In content marketing, we all know the importance of keeping to a regular posting schedule and ensuring there is always new content going up across all of your platforms. This is particularly important for social media marketing, helping you to boost brand awareness, build trust, and drive engagement.
However, when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO) in particular, new content isn’t always the only thing you should be focusing on. This is where evergreen content comes in. In this blog, we’ll take a look at exactly what evergreen content is, the benefits of this type of content, and how you can implement it into your content marketing strategy.
What is evergreen content?
There are two main types of trees found in nature. First, we have deciduous trees — or those that lose their leaves in autumn and regain them in spring. Then, there are evergreen trees — those that keep their leaves year-round.
You’ve probably guessed the reason we included that seemingly irrelevant tidbit about trees. Evergreen content is exactly like its namesake — it keeps giving year-round. Evergreen content refers to content that does not have a lifespan and continues to provide value, boost SEO rankings, and drive traffic over time.
Evergreen content refers to content that does not have a lifespan and continues to provide value, boost SEO rankings, and drive traffic over time.
Evergreen content is optimized in the way you would optimize any other type of content, however, the material within is not time-sensitive in the way other content might be. Yes, all content published online is “evergreen” in that, unless it is removed, it will stay live forever. But, many types of content, such as news articles and announcements, will lose their relevance over time.
Evergreen content does not have this issue. For example, guides, how-to pages, tips and tricks articles, and reviews can continue to be relevant and helpful for readers long after they have been published. In this way, evergreen content can serve as something of a “one-and-done” form of content, in that it can be published, optimized, and then left to do its work long into the future.
What are the benefits of having an evergreen content strategy?
So, we know what evergreen content is but what benefits can it bring to your content marketing strategy?
Boost search rankings
First and foremost, evergreen content can provide a continual boost to your search engine rankings without additional effort. If evergreen content is properly optimized with the correct keywords and metadata, it will improve your overall site SEO and help your page get noticed by more people.
Drive traffic
This in turn means that evergreen content will drive traffic to your site long after it has been published as not only is it SEO-optimized but it also provides continually relevant information to your potential customers. When customers search for a topic you have covered, such as a product review, they will directed to your post and can then be directed further down the sales funnel from there.
Build authority
The long-term impact and nature of evergreen content also help position your brand as a thought leader in your industry. By leaning into content like guides and how-tos, you can not only create content that is relevant over the long run, you can provide customers with useful resources related to your niche. This skyrockets your authority in your industry and builds trust in your brand.
How to create an evergreen content strategy
Now, let’s explore how you can create evergreen content for your brand.
Researching
The first step to creating valuable evergreen content is in the research. Of course, researching any content you’re producing is important to avoid mistakes or inaccuracies but what we really mean here is researching the type of content that you want to produce.
As we mentioned earlier, some formats are better than others for evergreen content. For example, news stories are typically a poor choice for evergreen content as the information in them will become outdated rather quickly. Instead, things that will hold their relevance, like guides and product reviews, will stay relevant over the long run.
You also want to look at trends and find those that have a constant level of interest. Trends that come and go are not ideal for evergreen content, so target those that stay relevant. This is easy to do using a keyword tool or using Google Analytics.
Take the time to research and explore different kinds of content and focus on what would work best for your brand, industry, and customer needs.
Writing
Once you know the type of content you’d like to produce and have picked the topic, it’s time to produce that content. We’re focusing on written content here but this applies to any other forms, such as video or audio.
When writing, ensure you optimize your piece from an SEO perspective, including relevant keywords, metadata, and structure. There’s no sense in creating an evergreen piece of content if it is not SEO optimized, as it will not help boost search rankings and drive traffic to your site — arguably its primary purpose.
Put the effort in at the start and then you can let the content do the work for you later on.
Promoting
This might seem like a bit of a no-brainer but make sure you promote your evergreen content! You want to get eyes on your content both when you first post it and later down the line. This way you can drive traffic to your site and push customers further down the sales funnel.
The beauty of evergreen content is that because it continues to stay relevant, you can keep promoting it as it will still offer value to readers even long after it is first published.
Tracking
Once your evergreen content has gone live, it is important to track how it is doing. You might think you’ve had a great idea that will provide value to your audience but if the piece isn’t converting or driving traffic, it might be that you miscalculated. Alternatively, your piece might do really well and show you what kind of content does work for your brand.
Adjusting
This brings us nicely to our final point — adjusting your evergreen content. Just because your content is “evergreen” doesn’t mean you should just post it and forget about it. Keep an eye on how your content is performing and use the feedback you are getting to adjust and optimize your content even further.
It is also important to ensure that evergreen content stays relevant. For example, if you have produced a how-to guide on setting up a mailing list on a given email platform but then the platform is updated and the process is different, update your content to reflect this change. Updating evergreen content is far quicker and easier than producing new content and it allows you to keep well-performing pieces up for longer.
Examples of evergreen content
We’ve already touched on some examples of evergreen content but let’s run through a quick list of some of the best formats you can choose when designing your strategy.
B2C
Some of the types of evergreen content that perform well in the B2C space include:
- Product reviews
- How-to guides
- “Ultimate” guides
- FAQs
- Glossaries of terms
All of these types of content provide value for your customers and remain relevant past their publication date. They also position your brand as a trustworthy source and an authoritative voice in your niche. Plus, once customers have engaged with this type of content, there is the opportunity to direct them further down the sales funnel.
B2B
B2B evergreen content is an important consideration for brands operating in this space. Appealing to other businesses requires a slightly different approach than appealing directly to customers, so tailor your content accordingly. Some examples might include:
- Reviews of industry-specific products
- Glossaries
- Live databases
- Case studies and testimonials
- Customer and industry insights
That’s everything you need to know about evergreen content and hopefully, a few ideas for you to get started with for your own content strategy. If you’re looking for more tips and insights about content marketing, make sure you check out the rest of the Scribly blog!
