Evergreen content is an SEO term that refers to content that never gets old. Just like evergreen trees never lose their leaves and stay green all year, Evergreen content does not lose its relevance or usefulness. From a SEO (search engine optimization) standpoint, Evergreen content is incredibly valuable. That’s because Evergreen content really has no expiration date. It will continue to be useful (and searched for!) over the long term.
Posts about the latest trends, news stories or current events will not be relevant months or even weeks later. But there are lots of other kinds of posts that will continue to be relevant (and searchable!) for a long time. Think DIY instructions/tutorials, reviews, and tips or guidelines. So while a hair salon might have lots of posts about current trends in hairstyling or specials on highlights or colouring, they should also have some Evergreen content such as articles about how to choose a hairstyle for your wedding or how to avoid hair disasters with boxed hair colour.
Creating Evergreen Content
The easiest way to start creating Evergreen content is to think about the kinds of questions your customers ask. The questions your customers ask are the same ones they’re searching for in Google. If you’re a plumber, add articles about how to fix a leaky toilet or where to find the water shutoff valve in your house. If you sell shoes, you could write about how to make sure your shoes fit properly, what to do if you have different sized feet, or how to wash running shoes.
The next step with writing your Evergreen content is to include relevant searchable keywords. SEO is important to get your content in front of your audience when they go searching for it, so choose your words carefully because they will be how you’re found. Think about the problem they’re describing (ie. “my tap is dripping”) as well as the solution (ie. faucet washer replacement). The more people are able to find your content the more easily they can share and like it making it last longer.
A few final tips for writing awesome content:
- Write for your audience – most people searching online don’t know how to do what they are looking for, so use words that a newbie can understand, no jargon. Your customer might not know that their old door lock with buttons is actually called a mortise lock, so make sure you include descriptions they might actually use.
- Stick to one topic per post – nowadays people want information in small chunks. If you feel like you need to write more than that perhaps you can turn it into more than one post.
- Link them – if posts are related then make it easy for your audience to get to the other posts by linking them together.
- Revisit – Don’t just post your Evergreen content and then forget about it. Revisit it from time to time and make sure the information is still relevant. Update the pictures if you want a fresh look. Including the content in a newsletter can be a great way to make use of content you already have. Repost your older content on social media and include new hashtags #worksmarternotharder.
Evergreen content is a valuable asset to your marketing strategy. It isn’t the only type of content to include in your strategy but it is an important type of content, and one that provides big return on your time investment.