Evergreen content. No, we aren’t talking trees or even anything organic, in the true sense of the word. What we are talking about is content that will work for your website for many years to come. Have you ever read an article online that gave you really useful information such as pricing or statistics you really needed? Exciting, isn’t it—until you find a reference that makes you realize it was written circa 2004. After you read this information, i'm guessing you move on to the next website. This is the behavior of most website visitors.
This is just one reason why evergreen content is important, particularly if you plan to host your website for longer than a year, but there are other reasons. Let’s look at what evergreen means exactly and what it can do for you by implementing it as part of a comprehensive content marketing strategy.
Going EverGreen
The concept of evergreen content is material that continues to serve a purpose from one season to another. Even if it’s accessed years after publishing, it should still provide value to the reader. To identify whether content has evergreen qualities, see whether it answers these questions:
1) Does it Stand the Test of Time?
To answer this with a “yes,” the content needs to be as true today as when it was written. That means avoiding anything date related, or at least referencing the date as part of the information. For example: “Research shows 78% of users search online for products and services,” is unlikely to still be true 10 years from now. But “Research showed that in 2014, 78% of users were searching online for products and services” does state a fact that may be useful in that time. This is particularly true if the user is looking for comparative data to factor against current information.
The best evergreen content is information that is truly timeless, such as “how to train your dog,” “planning a functional kitchen workspace” and “finding a reliable home contractor.” These topics are unlikely to change much in the foreseeable future and even if the protocols, methods and equipment become more advanced, the basic principles will still hold true.
2) Does it Offer Value?
Regardless how perfectly it’s written, unless your content is valuable nobody is going to read it. The determination of value is based in part on the number of views it gets in the first part of its life, and if it doesn’t get many then search engines won’t list it in results. So to make it evergreen enough to have a long lifespan, the content needs to be well-written, follow the search engine optimization principles and provide enough useful information to the reader that it gets shared, copied and revisited. Your website analytics will show whether you’re on track for achieving this.
3) Is it Written and Set up Correctly?
Evergreen content needs to follow carefully researched and identified conventions to succeed in driving traffic year after year. These include:
- Keeping narrowly focused on the topic of the post.
- Avoiding “catchy,” cute or witty titles.
- Smart use of SEO tactics. With the frequent changes in algorithm-land, you may have to update your SEO occasionally because 2010 keyword density levels may well be considered over-optimized today.
- Useful URLs that contain your keyword and make a promise to the reader.
Keyword-centric content that attracts website visitors time after time and gets shared will only go evergreen if it uses these best practices.
Why Do You Need Evergreen Content?
So, why does your business need evergreen content on your website? Isn’t plain old content good enough any longer? Well, yes—if it’s done properly it serves its purpose. The difference with evergreen content is that it goes on working for you long after out of date information stops doing so. It offers three main benefits:
1) Delivers High Search Rankings - Well-written evergreen content usually ranks well in search, because it gets positive views and traffic.
2) Gets Good Stats - Because evergreen content is highly popular with search engines it gets found more, so it brings a steady stream of traffic to your site after it was published.
3) Generates Leads - If your evergreen content is optimized for lead generation, it can continue supplying you with usable leads for many years after it was originally posted.
Overall, evergreen content brings you benefits that no amount of “new” or fresh content can – and it doesn’t cost you anything beyond the original outlay.
