Your Guide to Evergreen Content: Building a Successful Evergreen Content Strategy

We all have that one piece of content in our library, that one we published years ago that still drives traffic to our website. Each quarter when we present our top performing content to the top brass, there it is. It has lasting relevance, is ranking for a hundred keywords, and continues to provide value to our audience. It’s our evergreen content.

What is evergreen content?

Evergreen content is content that, due to its timeless message or longstanding relevance, will continue to provide value to our audiences and drive traffic to our website even as time passes. Like the majestic conifer, evergreen content doesn’t lose its leaves or its value. It stays fresh, green, for a very long time.

Evergreen Content and SEO

Creating evergreen content can have a meaningful impact on your SEO strategy. Evergreen content requires less updating than timely content, and can rank well for high-volume keywords. In addition, the longer a piece of content maintains relevance, the more opportunity it has to climb the SERPs. That means your evergreen pieces of content have huge potential to rank on search engines and drive organic traffic to your site.

Marketers looking to drive organic traffic to their website should employ an evergreen content strategy smartly, with specific keywordKeyword
A keyword is what users write into a search engine when they want to find something specific.
Learn more targets and rich, well-researched content. After all, if this content is sticking around for a long time, it needs to be as strong as possible.

Identifying Evergreen Content Opportunities

When looking for opportunities to write evergreen content, research is essential. Keyword research can help you identify opportunities where your content could stand out in the SERP. Take a minute to think about which evergreen topics you or your business could speak to. Then plug a few of them into an SEO technology like Conductor's SEO Platform to find keywords you could target. What should you look for in a keyword? Start by looking for keywords that have a high monthly search volumeSearch Volume
Search volume refers to the number of search queries for a specific keyword in search engines such as Google.
Learn more. Evergreen pieces of content are usually informative and exhaustive, and should target a keyword with lots of demand around it. You’ll get the best ROI on your efforts if you target high-volume, head keyword opportunities with your evergreen content.

Curious about how to find the ROI of your SEO efforts? Learn how in our report from Forrester.

Depending on your plans for your piece of content, you may also want to avoid targeting any keywords with dates in them. While evergreen content can rank for keywords with dates in them, think of the upkeep. You would have to consistently go back and update the on-page information to refresh it.

Lastly, you’ll want to research the SERP for your keyword target. This will give you an idea the other types of content that already exist around your topic, and help you identify your competitionCompetition
Businesses generally know who their competitors are on the open market. But are they the same companies you need to fight to get the best placement for your website? Not necessarily!
Learn more.

Once you have your keyword, you can start the content creation process. If you decide to include dates and numbers into your evergreen content, make a note to revisit them regularly to update the content and keep it current. The piece can still accrue traffic and provide value for years to come, but only if is up to date with the newest, most relevant information.

If you don’t have access to SEO technology, or are struggling with keyword research, reach out to other people in your organization. Your customer service representatives have a wealth of information about which questions your customers frequently ask. Your sales team knows which problems your prospects or potential customers are dealing with when deciding between your product and your competitors. Use them as a resource to come up with content ideas that your audience will find valuable.

How to Write Evergreen Content

While you’ll want to create evergreen content that is specific to your industry and audience, here are a few tips to get you started when creating your content.

• Write how-to content.
  How-to content is great evergreen content. For example, how to do laundry, how to curl your hair, how to fix a broken shoe, would all make for great early-stage evergreen content. However, be wary as you choose your topic. You may need to return to your content and update it as new tactics come out. For example, an article on “how to restart your iPhone,” might need to be updated as new models and new information are released.
• Address foundational industry concepts.
  There are likely a plethora of industry concepts you can speak to or terms you can define for your audience. That’s a great place to start. You’re the expert on your field and your industry, so take this opportunity to educate your audience with your evergreen content.
• Answer questions your customers or audience frequently ask.
  Take a look at the questions your customers ask consistently. Any content you produce around questions your customers often ask will continue to be valuable as time passes.
• Go back to your value props. If you boil down your product or service to the essentials, what is the basic value proposition behind what you offer? If you strip away all the excess information and speak to your value propositions, you’ll have the best chance of creating content that is relevant to you or your business for years to come. Features and products come and go. But the very core of your business is the value proposition behind your existence. Start there.

The ROI of Evergreen Content

Simply put, the potential ROI of evergreen content is exceptionally high. When done right, evergreen content can drive hoards of traffic to your website for years to come. With a strong keyword strategy, the right topic selection, and a rich, well-researched and informative piece of content, you could be well on your way to evergreen content success.

Remember, while evergreen content can last forever, SEO rankingsRankings
Rankings in SEO refers to a website’s position in the search engine results page.
Learn more don’t. Keep in mind as you’re creating and publishing your evergreen content, that even though your content has the potential to last forever, rankings change frequently. If you are able to get your evergreen content in a featured snippet or answer box, make sure you’re tracking important keywords for it and monitoring your rankings.

After all, even if what you’ve written is still as true as the day you wrote it, the way people search for it changes with time. If you revisit your evergreen content and update it based on any changes you see in its rankings, you’ll see the best ROI for your efforts.

Looking to start creating evergreen content? We have the keyword research tool you need.