At a time when news lasts only seconds before becoming outdated, how do you write durable, long-lasting content?
Most content tied to a product launch, an annual trend, a specific report or the latest innovation can quickly become obsolete.
That's the whole point of evergreen content: be timeless and nonperishable content. Let's see how you can write evergreen content that lasts forever!
Understanding the concept of evergreen content
Let's start by clearly understanding the particularity of evergreen content. Literally, we would call it the content "always green."
This trend is taking root more and more at the heart of web newsrooms. One might have thought it was a more ecological way of writing, like the Ecosia search engine.
That is not the case. This green notion symbolizes having continuously fresh and new content. Having such content on your blog or site allows you to offer timeless and popular pieces.
1. Identify the right type of content
Before writing your content, choose your topic carefully. Using your analytics tool, study traffic curves, visits, reading time, comments or ratings of your blog posts. This will allow you to identify two types of topics:
- Popular topics
These are the topics your readers have a particular appetite for.
The most-read or highest-rated articles, for example, as well as older articles that still generate a significant number of visits.
- Topics of lasting interest
Also isolate articles or themes that attract a constant interest consistent and regular.
Next, determine the common theme across all this content.
It can be the subject, but also the way you worded your headline (a question, a tutorial), or your editorial style (a checklist, a step-by-step guide, an opinion piece).
Then you have every way to write evergreen content. Find a variant of the most popular theme and related article ideas.
For example, for an article on: how to start freelancing?
You can expand into:
- The 5 key steps to becoming a freelancer
- How to find clients as a freelancer?
- What if you took the leap to become independent
- Leaving a permanent contract to become a freelancer
- etc.
Although the core of your article is the same, try to create new content so you don’t risk a Google red card for duplicate content issues and bore your readers.
2. Find topics that are not "evergreen" that you can update
You can do this by focusing on topics you can update:
- Look for topics related to evergreen content. For example, if your company hosts an annual conference and publishes the agenda, you can create a "conference" category and populate it with posts about speakers, opening remarks and other activities.
- Look for topics related to search engine optimization. Content that isn’t deeply technical can still provide value to readers — and rank well in search engines — by answering basic questions related to a highly searched keyword or phrase.
For example, if you create content about marketing automation software, instead of writing an article focused solely on the email automation process, look for ways to approach the topic by answering a question like "How does marketing automation work?" - Look for topics related to website traffic. You may see visitors arriving from certain search queries month after month (or year after year). It will be easier for your team to maintain scalable content if it’s relevant today and in the future (that is, if the topic generates ongoing interest).
This is especially true when you undergo mergers or acquisitions, change your business model or communication strategy, or expand into new regions or industries — whatever changes occur in your organization.
Besides being more likely to keep your site relevant over time without major updates every few months or years, creating higher-quality answers will also lead to increased traffic volume.
3. Offer sustainable solutions to your clients
An inexhaustible source of evergreen content also lies in the problems your customers encounter.
Use comments on your articles, contact emails you've received, or ask them directly via a survey on social media.
The more you can identify the “pain points” universal ones they face, the better able you'll be to write precise, useful content that will have a much longer lifespan than usual.
Also aim for the long tail with specific themes where you can attract a qualified audience.
4. Find inspiration on social media
Look trends outside your site to see which articles perform best; to do this:
- Monitor competitor or related sites. What are their best articles on this topic?
- Look at the types of posts that perform best on social media using a tool like Buzzsumo, for example.
- Finally, analyze the search volumes for your primary keyword using Google Trends.
5. Choose the right format compatible with evergreen content
Several formats are possible for writing evergreen content:
- Blog posts;
- Guides;
- Tutorials;
- White papers;
- Lists of tools.
They provide real added value.
In terms of length, evergreen content is no exception to the size of a typical article:
- Either you want to cover a brief or very specific topic with a concise list. The ideal format is under 500 words.
- Otherwise, we recommend writing at least 800 words or more to cover your topic in detail and attract returning readers.
6. Write in a timeless way
Writing style is also essential to make your content last over time.
Do not refer to news events, talk about long periods and do not mention precise time markers such as:
- this year;
- yesterday;
- last month.
If you want a text that is both interesting and pleasant to read, you can entrust the writing to our teams. Together, we will be able to create content tailored to your needs and those of your readers.
7. Consider SEO when writing your article.
When you spend time writing an excellent article, you want people to read it. But in the vast world of the internet, how will they find it? That’s where search engine optimization comes in; optimizing for search engines generates traffic to your article. Take a few extra minutes to apply these strategies that will improve your SEO and help readers find your evergreen content!
- Make sure to use a keyword planner to identify keywords that are relevant to your topic.
- Use the keyword in your article title and in the first paragraph. The keyword should be used throughout the body of the article, but be careful not to overuse it so your article still reads naturally.
- Use keywords in the subheadings of your main sections.
- Make sure to reuse the keyword in the final paragraph of your article.
8. Create a list of timeless keywords.
When we use search engines like Google to look for information, we type certain words and phrases into the search bar. Of course, you’ve probably done that your whole life. You may think of yourself as just someone looking for information online, but in reality you are a keyword researcher! If you know which keywords people use, you can then write articles that will remain relevant in the future.
A keyword is a word or phrase that people type into their search engine when they are looking for information. Think about how you would ask the Internet for information about evergreen content. You might type “what is evergreen content?” or “how can I write evergreen content?”. Those are keywords!
Now that you know what a keyword is, it’s time to do some research on your topic to find the most popular and relevant keywords for your article.
9. Check broken links and fix them as soon as possible.
Whether you check the links in your content yourself or are notified of broken links by other websites linking to you, fixing broken links is extremely important for your site’s usability and performance.
Broken links on your own website can cause problems for users, who may click a link and be taken to an error page. This will not only frustrate readers but also increase your site's bounce rate (when someone leaves after viewing only one page).
Moreover, broken links can prevent search engines from finding the page they're looking for. If there are too many broken links on a page, it can discourage search engines from crawling that page or even your entire website.
10. Ensure the information in your articles is not outdated.
When you write posts for your blog, it's important to make sure the information they contain is up to date. If you have an article on a specific topic and the information it contains becomes outdated, your readers won't be able to find what they need.
If your article covers a subject that is constantly evolving, such as technology or trends, you may not be able to keep all your posts up to date. Instead of updating every article on your site, review them individually and make sure they're still relevant before publishing them.
It's also important to remember that some content remains relevant forever. For example, if you write an article on how to start a business, it will always be useful to anyone who wants to start their own company.
Be sure to check your list of posts every month, or at least every quarter. It's easy to forget old content, but it's extremely important to make sure the information in your articles is not out of date.
Our tip for creating evergreen content
Updating evergreen content is one of the easiest ways to increase page views and can help you retain more readers in the long term.
Keeping your evergreen content up to date means it will be relevant to both new readers and returning ones.
Updating evergreen content is one of the easiest ways to increase page views, and can help you retain more readers in the long term.
Regarding evergreen content, a good rule of thumb is that if your topic is complex or nuanced, it's probably worth reviewing every two years to see if there is new information.
One solution to ensure you can produce quality content over the long term is to use a specialized writing platform such as Redacteur.com.
