Evergreen content is the process of writing content that is effective is continually driving traffic to your website over a long period of time. The content is capable of standing on its own with little or even no updating. Historical content is a good example of evergreen content. Content written about the presidency of Bill Clinton can be relevant for the life of the website.
That is not to say that evergreen content has to be about historical topic or otherwise old stuff. For instance when the 2012 cars go on sale, the information about them will remain very consistent and require very little updating over time.
Other content is evergreen, but due to the nature of the subject it still has a limited lifespan. One such topic could be "How to reformat a Window 95 system." In these types of articles, you will need to incorporate this information into the content of the piece. If you use a url structure such as:
Title: How to Format a Hard Drive – Windows 95
url: example.com/how-to-format-hard-drive-windows-95/
Not only will this allow for keyword specific text that will aid in people finding your content when performing relevant searches, but it will provide a logical structure when new operating systems are releases for subsequent operating systems.
Before you begin writing your evergreen content, make sure that you have done sufficient planning and keyword research to ensure you get the longest life out of your piece. Follow these tips to help produce content that remains useful to your visitors.
- Conduct extensive keyword research.
- Use these keywords in your page, in your post and in the urls.
- Keep your article/content narrowly focused and keyword centric.
- Avoid the use of whimsical or catchy titles. These will almost always drive less traffic
In other cases, content is fairly static but requires occasional updating. Content written about changes to tax laws or investment strategies would fall in to this category as they change every few years.
Evergreen content is a great way to create a steady stream of traffic to your site. It should not be the only tactic you use to writing content, but it can be highly effective. Typically your evergreen content will be of either high value reference/resource material or will be "flagship content."
Flagship (sometime referred to as “cornerstone content”) is content written to make a readers life better, easier or faster. It is something that they search for in Google to find you by or something that directly benefits them. In essence, it is what people need to know to make use of your website and do business with you.
Here are some examples of evergreen content:
- How-to Posts ("How to Install a Ceiling Fan")
- Historical Posts about people, places or things (e.g.: "History of the Taino Peoples")
- Reference Posts (e.g.: "How to Rebuild a 1969 Falcon Futura Carburetor")
- Information Posts (e.g.: "Latest Carry-on Baggage Regulations for Delta Airlines")
Evergreen content is very dependent upon the amount of research that you do to prepare your piece. If done correctly they will continue to grow and produce results for years to come.