With the rise of the digital age, it has become clear that to stay relevant online you have to adapt to everything going on in the world. I know that idea might seem overwhelming, especially if you are a blogger or influencer who has to keep posting new, engaging content. Well, this does not have to be the case for you, if you learn how to make the most of evergreen content.
What is Evergreen Content?
Evergreen content are valuable informational items that can be considered timeless or constant and only require a few updates related to data or dates. An example in today’s social media world would be the specific hashtag”#blacklivesmatter” which is not evergreen, but addressing systemic racism is evergreen. Think of it as writing about a lasting idea and not just a trend or fad. Therefore, a quote from Angela Davis or Toni Morrison would be evergreen or tips on how to stay safe during a protest.
Benefits of Evergreen Content
Since the aim of evergreen content is to create items that are meant to be timeless and resonate with your audience, you can expect to see a few positive outcomes, due to creating these longstanding pieces such as:
- Increased online traffic – If you manage to create impactful content that goes in-depth into more than other similar articles, more people will likely choose to read your content piece as it demonstrates you are a knowledgeable authority on the subject matter.
- Quality over Quantity – By being able to create strong pieces of evergreen content that remain relevant for years, you can take off the pressure of writing various short-form content pieces that lose relevance quickly and tend to not get noticed. Take your time to create your items since quality is what matters most when it comes to evergreen content.
- Helps increase SEO ranking – Thanks to its long-standing relevancy, evergreen content tends to rank well in search engine results, which in turn helps increase your SEO ranking on various search browsers.
- Example: Here you can see how a quality piece of evergreen content created by Wine Insiders about white wine has ranked number 1 on the search browser. The guide itself was posted in 2019 back but contains useful information that is relevant and continues to capture the attention of people resulting in increased traffic to the website.
Items That are Considered Evergreen
When it comes to creating evergreen content, you have to think long-term. Think about items that people will always go back to and reference. Some of those items include:
- “How To” Guides – Guides that teach your audience about a valuable lesson or can help them refine their skills will always be considered assets by users.
- Product Reviews – Honest, product centered opinions about an item which list its features, benefits and even drawbacks are impactful and always looked at by consumers interested in that specific item or service. Product reviews work best when they come from a third party source who is considered unbiased.
- Example: Consider this product review for the brand Amora Coffee. The review was done by coffee-channel.com, a respected coffee authority whose input, both good and bad, will help sway long lasting customer sentiment.
- Tips – In-depth advice on a particular topic is something that will always be needed.
- Example: Helpful pieces of advice on how to solve an everyday problem will always be sought after. Consider creating tips that you would have liked to receive yourself since now that you know this information you can become an authority on the subject to others.
- Quotes – Long-lasting ideas are best immortalized in quotes which can then be used in a plethora of ways. The quote below was originally used in a press release for Modamily and has since been featured in other publications and interviews.
- FAQ’s– Frequently asked questions, or an FAQ page, is one of the most common and important types of evergreen guides you can create since it outlines fixed information about everything you want someone to know about your company or product.
- Example: This FAQ from ATAQ Fuel is a great evergreen example since the questions people are always asking are on the main FAQ Page and more specific questions can be filtered by the indicative tabs on top for products, ingredients, orders or returns.
- Testimonials – An attribute by someone who has tried out a service or product first-hand can live on for a long time, especially if it is informational and adds a level of reliability to the brand. Take a look at the following example by a customer of LACOSTA.
Best Practices for Evergreen Content
To ensure your evergreen content is the best it can be, remember to optimize it for publishing so that it can gain additional traction online. Some things to keep in mind:
- Keywords & SEO – Remember to put diligent work into keyword research before crafting an evergreen piece, because you want to be sure that what you are writing about will withstand the test of time. From experience, long-tail keywords tend to do best for evergreen pieces. A way to identify keywords you want to rank for are by using tools like MOZ and SEMrush or simply by searching for those keywords in Google and analyzing the first page content. When it comes time to optimize for SEO, remember to include alt text to images, put the keyword in your content’s title, include your keyword in the URL and of course backlink to other related content.
- Reuse/Spotlight content – A best practice to ensure you always have evergreen content is to reuse long-form items such as blogs or videos to create other items such as infographics or as quotes which can summarize or emphasize a specific topic.
- Publicize – No matter how much work and effort you put into your piece, it is crucial that you also share that content with others so they know about it too, otherwise it can remain unnoticed longer than you want it to. So remember to share it on your social media pages or include it in a newsletter to get that online traction going. Take a page from eMotimo.
By following these steps you will be able to create evergreen content that is sure to help you facilitate your content marketing process and increase your online presence.
Freelance contribution especially written for Find Your Influence by Amy Hernandez. Amy is the Digital and Public Relations Manager at electrIQ marketing where she oversees all outreach and publicity efforts.