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From Crashes to 35 Million Pageviews: Why FR12 Switched to Newsifier
"Performance, features, SEO, moderation — everything improved. Newsifier provided us a platform that can grow with us."
A Leading Fan Platform Held Back by Technical Limits
FR12 is the largest news platform and online community for Feyenoord fans in the Netherlands. With 35 million monthly pageviews and thousands of comments posted daily, it has become the go-to destination for die-hard supporters and has grown into one of the largest fan communities worldwide.
But behind the scenes, FR12 was running on outdated custom code. The team was constantly battling slow load times, rising hosting costs, and a site that couldn’t scale during peak moments. SEO updates were hard to implement, and adding new features was nearly impossible.
The switch to Newsifier meant a big increase in page views and user engagement.
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Technical Bottlenecks Everywhere
Outdated Custom Code
The site was originally built by an external developer, but as the audience grew, the codebase couldn’t keep up. It was increasingly difficult to add new features or maintain performance.
“The code became a roadblock. Even small updates required developer help, and things just kept breaking.”
Site Crashes During Peak Traffic
FR12 regularly experienced downtime during matches or breaking news moments. Sometimes the entire site would go down for hours, just when traffic was at its peak.
As Robbie told us: “Match days were a nightmare. We never knew if the site would survive 250,000 people logging in at once.”
Escalating Hosting Costs
The infrastructure needed to keep the old site running was getting more and more expensive.
“We kept throwing money at hosting, but it never solved the performance issues.”
No SEO Momentum
With no SEO tools built-in and no regular updates to support algorithm changes, the site wasn’t growing through search.
“We wanted to grow through Google, but we were stuck with outdated SEO.”
Limited User Engagement Tools
With over 100,000 registered users, FR12 wanted more interaction. But the old setup couldn’t support modern features like real-time notifications or fan games.
“We had this amazing community, but we were technically stuck. We could not build the features we wanted..”
Why FR12 Chose Newsifier
Performance and Scalability
Newsifier’s infrastructure handled massive traffic spikes with ease. Since the switch, FR12 hasn’t experienced any major downtime.
“Now we’re relaxed on match day. The site just runs, no matter how many fans visit the website.”
SEO Optimization
With built-in SEO features and regular updates aligned with Google’s algorithms, FR12 saw a 92% increase in SEO traffic within six months.
“We didn’t lose a single visitor in the migration. Instead, our search traffic exploded.”
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Advanced Moderation Tools
Moderators can now shadowban users, automate comment filtering, and manage large volumes of discussion efficiently.
“We can finally control the chaos without having to read every comment manually.”
Growing the community with likes and comments
FR12 users can now like comments, reply in threads, and compete on weekly leaderboards (Top Likes, Top Users).
Users also receive alerts when someone likes or replies to their comment, boosting engagement and repeat visits.
“The notification system made the comment section feel alive. People come back just to see who liked their comment.We had over a million likes in the first month. It changed the way people interact on the site.”
Match Center Integration
Fans can follow matches live, vote for Man of the Match, and view player stats. All of this is also available in articles and the mobile app.
“The match center made FR12 a real-time experience, not just a news site.”
Night Mode + Mobile App Sync
Requested by users, night mode now works across both the site and mobile apps. All new features also integrate seamlessly into FR12’s apps.
“Fans love that every feature works the same on in the mobile app as on the website.”
Smooth Migration from Custom CMS to Newsifier
Despite FR12’s large user base of more than 100.000 users and complex custom setup, the migration to Newsifier was seamless. All SEO rankings were preserved, and traffic started growing almost immediately.
“We were nervous about the migration, but Newsifier handled everything. It was smoother than we expected.”
A CMS That Grows With Them
Partnering with Newsifier allowed FR12 to go from constant technical stress to a future-proof platform that enhances everything from performance and SEO to user engagement and moderation. The team can now focus on growing the fan community — not fixing tech.
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