The what, why and how of evergreen content

They say once it’s on the internet, it’s there forever. In theory, content published online lives on. It stays there for as long as it’s not deliberately taken down. But just because an article or blog post has preserved its existence on the web doesn’t make it evergreen.

In this post, we’ll go into details of what evergreen content is and how you can leverage it to bring traffic to your site for several months after it’s published. In fact, the best evergreen content can even attract audiences years into the future.

“Evergreen” explained

The concept stems from evergreen trees, which retain their leaves season after season. Think pine and spruce trees. While they are often associated with winter holidays, they are indeed part of the evergreen family.

Just like these trees that keep their foliage year-round, evergreen content does not lose its significance. In marketing terms, we define it as content that stays useful and relevant way past its publication date. Thanks to its much longer shelf life, it will continue to contribute value over time.

Creating evergreen content is a winning strategy if you want to attract readers and viewers based on specific inquiries. Say your business offers hybrid cars. You can create an infographic on “The benefits of hybrid cars” or a blog post on “What you need to know before buying a hybrid car”. You can also shoot a video titled “Putting five hybrid cars to the test.” Content like these will be searched for time and time again.

Audit existing content

Before you get down to composing that piece, look into what’s already in your content marketing arsenal. If you lack inspiration, you might find that it’s just under your nose the entire time. Yes, browsing through old content might take awhile but it could potentially save you hours of research. Trust us, you’ll be surprised to discover some oldies but goodies in there.

Now where to begin? Your own site is always a good place to start. Look at the pages you have and see if anything needs to be updated—be it on the factual end or keyword-wise. Carefully look through if a page or a section of a page needs to be unpublished as well. Also keep on eye on content that could be repurposed, which we’ll get to later.

Single out top performers

Highlight your best performing content and focus on either updating it or replicating its format. This tactic will no doubt boost your metrics. Choose an appropriate time period and single out which content had the highest engagement, greatest reach, most number of shares and so on.

Once you analyze how your content performed, you’ll have a better idea of the content your audience loves and in turn, what to provide them so they keep coming back.

Going down the journey of reassessing what you have, you will of course encounter bad content. Now it doesn’t necessarily mean that the quality is subpar, it could just be that it didn’t work at all. It failed to resonate with your audience.

Was it published at the wrong time? Was it not helpful, inspiring or educational enough? The answer to these questions should help you determine whether you should remove it, or spend time trying to improve it.

Repurpose old content

Speaking of highly popular content, you know that the exact same story can be told in a hundred different ways? If you have content that really hit it out of the park, find ways to deliver it in another format. This is what repurposing is all about—taking what’s already a hit and flipping it into something new and exciting. And again, you don’t have to start from scratch.

Indeed, content can always go beyond the blog. Turn straightforward articles into webinars, ebooks, video tutorials, templates…the list goes on. A fantastic way to add substance and clout is to partner with influencers and have them chime in. Turn to your customers or even your own employees to share their two cents as well.

When it comes to repurposing, understanding the kind of content suited to the social media platform you’re using is half the battle. For instance, video posts reign supreme on Facebook, infographics are well-loved on Pinterest, and hacks are all the rage in TikTok. Gaining knowledge in this area will help you continually drive traffic and increase the engagement of your content.

Get your topics right

This is not talked about so often but major holidays around the world can be used to your advantage. Now you might be wondering, how can content that is seasonal be turned into something evergreen?

Consider gift guides during Christmas. Be it a budget-friendly list of stocking stuffers or a comprehensive showcase of premium presents, there is no shortage of content. And outside of the holidays? There are plenty of other gifts that people can shop for. Just tweak the headline (and double-check the items’ availability) to tailor the content for birthdays, graduations, housewarmings, weddings and the like.

Another example would be a lifestyle roundup—a list of the most romantic restaurants, for instance. Sure, searches will spike up in February for Valentine’s but there are so many other occasions that could call for a fancy dinner. It could be an anniversary, a proposal or a birthday celebration. Google Trends is a great tool to check if a topic’s search volume is consistent throughout the year.

Refresh your keywords

Now that we’ve identified evergreen content as one that can be reused, recycled and repurposed, let’s highlight the role that keywords play. How important is it to rethink your keyword strategy? The answer: Very. You absolutely need to factor in keywords when updating evergreen content.

Imagine your top-performing blog post of all time soaring even further up the SERPS (search engine results pages) by just a keyword update. To get search terms with the most relevance and volume, turn to Google Ads Keyword Planner. This is by the far the easiest trick to freshen up your content and optimize it for SEO.

Update, not duplicate

Okay, so now you’re thinking “All right, I’ve updated all my keywords. Time to publish!” No, it’s not. Whatever you do, don’t duplicate what seems to be evergreen articles and blog posts from several years ago and call it a day. In case you didn’t know, Google is not the biggest fan of duplicate content. If you’re not careful, your rankings will take a dip.

Focus on quality above all else. As mentioned earlier, your archive is a great place to start scouring for evergreen content. All you need to do is to look at them with fresh eyes and come up with ways to repurpose. Once you’ve adopted the evergreen strategy approach, you’ll find that there are endless topics to write about.

But hey, we’re only human. If you’re having a hard time coming up with ideas for your next piece, don’t worry. Find inspiration at any time of the year with our Content idea template.