What Is Evergreen Content & Why Should You Care?

Want to learn how to write content that brings you consistent organic traffic for months, years, or even a decade?

The secret is, it’s not about being trendy.

It’s not about volatile topics and click baits.

It’s not even about packing in 10 or 20 more hours a week to create a higher volume of content.

The real magic boils down to two words: evergreen content.

But what is evergreen content?

Why should you care about it?

And more importantly, how do you create it?

In this post, we’ll take a deep dive into these questions.

What Is Evergreen Content?

Evergreen content is content that never goes “out of style.”

It’s the opposite of news or trending content.

Let’s look at examples.

When you search on Google for the keyword “Facebook stats 2020,” you get this.

Oberlo’s piece ranks #1 for this keyword, so you can imagine the organic traffic they get for it.

But the question is, for how long?

In 2021, will anyone be searching for this keyword?

You got it. Nope.

On the other hand, look at this example.

This piece ranks #1 for the keyword “the importance of health.”

As you can guess, this topic will never go out of date because humans will always care about good health.

But before we move on, it’s important to note the difference between evergreen topics and evergreen content.

Evergreen Topics

Evergreen topics are topics people will always be interested in.

Here are three examples:

• How to start a business
• How to gain the perfect beach body
• Unhealthy food

No matter how the world changes, the human race will always want to gain an extra source of income, look fit and attractive, and avoid dangerous health issues.

Evergreen Content

On the other hand, evergreen content is content that focuses on an evergreen topic without becoming outdated. For example:

• How to start a business with no capital
• 10 workouts for the perfect beach body
• 20 foods you should never eat

Remember to incorporate both in your content creation.

Why Your Blog Won’t Survive Without Evergreen Content (Unless You Post 10x a Week)

Myth: You need to post 10x a week to receive a steady stream of organic traffic to your site.

But the truth is, content creators who focus on trending topics and content do have to go through this rigorous exercise just to maintain their organic traffic.

For example, look at this post from The New York Times.

On November 9, 2016, traffic to this new post spiked. The whole country was keyed up to find out the results of the presidential election.

But a week later, when people generally accepted the Trump victory?

That’s right. Traffic to this post flat-lined.

This is why The New York Times posts multiple pieces of content per day.

Which is all great if you’re a giant company focusing on news and current events and opinions.

If you’re a regular marketer and content creator? What you need is evergreen content.

With evergreen content, you’ll get:

• Consistent traffic. People will always search for your content, so you’ll always get traffic.
• Savings on time and energy. Once you post your evergreen content, it’ll remain relevant for years. Thus, you don’t need to break your back typing up tons of content per week.

How to Create Evergreen Content

Now that you’re convinced of the awesomeness of evergreen content, the next step is to learn how to create it.

Here are three great tips.

Do Keyword Research to Find Evergreen Topics

Use keyword research tools like SEMrush and KWFinder to find keywords with high search volume over a long period of time.

These keywords are your evergreen topics!

Create Content Your Audience Will Miss

It’s not enough to create “good” or even “great” content.

You need to create the kind of content your audience can’t find anywhere else.

The content they’ll miss when you post a day late.

Content that people will miss, if ever you decide to quit creating it.

The kind of content that beats the crap out of all its competition.

You know the kind.

Once you create it, it’ll remain relevant for a long time.

Avoid News, Trending Topics & Dates

News grows stale overnight.

And if you write a blog post based on the latest “Star Wars” trilogy, it’ll get old as soon as fans are over the hype.

Also, avoid words and phrases like “2020,” “last year,” and “a few months ago.”

Is Evergreen Content Really Possible?

Good question.

The answer is yes. And no.

Nothing is really 100% evergreen, because much of the world is constantly changing.

For instance, even your post on “how to start a business without capital” can get outdated as new discoveries and strategies emerge.

A post on SEO will change as Google releases new algorithms.

But don’t worry.

When you write evergreen content, all you need to do is tweak your posts every year or so.

A tiny refresh is all that’s needed for your content to be relevant again.

Here’s how you can do it.

1. Check on Your Stats & Links

Go over your content and update your stats.

Click on each of your links to see if they’re still working.

Remember, Google notices outdated stats and broken links.

So does your audience.

2. Review User Search Intent

Search intent is the reason behind every online search.

Everybody who types keywords into Google’s search bar is looking for something, and it’s your job to fill in that need.

The thing with search intent is it changes over time.

If you want to keep your content fresh, make sure it always targets your audience’s current search intent.

3. Ask Why You’re Being Outranked

Is your content falling behind to other awesome posts?

Ask yourself why that’s so.

• How is their content more amazing than yours?
• What does their content have that you lack?

Improving Your Google Rankings with Awesome Evergreen Content

As a content marketer, you want to create content that gains a ton of links and ranks on Google for years.

And you don’t want to spend every minute of your life writing, producing 10 or 20 posts per week.

The secret balance to it all?

Evergreen content.

Evergreen content is content that lasts “forever,” constantly and consistently gaining you coveted links, organic traffic, and a huge and dedicated following.

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Image Credits

All screenshots taken by author, April 2020