How do you make a 25-year fireproofing leader the name architects find first?
Contego International makes thin-film intumescent coatings that protect structural steel without hiding it. We rebranded the company, rebuilt the site around the architects and contractors who specify it, and turned search visibility into booked work.
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Real inquiries in the first 30 days.
In the first month after launch, the new site turned visitors into qualified inquiries across every key path — far above the prior period.
A 25-year reputation, buried in slow pages.
Contego's product led the category. Their website didn't. It underperformed on every metric that matters to a B2B buyer — speed, clarity, and findability — and it spoke to no one in particular.
Performance problems
- GTmetrix Grade D — failing core performance benchmarks
- A performance score of just 44%
- Largest Contentful Paint of 5.1s — more than double Google's 2.5s threshold
- Total Blocking Time of 322ms — a sluggish, unresponsive feel
Visibility & positioning problems
- Backlinks had gone dormant over the prior year, eroding domain authority
- No structure for how architects and contractors actually search — fire-resistance ratings, intumescent coatings, CSI spec sections
- Near-zero presence in AI search and generative answers
- An outdated red wordmark that didn't signal engineering credibility
Four moves to make Contego impossible to miss.
Brand & Logo Refresh
We retired the old red wordmark and built a new shield mark with the line "Protection by Design." Contego is Latin for "to shield" — so the identity finally tells the truth about the product: it defends structures without compromise.
Website Redesign & Rebuild
A fast, modern site engineered around the architect-and-contractor ICP — fire-resistance ratings, test data, and spec-ready language front and center, built to load fast and convert.
Full 301 Redirect Strategy
Every legacy URL mapped and redirected, so 25 years of accumulated search equity carried over to the new site instead of dying in 404s.
Backlink Recovery
We reignited backlinks that had gone dormant over the past year, restoring the domain authority that had quietly been bleeding away.
From a dated red wordmark to a phoenix-shield mark and the line "Protection by Design."
“Love it when a plan comes together. Fantastic job everyone!”
From dated and slow to spec-ready and fast.
Same 25 years of engineering. A completely different first impression.
From a failing grade to a perfect score.
The rebuilt site doesn’t just look better — it loads dramatically faster, which Google and buyers both reward.
Visibility that turns into booked work.
- Raised the visibility score to 36 and reached #4 in the industry for AI search — Contego now surfaces in the generative answers where buyers research fireproofing.
- Booked multiple new clients directly through the website and streamlined the new-prospect pipeline.
- Cut back on paid advertising, replacing it with more efficient SEO and AI visibility — lower acquisition cost, more durable traffic.
- Recovered dormant backlinks and preserved 25 years of equity through a clean 301 migration.
“We are extremely happy with where things are and look forward to what's ahead.”
Ready to become the name your buyers find first?
We did it for a 25-year fireproofing leader. Let's do it for you — brand, website, and the search visibility that books real work.
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