How abonnement.nl works behind the scenes
Abonnement.nl, abonnement.be and proefabonnement.nl bring readers and publishers together, through affiliate networks and through direct agreements with a number of publishers. We write the copy ourselves with AI, and most visitors find us through organic search, often in first or second place.
People looking for a newspaper or magazine subscription in the Netherlands often find us through Google. Behind that short search is a set-up we have refined over the years.
Three sites, each with its own role
Abonnement.nl is the comparison site for the Dutch market, with newspaper and magazine subscriptions by title and by category. Abonnement.be does the same for readers in Belgium, with Flemish newspapers and magazines.
Proefabonnement.nl is deliberately narrower. A proefabonnement is an introductory subscription, and the site only lists titles with a trial or gift subscription that ends automatically. You read a few issues at a low price and the subscription simply stops. There is no notice period to remember, which is exactly why people search for it.
The business model: affiliate and direct agreements
We do not sell subscriptions ourselves. The publisher delivers the magazine and owns the customer relationship. We help readers find the offer that suits them and receive a fee when they subscribe through us.
Most of this runs through affiliate networks, which track and settle the orders. We also have direct agreements with a number of publishers. For them, we pass on each request by email and the publisher processes it.
Copy written with AI, read by people
A comparison site is only as good as the information on each title. We write that copy ourselves with AI: title descriptions, category pages and blog articles. Each site has fixed instructions, including its own tone of voice. Someone on our team reviews the result before it goes live. That is how we keep a large number of pages up to date without a large editorial team.
Little advertising, mostly organic search
We use Google Ads sparingly. AI helps us monitor and adjust the campaigns, but most of our attention goes to organic search, and mainly to categories and generic search terms. A selection of the terms for which abonnement.nl ranks first or second on average:
| Search term (Dutch) | Meaning | Position |
|---|---|---|
| motorblad cadeau | motorcycle magazine as a gift | 1 |
| tuinblad | garden magazine | 1 |
| kinder tijdschrift abonnement | children’s magazine subscription | 1 |
| spirituele tijdschriften | spiritual magazines | 1 |
| tuinbladen | garden magazines | 2 |
| computerbladen | computer magazines | 2 |
| computertijdschriften | computer magazines | 2 |
| muziektijdschriften | music magazines | 2 |
Source: Google Search Console, average position from 20 July to 17 October 2026.
Why that is worth more to publishers
These positions are especially valuable for the publishers we work with, directly or through a network. Someone searching for ‘motorblad cadeau’ (a motorcycle magazine as a gift) or ‘tuinblad’ (a garden magazine) has not chosen a title yet. That reader compares the magazines in the category on our site and picks one. A publisher reaches readers who did not know its title yet, not just people who were already searching for its brand.