How to Get the Most Out of Evergreen Content

All successful content marketing strategies have one thing in common: a focus on creating high-quality, evergreen content.

By creating and promoting evergreen content, your business can ensure a consistent flow of traffic and establish yourself as a leader in your industry. It’s a no-brainer, really.

This guide covers everything you need to know about evergreen content and how you can leverage it effectively in your digital marketing strategy.

What Is Evergreen Content?

To understand what evergreen content is, you don’t have to look much further than its name. Derived from evergreen trees, which retain their leaves year round, the idea behind evergreen content is that it also stays relevant and provides value over a long period of time.

Examples of evergreen content include:

How-to guides and tutorials: Instructional articles that teach readers how to do something in a step-by-step format. For example, a “Beginner’s Guide to Brewing the Perfect Cup of Coffee” is a topic that remains relevant year-round, and would continue to attract coffee aficionados, regardless of the season.
FAQs: Addressing common questions that potential customers might have about your business or industry. For instance, a real estate agency might have an FAQ section on “Frequently Asked Questions From First-Time Home Buyers.”
Listicles: These types of articles are written in a list format, such as “10 Ways to Get Rid of Melasma” or “5 Timeless Pieces for Your Fall Wardrobe.” They tend to be easy reads and cover topics that are always of interest.
Product reviews/comparisons: While product features might change, comparisons of brands or products that have long-term use, such as sales software or the best blenders, can remain relevant for years and aid customers in deciding where to spend their dollars.
Case studies or success stories: A solid case study that walks readers step-by-step through how your product or service improved someone’s life builds credibility and trust in your brand. It also drives traffic long-term.

Evergreen Content vs. Non-Evergreen Content

Both evergreen content and more time-sensitive (or non-evergreen) pieces play an important role in your content marketing strategy.

The key difference between the two is longevity. Non-evergreen content, such as news articles or current trend videos, typically generate short-term traffic spikes, but quickly become outdated. If your goal is to drive a steady flow of traffic over time, evergreen content is the way to go.

A fantastic place to see both of these types of content in action is social media marketing. Your brand’s social media profile might include evergreen content, such as an educational Instagram Live video or podcast episode that establishes you as an expert in your niche. But it might also include short-form video content that utilizes trending sounds and meme styles, which has the potential to reach more new users.

Both are equally important in a well-rounded content strategy.

The Role of Evergreen Content in Content Marketing

When used strategically, evergreen content is one of the best sources of growth for your business.

An initial investment in a quality piece of evergreen content can generate a long-term ROI for your business. This is because it typically requires less frequent revisions and can yield returns for a much longer period, saving you time and resources.

Here are some other ways that evergreen content can enhance your marketing efforts.

Generating Consistent Traffic

Unlike trending content that generates a spike of traffic and then gradually fades away, evergreen content can draw in visitors consistently over months or even years.

Since it stays relevant for longer periods of time, evergreen content provides ongoing SEO value. It can help you rank higher for targeted keywords, drive more organic traffic to your site, and attract new backlinks over time, all of which help improve your search engine rankings.

Establishing Brand Authority

By providing valuable, timeless content, you can position your brand as a knowledgeable and trustworthy source in your industry or niche.

Trust is a vital piece of the puzzle if you want to establish a positive reputation and build a loyal customer base. This is especially important for B2B companies or those in highly competitive markets.

Creating high-quality content for your website also helps build your domain authority — a critical ranking factor for search engines.

Lead Generation and Conversions

Due to its longevity, evergreen content is commonly used in downloadable guides or templates that entice customers to enter their contact information in exchange for access.

Ideally, your lead magnets should address a common problem that your customers have. For example, if you’re a branding agency, you might offer a checklist with “10 Signs That It’s Time for a Brand Refresh.” By downloading this resource, customers automatically qualify themselves as someone in need of your product or service.

You can also repurpose evergreen resources in social media posts or ads to capture even more leads for your business, or include it as a pop-up that visitors will see when they land on your homepage.

Customer Education

One of the best reasons to incorporate evergreen content in your marketing strategy is because it serves as an educational tool that can help potential customers understand your industry or business better.

If you work in marketing, you’re likely familiar with the concept of the marketing funnel. As website visitors move through your funnel on their way to becoming paying customers, they typically conduct research or seek out information on whether your product or service is right for them.

By addressing common questions and problems in an evergreen piece of content, you can align your business closely with what your audience is seeking.

5 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Evergreen Content Creation

Creating evergreen content that drives business growth doesn’t just happen. It involves a strategic approach and an understanding of how to optimize content for SEO to drive consistent organic traffic to your website.

Here are some evergreen strategies you can implement when creating new content.

1. Identify Evergreen Topics

When brainstorming evergreen content ideas, focus on timeless topics that your target audience will deem useful, regardless of the date or season.

To find relevant content topics for your target audience, we recommend conducting keyword research to see what topics people are searching for. An SEO tool like Ahrefs can help you identify keywords with consistent, long-term search volume.

One of our favorite ways to outrank the competition is through competitor keyword research. Take a look at the evergreen content your competitors have published to see what keywords they might be trying to rank for, then identify gaps or areas for improvement to inform your own content creation.

2. Create High-Quality Content That’s Optimized for Search Engines

Armed with your target keywords and competitor research, it’s time to create comprehensive blog posts and guides that cover those topics thoroughly.

High-quality content should be bursting at the seams with value. To be viewed as a credible source in the eyes of search engines, your content should provide all necessary details around a topic and be written in language that your target audience can understand.

In addition to covering your topic in great detail, evergreen content should implement best practices for SEO. This includes optimizing title tags, meta descriptions, headers, and image alt text with target keywords, as well as ensuring fast load speeds and mobile compatibility.

3. Focus on Timeless Information

If you want to extend your evergreen content’s lifespan, it’s best to avoid referencing specific dates or current events that might date your content. Nothing says “outdated” like a reference to a pop culture event that happened years ago.

If you’re stuck on which type of evergreen content to focus on, our advice is to stick to formats like how-to guides, tutorials, and listicles with practical advice or tips. These tend to have lasting relevance, which means your content will rank well for longer time periods and require less updates in the future.

4. Cross-Promote Across Platforms

The best thing about evergreen content is that it can be repurposed again and again.

Promoting evergreen content across different channels not only drives more organic traffic to your website, it also expands your reach and helps you engage new audiences.

Here are a few of our favorite ways to promote evergreen content:

Social media: Make sure to regularly share your top evergreen content on your social media platforms to ensure a steady flow of traffic.
Email marketing: Include your best-performing blog posts in your email campaigns. A strategically placed piece of evergreen content might be exactly what subscribers need if they’re on the cusp of making a purchase.
Influencer outreach: Identifying influencers who share your target demographic is a great way to drive more folks to check out your evergreen content.

5. Update and Refresh Evergreen Content Periodically

We know that evergreen content has a long lifespan. But to truly get the highest ROI from your content, it’s worth reviewing and updating your best pieces periodically.

Refreshing your evergreen content every so often ensures that it remains accurate and relevant to your audience. It also presents an opportunity to add more value by integrating new developments, data, or relevant links to keep the content fresh.

Plus, there’s an SEO benefit to refreshing your content. Updated content is re-crawled and re-indexed by search engines, which can lead to improved rankings and visibility. In other words, it keeps the steady stream of organic traffic coming.

Create Evergreen Content That Captures More Customers

Remember: The key to successful evergreen content lies in its ability to remain relevant and valuable over time. When it comes to creating content that’s highly targeted and truly timeless, you want a partner that understands how to craft great content that’s optimized for search engines.

An SEO-focused agency like Growth Machine can help you figure out what makes your audience tick so that you can get the most out of your evergreen posts.