Search engine optimization takes time. It’s like building a house where each new addition strengthens your construction. Every blog post you write, and website page you add gives you more authority and ranking potential. Today we dive into strategies to build your evergreen content.
Covering trending topics and the latest news and stats is vital for remaining relevant, but those topics don’t rank in search engines for very long. Those topics receive a considerable boost initially, but you’ll see traffic die down as people move on to the next greatest thing.
Evergreen content is the opposite of that. This is a cornerstone topic that doesn’t go out of style. It just keeps generating more traffic. It ages like fine wine, becoming stronger the longer it’s alive. But, like fine wine, evergreen content requires care to hold its value.
We’ll explore what evergreen content is and how you can use an evergreen content strategy to build a solid online brand.
What Exactly Is Evergreen Content?
Evergreen content remains relevant and doesn’t go out of style. It’s the exact opposite of breaking news and trending topics.
It doesn’t expire, and people don’t lose interest in the topic over time.
Here are a few examples of evergreen content:
- Educational Guides: How-to articles, tips, and steps for completing tasks are all examples of evergreen content. People consistently need tutorials for completing assignments and ways to sharpen their skills.
- Fact Articles: Facts remain relevant for a long time unless new information emerges. For example, a post on the history of newspapers won’t change much over the years since no one is taking time machines to the past and changing history. Think about encyclopedia articles. People continually consult this content to learn more about a topic or cite research in an industry.
- Industry Resources: Industry guides, case studies, and glossaries are necessary for employees to understand their industry and find solutions.
Here are some examples that are NOT evergreen content:
- Current Events: If something is breaking news, readers will probably lose interest as soon as the next big event occurs. Suddenly, that article sounds outdated.
- Reviews: People and businesses change over time. Just because Suzy loved a restaurant in 2014 doesn’t mean that the restaurant still offers the same quality food ten years later. People who want reviews on businesses, media, and products are usually only interested in recent reviews and testimonials.
- Statistics: Statistics have a varied shelf life. For example, statistics from medical research studies done five years ago can still be relevant today because research studies are costly and don’t receive regular updates. However, social media usage statistics from five years ago are outdated and usually have a shelf-life of a year or two because that’s a fast-paced industry.
- Technology: Content referencing technology usually has a short life because technology constantly changes. Something as simple as an image or mention of a smartphone can date an article since smartphones receive annual updates in appearance and function. References to how you can use technology and what technology is available will start an expiration timer ticking.
Most of your content will usually be evergreen, as that will be your primary traffic driver.
How to Turn Trending Topics into Evergreen Content
Here’s an insider’s tip on evergreen content. You can turn your trending content into evergreen topics through regular updates. In each update, check statistics, technology changes, and current event mentions so you’re referencing the most recent updates.
Here’s an example of an article Backlinko published in October 2019. Backlinko updates the article with the new year each year, updating any out-of-date statistics and adding new facts to the post.
Does this work? The article’s search traffic says it does.
You can see where those updates happened, as each update caused a jump in website traffic each year, keeping it relevant.
Trending vs. Evergreen Content Examples
Let’s look at examples of what evergreen content isn’t, followed by examples of what evergreen content is.
Here’s an article that appeared in February 2022 when the Rams won the Super Bowl.
Now, let’s look at this article’s traffic trends over time.
You’ll notice the immediate peak when Fox Sports published the article. It was breaking news, fresh, and exciting. People everywhere were searching for Super Bowl results. However, just a few months later, it nearly flatlined.
You’ll notice again that the columnist updated the article in 2023 in preparation for a new wave of searches as the next Super Bowl arrived. That update was delivered when another spike occurred. However, a year later, the article nearly flatlines again.
This is not evergreen content.
This is trending content. Trending content is crucial for showing you are relevant, connecting with new traffic, trending term searches, and being an authority in your field. However, trending content won’t bring in consistent website traffic.
That’s why most of your website should be evergreen content.
Let’s take a look at an example of evergreen content.
You’ll notice first that there are no dates or breaking news information in the title. It’s a topic that has stayed relevant through the years because people are still coaching sports teams today, just like in 2015, when this article first came out.
And the numbers don’t lie.
The organic traffic grew after Harvard Business Review published the article in 2015. It peaked five years later! It wasn’t until it had been out for five years that you saw a traffic dip. Even in 2024, nine years later, the article still brings in a trickle of traffic.
What Is the Best Evergreen Content Format?
Evergreen content can appear in any online format other than social media. Here are the most popular ways to publish evergreen content:
- Blog Posts: Blog posts will be your SEO’s primary strategy. They usually appear on a resource or news page on your website. Visitors can search for specific topics, share posts on social media and emails, and see these articles appear in search results. You will also link to past blog articles through internal links.
- Whitepapers: You can share shorter articles in a downloadable format using whitepapers. This is a way to attach a PDF to emails or use it for lead generation on a website. Whitepapers make excellent quick reference guides or research publications.
- eBooks: If you have a comprehensive guide, fact book, or how-to article, an eBook would be your better option. They attract search traffic and can work as a lead magnet.
How Evergreen Content Benefits Brands
In what ways does evergreen content build your online brand? Here’s a look at the top benefits of regularly publishing evergreen content.
Generates Steady Traffic Over Time
Blogging increases your search engine ranking chances by 434% compared to static websites. In addition, 72% of content marketers say content creation is their best SEO strategy.
Let’s face it, posting blog posts daily would be EXHAUSTING! That’s 365 blog posts a year. Unless you are a news site, there are many better uses of your resources than that. But the average business doesn’t need that much content to rank.
Instead, focus on building an evergreen content library that continues attracting traffic. As you saw in the above examples, traffic GROWS over time.
Performs Well in Search Engine Rankings
Organic search produces the most traffic. But, attracting that traffic is no easy task as fewer than 1% of searchers will click on the second page of Google search results. That means the first page of Google is your golden ticket to traffic success.
Evergreen content performs well in search engine results. When people search for content, Google pulls what is most relevant. If your content covers a trending topic, Google will most likely push it far back in search results pages after the hype is over.
For example, when I searched “Oscar Awards,” all the top articles covered news about Oscar Awards from this year. Because the Academy Awards took place this week, every article on the first page was either an official resource or less than a month old. All those articles from previous Academy Award years are now collecting dust on some Google back page.
If you search for an evergreen search term like “best exercises for lower back pain,” I can find search results as old as ten years on the first page of Google.
Brings in Quality Leads from Traffic
Some of the best leads come from evergreen topics. That’s why 76% of content marketers use content in their lead generation strategy.
Trending topics can be a fantastic way to connect with new leads. If you time your posting correctly and are among the first to address a new trend or come at a topic from a unique angle, you can gain a considerable amount of new traffic. Within that traffic is sure to be several new leads.
However, trending topics are like fast fashion. People jump on the trend but then toss it out and jump on the next one. There’s a chance quite a bit of your traffic might be people who want to know what the buzz is about and may not be serious leads.
On the other hand, Evergreen topics tend to attract more serious leads. You’ll want to perform SEO research to identify search terms within your industry. Many of those terms are what potential customers search for since there isn’t any trending news or buzz drawing them to that topic. So, the traffic is usually people already interested in that topic due to their industry or current needs you can solve.
Establishes Your Brand’s Authority
You need high-quality, valuable content to establish yourself as an authority in your industry. About 45% of bloggers create long-form content, which will make up the bulk of your evergreen content. Long-form content allows you to dig deep into topics and demonstrate your expertise.
Your content is one way you build a reputation in your niche. Clients see a demonstrated expertise and learn to trust you better. You can also create a relationship by investing in those clients’ education about the industry.
Your content also builds authority with Google. Google’s opinion matters because if the algorithm sees you as an authority, it will place you higher in search results. So, gaining that Google stamp of approvable is precious.
Google sees your authority in several ways, including:
- Regularly published content
- High engagement rates
- Positive customer experiences
- Authority backlinks
Trending content can bring in those backlinks and engagement, but it’s often fleeting. If you want to show Google and clients consistent engagement and regularly gain new backlinks, you need that evergreen content that stands the test of time.
How to Create Evergreen Content in 5 Easy Steps
We will share five steps for creating evergreen content that will build your brand authority and bring in regular traffic.
Step 1: Map Out Your Evergreen Content Strategy
A content strategy creates a roadmap for your evergreen content. Each piece should have a purpose and be relevant to your audience. That way, you can generate a return on investment from the content.
Ask yourself what you want your evergreen content to do for your brand. Are you using it to highlight specific products? Educate about the industry as a whole. Or do you want to promote events?
Your goal will dictate the type of topics you will cover.
Begin brainstorming some general topic ideas and areas. For each topic, ask yourself how long people will be interested in the subject. If it will change, move that topic idea to your trending content strategy.
Also, consider how in-depth you can go with each topic. For your evergreen content to shine, you will want it to be long-form, so the more meat there is on the topic, the better it may perform in the long term.
Step 2: Conduct Thorough Research on Your Chosen Topic
Once you have a list of topics, it’s time to begin researching each selected topic. This research will guide the SEO side of your strategy.
For example, if you are a vitamin company, you might have decided to write articles on the benefits of magnesium. SEO research then lists specific questions about the topic people are searching for. These questions both provide evergreen content ideas and help you with search engine ranking.
Step 3: Get Organized by Outlining Your Content
Now that you have your topic and keyword, you can create a roadmap through your content outline.
Outlining ensures your content has a structured flow and aligns with your content’s goal.
Since this content will hopefully continue ranking for over a year, you’ll want to put your best effort forward.
As you create an outline, include all the most critical sections. You’ll then break those sections into subsections and points. That way, once you begin writing (or hiring someone to write), you have a clear direction to keep you on track.
Step 4: Write and Edit the First Draft of Your Blog Post
It’s time to transform that outline into golden content to bring in that traffic. You can tackle this part yourself. But if you do, clear out several hours of your time. Again, this content will rank for over a year, so you’ll want to ensure you put plenty of thought and research into the post.
If you don’t have the time to do it right, consider hiring subject matter experts to create the post for you to ensure it’s done right.
Here are a few tips our experienced writers provide for crafting your evergreen content:
- Take Your Time: Creating content takes time. About 21% of content marketers take 2-3 hours, while 57% take over three hours to create content. Don’t rush the process.
- Save Editing for Last: Don’t try to keep up with editing as you write, as that can mess with your groove. Your first step is to get your thoughts on the paper. You can edit once you completed the post.
- Remember to Optimize: Remember that research you performed? Work those keywords into your content, use quality backlinks, and disperse internal links to help it rank in Google for months to come.
The writing process can be stressful. Be patient and take the time you need to do your best. The return will reflect the effort you put into it.
Step 5: Periodically Update Your Evergreen Content
While evergreen content has a long lifespan, it doesn’t last forever. Even the best content will eventually be outranked by newer content. But the good news is you don’t need to trash the post once that happens.
As we did with trending content, you can refresh evergreen content to expand its life. Review your evergreen content every two to three years and give it a little spring cleaning. These minor updates will be enough for Google to see it as new, relevant content and keep it near the top.
The refresh should include:
- Checking that all the links still work
- Updating any facts or claims that might be outdated
- Adding new research or ideas
- Refreshing any writing that feels clunky
- Adjusting SEO for changing search trends
Generate Steady Traffic with Evergreen Content
Evergreen content can be one of your most powerful ways of generating consistent traffic if done right. But turning evergreen ideas into well-ranking content may feel like a mountain of a task.
Express Writers can help in every stage of the process. From content strategy to content creation, we have experts ready to help.
Why wait? You have traffic out there that you could be drawing to your website with the right content in place.
Let’s get started with your first order today.
Contact us to order evergreen content.
