It was a busy year in 2012 for Niners Nation, as the 49ers return to relevancy meant plenty of excitement. Maybe not quite like 2011's burst of excitement, but fun nonetheless. The year started in very similar fashion to what we are now seeing in 2013.
The 49ers had one last regular season game against the Rams on January 1, but they quickly locked up their first round bye thanks to a 34-27 win in St. Louis. The win over the Rams set them up for what would eventually be a matchup against the always tough New Orleans Saints. That turned into an instant classic, followed up a week later by the heartbreaking loss to the Giants.
It's been a wild year since and you can review a lot of that through our 2012 archive. Additionally, if you want to review the 2012 season, I'd highly recommend checking out the section I set up with all of Anthony Ly's weekly feature, "The Booth Review".
For now though, I thought I'd take a look at some of the most trafficked posts over the last year. I was going to go with the Top 10 posts, but as you'll see from the last one, I couldn't cut it shorter!
1. 2012 NFL Schedule: 49ers Opponents Include Road Games Against Packers, Patriots, Saints (January 4)
2. NFL Practice Squad: Salary, Rules, Player Eligibility (September 3)
3. NFL Mock Draft 2012: Mel Kiper, Todd McShay Project Stephen Hill To 49ers (March 8)
4. 49ers finalize preseason schedule (April 17)
5. NFL playoff schedule: 49ers secure bye with Vikings win over Packers (December 30)
6. Frank Gore blows up Lance Briggs on Colin Kaepernick touchdown pass (November 19)
7. Alex Smith contract: Trade, Release, Other? (December 11)
8. 49ers draft picks 2012: San Francisco selects A.J. Jenkins at No. 30 overall (April 26)
9. NFL playoff picture: 49ers find out their fate on Decision Day (December 30)
10. 49ers vs. Seahawks: Jim Harbaugh declines penalty, Seattle covers (October 19)
11. Saints defeat Lions: 49ers clearly should not bother showing up to Candlestick (January 7)
12. Jim Harbaugh: A.J. Jenkins and LaMIchael James 'continuing to get ready when called upon' (October 6)
13. 49ers vs. Giants, 2012 NFC Championship Game: Preliminary storylines (January 15)
14. Jim Harbaugh appeared on Saved by the Bell (December 4)
It is always interesting to go back and see what was drawing attention from people. I can't check for most commented posts, as at this point I would have to just go through the archives manually to do it. Nonetheless, seeing what people are searching for, and what they want to read is still interesting.
In looking at these top 14 posts, some are easily explainable, while others leave me scratching my head. For example, the posts about the 49ers opponents and schedule do great in search. People devour that kind of stuff. The practice squad post has also always done well. It's not the most common of information, so people need it. I view part of the role of Niners Nation as the be-all, end-all of pertinent information. In saying "be-all, end-all" it leaves room for constant improvement, since it is pretty hard to be the ultimate source for everything. And so, we continue working toward that goal.
The Saved by the Bell post did great in part because of search, but also because social media shared that like it was going out of style (much like Saved by the Bell!). The same goes for the post about Jim Harbaugh declining a penalty and impacting the spread.
One of the posts about A.J. Jenkins and LaMichael James was a basic transcript post, but it did surprisingly well. I'm not sure what about the post was drawing people in, but maybe you can figure it out.