We’ve all heard the phrase “content is king” when it comes to search engine optimization and connecting with your customers. However, that doesn’t mean that just any content is going to be acceptable for driving engagement, increasing user retention, and connecting with new customers. In fact, the type of content that you create has a huge impact on how successful your SEO strategy is or isn’t.
When it comes to effective content creation, you’re going to want to stick to a type of content known as “evergreen” content. No, that doesn’t mean content about firs and pine trees. What it actually means is content that is sustainable and which continues to be relevant well past the date it was published. Let’s take a deeper look into what this means and why it’s important for your business.
Common Types of Evergreen Content
What sets a piece of content apart as being evergreen or not is really the topic. It should be something that will continue to be relevant and to answer customer questions for years past the date that the content is published. You’ll want to stick to questions and answers that you’d find on an FAQ or that are integral to the overarching theme of the topic.
Aside from the content, the format of your evergreen content should also be considered to help you create lasting, engaging content. Several structures that work well for creating this type of content include lists, tips, how-to tutorials, product reviews, and informational fact-based entries. While these formats aren’t automatically evergreen, they can help set the foundation for content that continues to be searched for in future years.
Content That Isn’t Evergreen
Part of understanding what evergreen content is means understanding what it’s not. Evergreen content shouldn’t have an expiration date, which means that news articles or reports based on statistics that could change simply won’t be evergreen. Those pieces will lose gumption over time and cease to drive traffic to your site.
Another type of content that you’ll want to avoid in an evergreen content strategy are pieces centered around trends or seasonality. Since trends don’t last and holidays come and go, these pieces may be relevant in the present moment but they’ll quickly cease to drive traffic six months down the road. When developing evergreen content it’s important to consider what topics will still be relevant in a few month’s time, even if it seems like you could achieve a big win with an immediate, seasonal blog.
What Evergreen Content Means For Your Business
So what exactly is the deal with evergreen content? Why is it so important? Well, the secret is that evergreen content is content that will continuously and steadily drive traffic to your website over time. The best blog posts are those that are still going strong years from the time they were first published. In contrast, pieces that aren’t relevant anymore won’t continue to show up for users on search results and will essentially be useless in the long run.
Creating an evergreen content strategy can help you to drive customers to your site both in the present and in the future. And in fact, the better your article is, the more it will pick up steam and become a powerful addition to your site in later years.
