The Importance of Evergreen Content

 We’ve discussed the importance of content for developing websites and improving SEO. Every company should be creating original content for its website regularly, and that content should be interesting, entertaining, or useful in order to engage their audience and drive sales. Some of that content will be topical based on what is happening at a particular moment in time. It’s always good to produce some evergreen content as well. Why? Because it’s always relevant, can be used over and over, and it also can be repurposed as needed. What is evergreen content, and why is it useful?

What Is Evergreen Content?

Evergreen content is content that is true and relevant when you write (or photograph or video) it. It’s also true and relevant a year or 5 years down the line. It has no expiration date. It’s useful to your audience every day. The great thing about evergreen content is that it will continue to deliver value for your company day in and day out for years, and you only had to produce it once. Your website’s archives can be more important than you think.

From an SEO standpoint, evergreen content is great because users will click through to your site based on a query they type into a search engine. This organic traffic is considered to be the most valuable type of traffic. Companies will set aside significant money to get ad traffic, but a well written evergreen blog post answering a common question is a better allocation of resources. Of course, a good SEO/marketing strategy will utilize both to drive regular traffic to the site.

Some people struggle with coming up with evergreen topics, but it is often a simple matter of determining what questions or interests the audience has and answering them. You can even use topical content as a tie in to creating evergreen content. For instance, writing about a current news story like COVID-19 is topical. It answers questions that your audience might have right now. However, it will no longer be of much value next year. Talking about how COVID-19 has changed your industry, however, would be relevant much longer. That evergreen blog would likely get traffic for months and years into the future.

Of course, even evergreen content occasionally needs updating or tweaking. If the landscape changes or there are new regulations passed, this may render previously evergreen content no longer as valuable. Sometimes a small update or changing minor details will return that piece to being evergreen. Updating keywords or other SEO can also be helpful. It’s worth periodically checking through your website’s archives to see if anything needs a bit of polishing to make it service your website and company again.

You may also find that some of your old blogs or pages turn out to be far more popular than you expected. This reveals the interest of your customers and audience. With this information, you can break out smaller pieces from the original and examine them, make lists or infographics, or rework the same information into a video or a slideshow. This time around you know that this topic is in demand and will draw traffic.

If you would like help brainstorming or creating content for your site based on your audience’s needs and interests, we are here to help. Give us a call, and we will be happy to discuss what we can do to drive more traffic and customers to your website.