I've long heard the value of evergreen content for blogs and I've written numerous blog posts with this concept in mind. Now that my blog is starting to establish a level of credibility according to search engines, I'm really seeing that value first hand. With that in mind, I want to help you better understand why you should be focusing on creating evergreen content as well.
In case you're not familiar with the term itself, evergreen content is content that designed to drive traffic to your site and generate leads. It is content that is not "trendy" nor likely to be irrelevant in a short period of time. Instead it should be able to retain its value for long periods of time (some updates may be necessary at times). It should also be something that provides inherent value to readers. It's not a fluff piece. Similarly, it should be something that you (or your company) is proficient in. For example, if you design closets, your evergreen content should be about related topics, not about swimming pool installations. Don't laugh (well, ok laugh a little bit) - you'd be surprised what people will write about to try to get blog traffic.
Your evergreen content should be well-researched, well-written, and detailed.
To help you out, here are some examples of valuable evergreen content:
- Solves your customers pain points
- Answers your customers frequently asked questions
- Lists of reliable resources
- How-To guides or tutorials
Why Evergreen Content is Valuable
Here's what I've started to learn firsthand. And it's what I've read numerous times and knew should happen.
Evergreen content will drive traffic long after it's posted.
In fact, most of the traffic will likely come months after it's posted. For example, here's a screenshot of my post on how to edit comments on Instagram.
As you can see, the post had initial traffic the first few days after it posted. Then the traffic petered out over the next month. But, now that it's been established as a relevant piece of content, the post is showing up in more and more search results and driving more and more traffic to my site. In fact, it's one of my top 10 posts almost every day now.
Of course, we all want more traffic to our blogs or websites. But the most important thing is to keep visitors on your site and convert them into leads. If your evergreen content is what your visitors are looking for, you will keep them reading, get them to other pages on your site, and potentially create viable leads.
Therefore, it's important to create really valuable content that gives readers what they want.
You'll notice from my post, How to Edit Comments on Instagram, that it's titled a "How-to" post which directly answers readers' questions. It's also a topic that people search for regularly. It's a topic that I write about frequently and a topic that I know my audience has questions about. The post itself is detailed with instructions and includes images for more in-depth explanations. I've also had to update it to accommodate a software update on the iOS system, which is documented in the post. The post has all the makings of a good evergreen piece and is paying off accordingly!
This post is often one of my most popular landing pages as people find it from searches. But once they're on the site, I'm able to determine if they leave the site, or if they go to other pages within my site, and if so, where they go. I can use this information to determine what calls-to-action to use and where to place them. I can use this information to refine future posts that will better align with this content.
Evergreen content also provides valuable SEO benefits. The more consistently your evergreen content ranks in search results, the higher it will rank in search results. It becomes a cyclical effect boosting its own value each and every time.
For all these reasons, evergreen content is extremely valuable to your blog. Take the time to incorporate some well-crafted, evergreen articles into your content strategy. You don't want to make all of your content evergreen, but you should strive to make it a part of your content strategy.
The reality is that evergreen content may not become evergreen right away. It might take months until you see the long term effects of the post. But if you write high-quality, relevant content that answers your customers' questions, it will pay dividends in long term traffic.
I am glad already that I subscribed to your blog for this great post alone.
I would add: Wisdom. This is why Quotes are so popular in social media. A good idea, beautifully expressed–whether from a famous person or not–is very shareable and evergreen, The same thing can be said for humor.
Thanks Reid! I’m so glad you subscribed too 🙂
You bring up a couple excellent additional points.
I try to write the majority of my blog articles with tips to help small business (with my main focus being on using background checks to help with business success). I do write other types of articles, but I try to still have them contain valuable information for my readers.
What I have also been doing lately is updating older posts as needed. I have seen a lot more activity on these by doing this!
Thanks for another great article Jenn!
I’m glad you enjoyed this one too, Kim! I’m so glad to hear that updating your older posts is rejuvenating them and bringing new traffic. That’s awesome!
I have never heard of evergreen content before. The concept makes sense. Having content that people can use or see value in from year to year. Thanks Jenn! Great as always!
I’m so glad you learned something new, Julia! I hope you find some good ways to incorporate this into your blog.
Great post Jenn, and good tips too. I’m glad I found your blog and subscribed to your mailing list 🙂
I wonder how much of that increase on traffic comes directly from SEO and how much is generated by internal links to that article that you may be including on new posts within your own blog.
Thanks Antonio! I’m so happy to have you here as a reader 🙂
From my experiences, most of the increase in traffic comes from SEO moreso than internal links. However, when used properly, those internal links can be very successful too.
I have always considered social media (or any online marketing) topics not to be “evergreen”. I always thought evergreen to be as “forever”. I don’t think like this anymore and you make a good point about writing “trendy” topics. You’re right about having to update posts as this industry changes like the wind.
It does seem to be a shifting perspective on evergreen content, Adam. Especially in the online marketing industry. Of course, things will always evolve and change so it’s hard to create traditional evergreen content. However, in our industry, anything that can remain relevant months (maybe even years?) after posting is likely as “evergreen” as we’ll get. But I still think that’s highly relevant to those trying to learn more about online marketing.
And as we said, this is why updating posts to the most current information is critical – you can retain your traffic and SEO benefits from the older post while still providing current information.