• By michelle
• In Copywriting

Evergreen Content: Produce Lasting Results for Your Business

When speaking in botanical terms, an “evergreen” is a plant (usually of the pine or fir variety) whose name reveals exactly what you might already suspect– it retains its leaves year-round and is, therefore, forever green.

The digital marketing and publishing worlds have borrowed the descriptor and applied it to content, turning it into a common buzzword in the digital age.

It’s important to understand what evergreen content is and how to produce it. By publishing it, you will be providing helpful information to your audience, building a loyal following, earning thought leader status, and most important– your content will become more prevalent in internet search results.

When you publish a blog post, unless it is intentionally removed, it will remain live on the web forever. However, what classifies it as evergreen is if it will remain relevant long past its publication, so that traffic increases over time and it is optimized for search engine results.

Evergreen content can range from reader FAQs to listicles to case studies– essentially, anything that explains common timeless concepts in your industry for your readers is the basis of evergreen content.

To be clear, evergreen content is NOT:

• Posts that include numerical reports and statistics that may become outdated and no longer relevant.

• Reports on current styles or trends that can become out of date very quickly.

• Holiday or seasonal articles are typically not considered to be evergreen. That said, if the content remains general enough, searches for information about annual holidays like Christmas, Halloween, and Easter may link to your posts or site during those times of the year.

• News reports aren’t generally evergreen due to their time-specific nature. Anything written about this year’s Oscars, for example, is not evergreen content because it will become obsolete six months from now and many keywords associated with the topic will be less likely to be searched as frequently or at all in the future.

Why Evergreen Content Is Important

There are several reasons to prioritize the production of evergreen content in your content planning strategy.

For one, these types of posts tend to elevate your level of authority on a topic and inspire confidence in the mind of your targeted audience.

You know your industry like the back of your hand and possess the knowledge and tools that your audience is seeking to gain.

Another key reason is related to Search Engine Optimization.

With more than two million blog posts going live every single day, you want to make sure that your content has a higher chance of ending up at the top of Google search results.

When web pages are indexed, the algorithm used includes data regarding older or expired content that won’t have many views or traffic in recent history.

For example, if you publish an article about the top 10 music records from this year, it will be indexed in search results based on the fact that it will become expired and less relevant to future years.

This indexing will restrict your content from showing up earlier in search results.

The other element to understand is keywords.

Ensuring use of specific keywords that will be searched over and over again by readers in the long-term future will help search engines direct more readers to your page.

For example, if your website is about cooking and baking, writing content using keywords such as “How to Make Pancakes” may be considered a smart evergreen topic, since your targeted audience is probably always searching for this information, no matter what time of year it is.

Types of Evergreen Content

We’ve made the case for why evergreen content is a good marketing strategy to increase your traffic. At this point, you may be wondering what type of content is the most effective.

Below is a list of specific types of posts that tend to work well with evergreen writing.

Keep in mind that writing content using the formats below does not automatically make a piece evergreen. What matters is the information you include and whether or not it is timeless and relevant in nature.

Case Studies

Providing specific examples and original research in the form of case studies will help show off your knowledge and highlight real-world results.

The storytelling element of case studies also adds an additional interesting and engaging layer to your content. Making your content relatable and translatable to your audience in this way ensures that they see you as a helpful resource to return to in the future.

How-To Guides

Simply typing in “How to” on Google will provide you with auto-filled options for some of the most generic content topics.

By titling and structuring your published articles as guides that walk people through processes repeated throughout any season or year, your content will remain relevant and popular.

At Sūmer, we have published a variety of such posts for digital marketers, from “How to Craft Marketing Content for Multicultural Audiences” to “How to Craft Content That Sells Experiences Not Product.”

Positioning yourself as providing valuable industry tips using step-by-step process outlines or suggestions will give you thought leader status and bring your audience back for more.

Listicles

BuzzFeed may come to mind as an example of a website that has done very well for itself based on its use of listicles. “Listicle” is a catchall phrase that refers to an article that has been written in the form of a list- such as “10 Ways to Save Energy” or “8 Healthy Post-Gym Snacks.”

Readers tend to gravitate towards specifics and the simplification of information, so it’s no wonder why this form of article performs well when applied to evergreen content. 

“History of” Articles

Similar to case studies, providing a historical overview of a product, service, or topic engages readers via the power of story. For example, publishing an article about the development of basketball could be of interest to your readers if you are a sports equipment retailer.

As a bonus, including an infographic to add a visual dimension to the history-based article will make the article more engaging and digestible for your readers. 

Video Series

Instructional videos are particularly effective for visually demonstrating how to do something, from baking a sweet dessert to knitting a sweater.

Don’t have the ability to film or edit quality video content? Consider using a series of images (photos or illustrations, diagrams, etc.) to your advantage.

Answering Reader FAQs

Evergreen content is geared more toward beginners who are looking to become more knowledgeable about a certain topic. To assert yourself as an expert in your industry and offer yourself up as a guide for people who are wanting to learn about the product and service you offer, a FAQ-style article is a good first step.

By offering an easy and simple breakdown of information that is relevant and will continue to remain true over time, people who are using search engines to learn more about your domain will gravitate toward your content to get their needed dose of the basics.

Bear in mind that a frequent dilemma with generating good evergreen posts is that common topics have already been covered, maybe even to a point of excess.

Our suggestion is to add a unique viewpoint to a popular topic, or to delve into further detail. Aim to include long-tail keywords that have volume but are less competitive.

Or, if you have a specific niche market, you may find that there is less content on the web about your topic, making your evergreens even more valuable.

Making an intention to publish more evergreen content ensures that your posts will remain popular in search results and continue to gain views, comments, likes, shares, and backlinks that will significantly help the vitality and popularity of your site and its content.

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