Evergreen content is content that stays relevant throughout time. It revolves around topics that are still useful, informative, and relatable to readers. As a result, evergreen content tends to be shared, ranked, and referenced over and over. By staying “fresh,” it continues to drive traffic long after it’s published, giving you a nice boost in your SEO.
In this article, we’re going to breakdown the different types of evergreen content, and share some great tips to ignite your creativity.
What Evergreen Content Is Not
Before we dive into the essentials of creating evergreen content, let’s briefly talk about what evergreen content is not. Most content is relevant for a short period of time. It’s led by current news, trends, and other time-sensitive articles that speak to a brief moment in time.
Here are examples:
- News articles
- Current trends
- Pop Culture
- Statistics or Reports
- Seasonal information
Although this type of content will gain a spike in attention soon after being published, interest declines quickly. For example, when Instagram first announced reels in 2020, it gained a lot of attention fast. Publishing an article introducing reels today wouldn’t have near the same impact. News goes stale quickly, which is exactly why evergreen content is so important.
What is Evergreen Content
Evergreen content is search-optimized content that people will always be interested in. It’s the opposite of trends or breaking news. It’s informative and not time-sensitive. Let’s look at some examples:
- How to Start a Business
- How to Lose Weight
- A Guide to First Time Parents
- How to Earn More Income
- How to Optimize Your Website for SEO
Another great part about this content is that it works for many businesses. Oftentimes, there are particular topics within an industry that people are curious about. They are broad enough to capture a wide audience but structured in a way to provide sustainable value. This is exactly why this content ranks well in search engines results due to its timelessness.
While evergreen content can be in a variety of formats, some examples that perform well are:
- How-To’s
- Guides and FAQs
- Listicles
- Tips
- Instructional videos
Publishing content in the above formats doesn’t automatically guarantee you’ve got an evergreen piece. However, these types of content tend to provide real value and longevity to the end-user. For example, an article titled “Social Media Marketing: A Step-by-Step Guide” is specific enough in the topic while also extremely valuable for someone new to social media looking to launch or develop their own campaign.
How to Create Evergreen Content
Evergreen content starts by finding topics people will always want to know more about. In order to find those specific topics, you’ll need to do a little homework. Let’s take a look into some ways to help create evergreen content.
1. Find the Right Topics
The first step in creating evergreen content is by choosing topics that have persistent traffic potential. Google Analytics is a great tool to help you discover popular topics.
Additionally, take a look at your own site and determine which topics have sustained a high level of traffic over time. Next, do an online search to discover popular blogs within your niche. You can run those leading topics through an analytics tool to see which of those get long-term search traffic. With all the data collected, narrow down your topics and put your own spin on them.
2. Keyword Research
When it comes to developing a topic that casts a wide net of interest, keyword research is key. There are tools out there like KWFinder or Ubersuggest that can help you discover popular keywords within your niche industry. Additionally, do a simple search in Google and look at related keywords in the “people also ask” section. This will help you find other related topic keywords people are searching for.
3. Write For Beginners
Although you may want to come across as the expert, it’s more important that you provide value to the end-user. Most evergreen content that stays relevant is those aimed at newbies.
There’s always going to be someone out there that is just getting started or learning something new. They are looking for tips on something they know nothing about. This is precisely why aiming evergreen topics towards beginners gives you longevity after its published.
4. Update Your Evergreen Content Regularly
The key factor is that your evergreen topic has a long shelf life. As long as that specific topic is still a talking point, your content will remain time-tested. That being said, it’s important to update your content regularly with current information.
There will always be new updates, changes, and findings within your industry. Updating your content with the latest developments, including the new findings with an updated hyperlink and publish date can help with your SEO rankings. Once you’re updated your content, it can be published as a new piece all over again.
Google’s job is to provide the most relevant answers to people’s queries. If the content is out-of-date, it won’t rank. This means to in order to keep up with the search engines you need to publish content that has staying power. This is exactly why evergreen content is golden for SEO.
If you would like to learn more on how to maximize your digital strategy through evergreen content, contact our team.