Evergreen content gets its moniker from evergreen trees. These trees keep their appearance all year round, from summer to winter. Evergreen content stays relevant in the market it’s written for. It’s reliable and relevant no matter how much time passes.
How do I write evergreen content?
Start with your industry. What questions are people always asking? What results pop into Google when you type in a keyword? Think about the things you’ve learned in business, the questions you’ve asked. How did you find the answers to your problems? Evergreen content provides guidance and information that people can rely on and recommend to their friends. They’ll even revisit it from time to time.
But there is a catch
There are types of evergreen content that you can write and forget, and others that need trimming (like a hedge). Facts and stats are an example of this. Research and scientific findings change year after year. To keep your “authority” status it’s important to adjust what you’ve written to reflect changes in the facts you reference. A blog on history can change overnight when discoveries are made in the field that discredit or add to previous theories.
There are plenty of evergreen formats to choose from
So many to list, only so much page space before you lose interest. Below, we list some popular evergreen formats you may have read or reread from time to time.
- The best — of all time
The best video games, scientific discoveries, biscuit recipes and more. This format needs tending to depending on the niche.
- How to —
Tested, true and found on websites everywhere. People need instructions, how-to guides give them. Adding your own personal experiences and how the how-to guide worked for you makes the list relatable and will encourage readers to try the same.
- What does — mean?
Where complicated words or terms exist people will need to know what they mean. Because these terms don’t change quickly or at all, you can simply write and push “publish” without worrying about it going out of date.
- Things you wish you knew before —
People make mistakes all the time and readers will search for advice before they try the same thing again. Building a guide around how to avoid a mistake, or even fix it, will build trust. Readers might visit your site again if the article helped them with their problem.
- Titles of places, movies and objects
This type of evergreen content is found on iMDB, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes and other authority sites. Because tey have a high trust ranking and lots of traffic, they’re usually in the top five on SERPs. Titles and objects remain relevant no matter how much time passes.
Evergreen content remains relevant and trusted among audiences. People visit them for reliable information, and will revisit them if the advice/statistics/information offered to them helped with their problem. Put yourself into your audience’s shoes; what did you want to know, way back when?
