped into both informational and commercial search opportunities. Understanding the importance of a solid digital foundation, transforming this legacy website was undertaken with the aim of creating a modern, speedy, and SEO-friendly platform, setting the stage for ongoing SEO success and improved performance.

Key challenges for our web development team included:

• Reviving a legacy website for a longstanding ISO business in the US.
• Developing a template for future Amtivo Group website sites built on modern SEO practices.
• Successfully migrating from an old domain (orion4value) and brand name to a new domain without losing existing traffic.
• Building brand visibility and differentiation – giving Orion a clear voice in the market.

The existing website would benefit from a more modern design and technical setup. We decided to rebuild the website with a fresh design and a robust technical infrastructure, ensuring easy updates for optimal performance. In doing so, we would migrate orion4value.com to orioncertification.com.

Rebuilding meant we could get the SEO fundamentals right from the start – laying an effective SEO technical foundation, optimising performance, and creating content and digital PR campaigns to drive growth.

Read our case study detailing our SEO strategy for Orion

We worked closely with the client on plans for the new website and discussed how it would unlock more effective SEO, PPC and integration into CRM tools such as HubSpot.

Our approach

We undertook a comprehensive website rebuild to modernise the site’s look and feel, focusing on technical SEO foundations and performance.

First, we reviewed the existing Orion site environment, identifying technical considerations and requirements and assessing the site for design, content, functionality and performance. This included crawling sites to build the site hierarchy and page list, server status codes and URL slugs.

We scoped technical and site requirements in detail – from functionality to page structure – to ensure we had a clear path to delivery. We created wireframes and high-definition UX/UI design mock-ups of pages and elements with full client involvement. Following this, we mapped out the user journey and developed a site map accordingly.

Pixel iterations of actual page and component designs were created – from buttons to hero banners – ensuring UX/UI elements met requirements.

The new site was built in WordPress and any included relevant integrations on secured production servers. A bespoke Orion theme was created and we used the industry-standard Bootstrap framework for all device compatibility, as well as deploying semantic coding optimised for site crawls.

The Submerge web development team went on to build page templates, page structure for site and global components and fully bespoke WooCommerce and HubSpot form pages. CRO, CRM and analytics tools were integrated, alongside technical SEO.

We also developed new eCommerce training pages to significantly boost the site’s visual appeal, functionality and SEO performance, while optimising content.

New calls-to-action were created to increase sign-ups and inquiries, which led to higher conversion rates. The redesigned pages followed an SEO-first strategy, specifically addressing commercial search intent.

A dedicated resources section was introduced to deliver valuable SEO content – by organising these resources for seamless navigation, we enhanced search visibility and user experience.

The site was deployed to client testing for review, passed through UAT/QA, and then progressed onto WP Engine staging with full WAF/MFA security and analytics integration.

Post-migration, we continuously monitored performance metrics and analytics to assess and tune site performance.

The result

The campaign successfully migrated the Orion website to orioncertification.com, improving all site performance metrics.

Orion’s website was transformed into a modern, easy-to-manage site with strong SEO foundations – this was crucial for future scalability.

Our project improved the user experience with a mobile-responsive layout and fast loading times. The intuitive navigation structure and new CMS made updates easy going forward.

The new website was visually appealing and user-friendly, supporting Orion’s web development and SEO goals. The website rebuild and SEO improvements also ensured that Orion would be able to maintain and build upon these results.

The result

The campaign tackled multiple challenges – from technical SEO issues to content creation – all while seamlessly integrating a new website design and robust technical infrastructure. This comprehensive approach ensured that all aspects of SEO were addressed effectively.

As a result, we achieved significant performance improvements.

We grew ranking keywords to just under 1,000 within a few months, with organic clicks reaching over 400 within the same period.

The campaign established the website as an authoritative source in the ISO certification space by developing rich, informative content and improving keyword rankings. This significantly increased the site’s ability to attract long-tail informational searches.

The keyword strategy not only targeted high-volume, winnable terms but also focused on intent-driven queries to engage users effectively.

The strategy directly contributed to business objectives, attracting relevant clients to ISO training and certification, growing organic traffic and reducing reliance on PPC. The measurable improvements in clicks, impressions and keyword rankings prove the campaign’s business impact.

We’re proud that the website rebuild and SEO improvements laid a strong foundation for continued growth, ensuring that Orion could maintain and build upon these results in the future.