As a content creator, your focus would be to ensure that your work is relevant to your target audience and that it continues to attract organic traffic a long time after its initial publication. Evergreen content is content that remains useful and relevant to readers for extended periods of time, meaning it can attract organic traffic over a long period.
There is no doubt that increasing traffic to your website should be one of the aims of your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategy, and evergreen content is one of the ways to make that happen. When you know how to craft this kind of content effectively, you stand a better chance of reaching your goals, particularly since search engines like Google reward content that remains valuable to users for a long time.
This post covers some of the insights that will help you to master evergreen content and achieve long-term SEO success.
Define Evergreen Content and Its Characteristics
Evergreen content is content that remains fresh and valuable to readers regardless of where they find it, the time of year, and the year in general. Such content does not become outdated quickly, and it generates traffic over a more extended period than other types of content.
Evergreen content has identifiable characteristics such as:
- It covers timeless topics
- It delivers value to readers
- It includes useful data and statistics
- It showcases your expertise and authority
- It is actionable, providing readers with practical insights they can apply in their lives.
To ensure your content is evergreen, it is important to focus on topics and themes that aren’t likely to become outdated soon. The idea isn’t necessarily to avoid news or events, but to focus on the more permanent aspects of these topics.
For example, if you run a clothing business, rather than focusing on a particular season, create content that gives readers tips and ideas for selecting the right clothes. You can also review the best clothing materials, or offer information on caring for particular garments. By focusing on these aspects, your content will continue to attract readers year after year instead of fading into obscurity as fast-moving seasons dictate.
Identify Your Evergreen Content Topics
There are different ways to identify evergreen topic ideas for your content. One method is to monitor search trends related to your industry, product, or service. Check for topics and questions that receive consistent searches over time, regardless of season or other factors.
For instance, suppose you manage a marketing agency that helps businesses improve their SEO ranking. In that case, you can explore Google Trends to find out what topics people search for in your industry. By doing this, you are more likely to identify topics that people search for consistently, giving you a better chance of creating content that will remain valuable for a longer time.
Another way to identify evergreen content topics is to conduct keyword research using tools such as SEMRush, Google AdWords Keyword Planner, or Ahrefs. Look for keywords and phrases that have considerable search traffic and indicate that you are offering something valuable to your target audience.
A third method is to analyze your competitor’s popular content. Check out your competitor’s website and look for any popular content – content that is consistently visited by many people within their site – this will help you identify topics that you can cover in a fresh, well-written way.
Structure and Presentation of Evergreen Content
How you present your evergreen content is another element to consider. People interact with content in different ways; some prefer text-heavy content, others prefer graphics and engaging videos. Therefore, you should optimize your content by presenting it using a variety of formats, such as videos, infographics, podcasts, etc.
Regardless of the format you choose, there are some essential elements to keep in mind when creating evergreen content.
- Title: Make sure your title is catchy, clear, and precise
- Headings: Use headings (H1, H2, H3) throughout your content to make it easy to skim and read. Quicksprout is an excellent example of how to use headings correctly.
- Introduction: The first few sentences of your content should be catchy and make it clear what readers can expect to gain from it. CoSchedule is a company blog that does a great job of this.
- Body: This section should cover the topic comprehensively and accurately, using language that is easy for readers to understand, such as Neil Patel’s blog.
- Conclusion: Sum up your post with a brief and clear conclusion, and include a call-to-action that invites readers to take a specific action based on what they’ve read.
Promote Your Evergreen Content
Creating evergreen content is one thing, but it is only half the battle. To maximize the benefits of creating such content, you need to promote it effectively.
The goal is to generate as much traffic as possible to your website, and one way to do that is through social media platforms. Share your content on social media, and engage with your followers. By doing this, your content gets to a wider audience, and you improve your engagement rates, both of which boost your SEO.
Another promotion method is through email marketing. Share your content, your why, and what readers stand to gain from it, and include a call-to-action. Send this email to everyone who has ever subscribed to your mailing list, and do not forget to promote it to readers who are yet to subscribe to your list.
You can also look to optimize your search engine ranking through backlinks. If you create high-quality, informative content, and you encourage other websites to use it or link back to it, your traffic will get boosted.
Update Your Evergreen Content
An essential part of mastering evergreen content is ensuring you keep it fresh and relevant to your readers. You can make it happen by updating the content regularly.
Updates can take multiple formats; it can be adding a new section, new tips or removing outdated ones, changing an old image, etc. Google frequently rewards sites that regularly update their content.
For instance, Freshbooks is an invoicing software that consistently updates its content to reflect changes in the industry. They frequently refresh their content with new tips, features, and best practices. With this approach, their content remains relevant and up-to-date, and their SEO efforts continue to pay off as they remain ranked at the top of search engine results.
Conclusion
Finally, mastering evergreen content is not an easy task, but with the tips and insights shared here, you are well on your way to creating and promoting rich evergreen content that will stand the test of time. Remember, to attract high-quality organic traffic to your website over the long term, you need to focus on creating evergreen content that meets your audience’s needs, promotes it effectively, updates it regularly, and provides value that will keep your readers coming back for more.