Evergreen content—why you need it and how to create it

Okay, first and foremost, what exactly is evergreen content and why does it matter?

In simple terms, evergreen content is continuously relevant; it remains fresh and won’t become outdated. This is important, as it means your content will continue to be worthy. Evergreen content will generate traffic and engage your audience long after it’s first published. This means you get more bang for your buck!

However, not all content is evergreen. On the opposite side of the coin, you have topical content. This refers to news posts, for example, as well as any other type of content that only remains relevant for a short period of time. This would include seasonal blogs, trend posts and any content that includes information or data that is likely to change.

Examples of evergreen content

Evergreen content doesn’t mean boring. In fact, it’s quite the opposite as it’s always newsworthy. The great thing about this type of content is that is can be produced in many different formats. Here are a few examples.

  • Listicles

  • How-tos

  • Video tutorials

  • Tips & tricks

  • Product reviews

  • Testimonials

  • Recipes

Of course, choosing a format is the easy part. Now you need to create some engaging content!

Producing evergreen content

Thankfully, there are lots of ways to create compelling evergreen content. Here are some ideas.

Look at your websites frequently searched keywords to see if that throws up some interesting topics.

Create a post that answers commonly asked questions. The questions might be specific to your business or they may be industry related.

Provide a series of tips, hacks to common problems or how-tos. This type of content can take on many different formats. For example, you might create an image gallery of quick tips, a video how-to or a step-by-step instruction post.

Do some myth busting. Exposing common falsehoods always makes for great content. Plus, it makes you a bit of an authority and builds trust amongst your audience.

Tips to create awesome evergreen content

Not all your content needs to be evergreen. It can be useful to have a mix—perhaps 70% evergreen, 30% fresh (topical) content. This will keep things interesting for your audience and keep them coming back for more.

Make sure you start off by researching your topic and your keywords. If you come up with a bunch of keywords, you can use these to create a series of evergreen posts. The posts can then link to each other to help boost their relevance.

If possible, include a call to action at the bottom of your posts to make them all the more worthwhile. Just remember to update or remove the call to action if it becomes outdated.

Leverage your SEO benefits by keeping your evergreen content up to date. Yes, evergreen content in nature is supposed to be timeless, but there may be occasions when some of the information could benefit from a refresh. Tip: don’t republish the post, simply refresh the original. You might like to add a note saying it’s been updated and on what date the update occurred.

The benefits of evergreen content

Without a doubt, evergreen content is worth the effort and investment (if you’re paying someone else to write it for you). Everlasting content can be used and reused, making it highly valuable.  Not convinced? Here are some of the other benefits of evergreen content.

  • Because evergreen content doesn’t date, you can keep on promoting it via newsletters and social media.

  • The timeless nature of evergreen content makes it continually sharable.

  • Evergreen content can generate new traffic over a long period of time.

  • You can re-visit and re-purpose evergreen content making it totally re-usable.

  • Evergreen content keeps your website up-to-date and engaging.

  • Search engines love evergreen content. Because it remains relevant, Google (and other search engines) will continue to rank it high up in their algorithm.

Got a question about evergreen content? Pop your query in the comments box below.

 

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