Auto site
Case Overview
Auto Site is the 3rd generation of one of the biggest, most popular, and most comprehensive automotive websites in Israel. It offers road tests for new and used vehicles, a huge and fast car catalog with pricing, expert opinions, comparative tests, and coverage of new model launches abroad. The platform also features real user reviews and comments, allowing visitors to share their own experiences and opinions about vehicles.
Goal: Build a fast, manageable site/system with a modern UI, migrated from a previous-generation platform that ran on an outdated UI and an uncomfortable custom-built CRM. The client needed a modern solution to improve user engagement, increase lead generation, and simplify content management — with a new UI, high-performance catalog and article search, easier data management, flexible SEO controls, and advanced advertising support.
Key Project Info
Industries
Automotive, Media & Publishing, Advertising & AdTech, E-commerce & Classifieds, Digital Marketing, Consumer Services
Services
Web Development, Data Migration, UX/UI Implementation, Backoffice/CMS Customization, Content Management Solutions, Search Engine Implementation, SEO Consulting
Solutions
Custom Search & Caching System, Content Management System, Lead Generation Forms, Advertising Management System, SEO Management Tools, Legacy Redirect Mechanism
Technologies
Umbraco V15, .NET 9.0, C#, MS SQL Server, Lucene, Vanilla JavaScript, Lit / Lit TS, TypeScript, ImageProcessor, HTML5, CSS3, RESTful APIs, Git, Umbraco Backoffice Extensions
The Challenges
Legacy Data Migration
Transferring ~100,000 items (manufacturers, models, years, generations, versions, tech specs, articles, reporters, reviews, comments) from a legacy custom CRM database into Umbraco.
High-Performance Search
Enabling fast, multi-parameter catalog and article search (manufacturer, model, engine, drive range, category, price) usable across many pages, not just a single search page.
Content Management Experience
Giving editors a comfortable, clear, block-based environment for adding cars and writing articles with reusable content blocks, intuitive editing tools, and streamlined publishing workflows.
Lead Generation Forms
Building flexible forms to capture leads (consulting, test drives, funding offers), with dynamic validation, conditional logic, and optimized user journeys across multiple touchpoints.
Third-Party Integrations
Connecting external client services for secure data exchange and efficient lead processing, ensuring reliable synchronization, scalable integrations, and consistent information flow.
Advanced SEO Control
Full control over SEO settings at both individual content and group levels, supporting custom meta tags, structured data, keyword optimization, and scalable content management workflows.
Centralized Ad Management
A flexible, centralized ad management solution that enables efficient campaign control, seamless content updates, and consistent advertising across multiple platforms.
Cross-Platform Compatibility
Consistent experience across desktop and mobile, with mobile-priority handling for certain pages, improving responsiveness, navigation, and overall usability for all visitors.
Accessibility Compliance
Meeting WCAG standards through keyboard navigation, screen readers, ARIA roles, focus management, semantic HTML, and accessible interactive components across the entire platform.
The Process
Architecture Planning
Proposed and implemented the core system architecture based on client requirements and legacy site analysis, ensuring scalability, performance optimization, technical consistency, and seamless integration across all platforms.
Data Investigation & Migration
Reverse-engineered the old CRM database structure, then built import pipelines to migrate ~100k content items into Umbraco while ensuring data integrity and preserving legacy metadata.
Search Infrastructure Development
Designed a custom caching layer combining Lucene indexes with Umbraco's hybrid cache for high-performance, multi-parameter search across scalable enterprise platforms with optimized response times.
Catalog & Business Logic
Developed the core catalog logic supporting comparisons, filtering, and pricing while ensuring scalable performance across product data structures with reliable search capabilities.
CMS & Backoffice Customization
Built custom Umbraco backoffice extensions (editors, boards, additional pages) for an editor-friendly content workflow that streamlined daily publishing tasks and improved team collaboration through intuitive solutions.
Frontend Development
Implemented Lit-based reactive components, integrating and extending UI delivered by an external design/UI vendor while improving scalability, maintainability, and ensuring seamless collaboration across product teams globally.
Feature Buildout & Accessibility
Developed lead-generation forms, the advertising management system, SEO controls, third-party integrations, and WCAG-compliant accessibility features, while ensuring cross-platform (desktop/mobile) consistency.
Deployment & Maintenance
Managed version releases, reviewed pull requests, mentored developers, and handled ongoing debugging and performance optimization across complex projects while improving team collaboration and delivery efficiency and quality.
Solutions
Key Features of the Solution
Legacy Import Pipeline: Custom pipeline migrating legacy CRM data into Umbraco for manufacturers, models, articles, and reviews.
Lucene-Powered Cache Engine: Lucene-based hybrid cache enabling catalog and article search across the site.
Block-Based Content Editor: A block-based content editor that lets editors add cars and write articles without technical help.
Flexible Lead Capture Forms: Consultation, test drive, and funding forms integrated with third-party lead-processing services.
Centralized Advertising Platform: A single, flexible system for managing ad placements and campaigns across every page of the site.
Results in Numbers
100K
Percentage of content correctly targeted to the right user groups across the entire platform.
<200ms
Reliability of integrated APIs (schedules, grades, payments) under production load.
45%
Reduction in average page load time compared to the previous-generation platform.
30%
Increase in completed lead forms after introducing the new flexible form system.
