If you’re involved with content marketing, blogging, SEO or Internet marketing in any way, you’ve probably heard the term “evergreen content.” While the phrase may bring images of lush forests of green trees to mind, the term has nothing to do with the outdoors.

Instead, evergreen content refers to a certain kind of content. More specifically, evergreen content refers to material that’s carefully crafted to last and remain relevant for an exceptionally long time. Just like evergreen trees retain their leaves year-round, evergreen content is meant to retain its relevancy and increase a website’s traffic over the long-haul, not just in the short-term.

Examples of Evergreen Content

It is impossible to overstate the intentional long-term nature of evergreen content as it relates to online marketing. It’s the content’s very nature that makes it different from every other kind of content on the Internet.

To understand the difference between evergreen content and other kinds of digital content, it’s helpful to look at some common examples of evergreen content. Here are a few of them:

  • Discussion of an Analysis or a Fact: A piece of evergreen content can be created to discuss the results of an analysis or a fact. An article discussing the significant battles of World War II, writing about the analysis of reported UFO abductions or an examination of food additives and their possible effects are examples of potential evergreen topics.
  • Idea: If you have an idea or a unique opinion about a long-discussed topic, it may serve as an appropriate subject for evergreen content. Philosophy, political science or even art history are subject areas that can yield plenty of ideas for discussion in evergreen content.
  • How-To Guides: While there are a lot of how-to topics that are great for evergreen content, not all of them are. Explaining how to install a graphics card in a designated computer is an example of a topic that’s not suitable for evergreen content because the information would probably become outdated pretty quickly. Content that explains how to make the perfect brownies or pie is evergreen because it will never become outdated or irrelevant since people will always have an interest in baking.
  • Industry Resources: If there are established names in your industry that are sure to be around for years to come, you can create industry resources based on them. A list of the top content marketers to follow on Facebook is an example of an industry resource that has the potential to stand the test of time.
  • Glossaries: Do the people in your field use a lot of industry specific jargon that someone outside of your niche might not understand? Creating a glossary that explains what those technical terms mean is one thing you can do to create evergreen content.
  • FAQs: If people tend to ask your business the same questions over and over again, you can make a list of those frequently asked questions and provide answers to them. This kind of content will remain relevant for a long time, making it evergreen.
  • Opinion Pieces: If there are issues in your industry that will be discussed long into the future, you can create evergreen content by writing about them.
  • History Of: Writing about the history of something is another way to create evergreen content. Whether it’s the history of high heeled shoes, the history of baseball or the history of something else, there are plenty of topics that can fall into this category of evergreen content.

What Evergreen Content Isn’t

Just as looking at some examples of topics that can be covered in evergreen content can help you understand what the content is, so can looking over some examples of what evergreen content isn’t. Here are some examples of what evergreen content isn’t:

News Stories

Stories reported in the news typically change from one day to the next. Even if the same story is discussed by media outlets for several days or weeks, interest in the story will wane over time even though it attracted a lot of attention initially. For this reason, articles about current events are not appropriate if your goal is to create evergreen content.

Media Reviews

While some product reviews might make great evergreen content, media reviews generally won’t. Think about a movie review website to understand this better. Unless the movie review site discusses classic films exclusively, much of the site’s content will become outdated relatively quickly as new films are released.

Recent Studies

If you want to create evergreen content, you should be leery about basing your material on recent studies. That’s because recent studies are subject to change, which would make your content outdated and irrelevant as a result.

Technology

Because technology changes so fast these days, you should avoid just about every topic related to technology if your goal is to script evergreen content. If you want to write about technology in an evergreen piece, you should limit your topics to ones that trace something historical, such as the evolution of laptops or the history of Apple.

The Benefits of Evergreen Content

As a function of its very definition, evergreen content has inherent benefits for digital marketing. Evergreen content is long-lasting and relevant, for example. It’s also reliable and stable.

Evergreen content has the potential to establish your brand as an industry authority and thought-leader as well. Evergreen content can be discovered and revisited by viewers for years to come. This means evergreen content has the chance to be shared many times over during the course of its lifetime, which will mean even more people will see your material throughout the years.

Of course, the more your content is read and shared, the better your position in search engine results pages will be. When you add more evergreen content to your website as you move forward, your site’s ranking may improve even further, which can lead to increased traffic and conversions.

Connect with a Content Marketing Expert

If you’re ready to start enjoying the many benefits associated with evergreen content, you should contact our digital agency. Our digital marketing agency provides a suite of content services and we’re able to prepare evergreen content for small and midsize business across industries. Contact GoingClear to learn more now.