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What is evergreen Content?
Evergreen content is content that does not go out of date. It generates consistent interest and search volume over time.
Creating evergreen content saves you time. It reduces the amount of content that you need to create and leads to regular organic traffic.
To qualify, it needs to focus on a topic that will always be relevant to your customer or client. The content may need updating, but it should not be topical. It resembles what you would find in a reference book rather than in a newspaper.
The way to find evergreen content is by using keywords – that is, researching what people are actually searching for. Even the most lasting evergreen piece isn’t worth much if people aren’t searching for that topic.
As part of this process, it is important to check that the content is not seasonal or on a declining trend. You are looking to create content that people have been searching for over a period of time.
Of course, it is not enough to answer a question that is often being asked. Instead, the content needs to provide the best available content on the web. As well as being comprehensive, it must be easy to read, entertaining and useful – as well as written by someone who is clearly an expert in their field.
This is because there are many competing pieces of evergreen content on the internet, all seeking to respond to similar search queries.
How to Write Evergreen Content
An increasingly popular approach is to write a piece of long-form content that seeks to cover everything that the reader wants or needs to know.
Evergreen content is more likely to appeal to beginners than experts who are abreast of the latest trends relating to a topic. For that reason, it is best to use clear and simple language and avoid jargon.
Using subheadings, bullets and short paragraphs will help to clearly structure the article, making it more appealing both to readers and search engines. Readers tend to skim online articles – by signposting the content clearly, you can help your audience find what they want quickly. This makes it more likely that they will find the content useful and will return to it again.
As mentioned above, topical references should be avoided in the article – references both to recent events and cultural phenomena that could go out of date quickly or confuse the reader. The content should be updated regularly to take account of recent developments – however, this should not require a wholesale rewrite.
Types of Evergreen Content
Your blog or website may already contain examples of evergreen content. Examples include:
- “How-To” Guides
- Testimonials
- Lists
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- Glossaries of Terms and Phrases
- “History of” Articles
How-to guides are particularly effective, as they help the reader to solve a problem and can attract backlinks, enhancing the page for search engine optimisation.
Testimonials also work well, although they should be regularly refreshed, as an old review might imply that no one could be found to provide a more up-to-date one. It may also seem less relevant if a company has changed its strategy or focus.
Lists, including checklists, function well as evergreen content as they are well-structured, quick and easy for a reader to consume. Depending on the topic, they may also rarely need updating.
Promoting your Content
It is important to promote your evergreen content on social media to help people discover it. This can be done in multiple ways, including:
- Creating a wide variety of posts to promote the same content, for example by using different images, quotes and statistics, all of which are proven to increase engagement on social media
- Encourage your employees to share content – content shared by individuals tends to trigger greater engagement than that shared by companies
- Create a schedule for sharing content
- When issuing new posts, include a sidebar titled “Most popular posts” or “Related posts”
- Boost top performing evergreen on social media
- Optimise that content for conversions, for example by including clear calls to action
To uncover how your content is performing, opt for a content teardown. We’ll provide advice on where your content stands within our methodology and offer tips for improvement. For further assistance with your content, reach out to our Kick-Ass Content team.