If you create content on a regular basis—whether it’s posting on social media, writing for your blog, newsletters, YouTube, podcast episodes… you name it—I would strongly urge you to master the art of evergreen content. Why? Because evergreen content will transform your ability to reach more people for a longer period of time.
But, wait—let’s back it up for a quick sec. What IS evergreen content, and how can you make sure you’re prioritizing it? I’ll walk through everything you need to know!
What Is Evergreen Content And Why Is It Important?
First, you might be wondering what the heck “evergreen content” even is. To put it simply, it’s search engine-optimized content that can live on and provide value for a long time. It doesn’t reference time (i.e., “In last week’s post…”) or current events (i.e., “Because it’s an election year…”), and ideally, it offers your audience value no matter when they come across it.
But why is this important? So many content creators get stuck in a trap of creating based on what’s happening around them: their life experiences, things happening in culture and society, big events, or on-trend topics that may not be talked about in a few months or a year. My general advice is that it’s OKAY to create content around these things, about 20% of the time. After all, talking about life and current events connects us to one another.
But the rest of your content? Focus on making it evergreen, because that’s what stands the test of time. People will always be Googling certain forever-relevant questions and curiosities, but they’ll probably only be interested in your grocery haul or summer bucket list for a week or two.
If you have content people come to rely on as timeless and valuable, it’ll reap a few major benefits for your brand or business:
- Driving traffic to your website/platforms continually
- Improving your search engine rankings
- Positioning you as a thought leader in your industry
- Building trust and converting fans/followers into buyers
The Best Tips To Nail Evergreen Content
Once you start thinking in terms of prioritizing evergreen content, it becomes easy to curate content that stands the test of time. Here are a few ways to get started:
1. Use Easy Evergreen Formats
Certain topics will be searched again and again and again—for (probably) ever. Some of the most searched and highly read pieces of content? Blog posts and articles that give you tangible, simplified steps to doing something that are laid out in an easy-to-consume way. Things like:
- “How to” blog posts
- Listicles (yep that’s a thing) that walk readers through steps, advice, or ideas
- Tips/advice articles
- Reviews of products or services (these are some of the highest searched pieces of content)
- Videos (did you know Google often prioritizes video?)
- Frequently asked questions in your industry
- Breaking down & simply explaining commonly confusing concepts
2. Choose SEO-Friendly Keywords And Phrases
For any content you’re publishing online, you want to pick at least 1 or 2 keywords or phrases that are search engine optimized (aka, highly searched). Weave those words naturally into your content (including the title, subheads, body copy, URL, meta description, and image alt text) so that your content ranks higher as people search those terms.
Not sure what words and phrases are commonly used in your industry? Do a little digging by Googling “SEO keywords for [your business or field].” You can also start typing words associated with your business into the Google and Pinterest search bars to see what auto-populates in the dropdown menu. Those phrases that pop up are the most commonly searched. (Side note: Did you know Pinterest is a search engine and not just a social media platform?! It’s a fabulous place to get market information for so many online businesses especially.)
Create a keyword bank to work from when creating content so that you are consistently plugging in highly searched terms, making your evergreen content even stronger.
3. Write At A Fifth Grade Level
I know, I know—this one hurts a little to tell you, but it’s true… Writing at a lower level is the key to boosting your website traffic. Sounds weird, but Google doesn’t like long sentences or too complicated of topics. Even if you ARE writing about a complicated topic, break it down to the simplest level possible. (Another reason lists and step-by-step articles are so amazing!)
The reason is that if people are landing on your blog post but it’s too complicated or challenging to read, they’ll click away way sooner than if it was formatted in a nicely broken down way and written simply. Search engines punish websites that don’t have lengthy enough visitor times by pushing down that website’s ranking—and therefore hurting your evergreen potential.
So, be sure to write in a way that invites readers to, well, read what you have to say! Say it with me: Short sentences, short paragraphs, simplified verbiage, and lists are your FRIEND. Get used to ‘em!
4. Don’t Post And Ghost
Creating evergreen content that makes search engines happy is only the first step to truly harnessing the power of this content. Don’t just hit publish and walk away, hoping your keywords and formatting will do all the SEO heavy lifting.
Create a system that allows you to point back to your evergreen content again and again as resources in your business by doing things like:
- Plug and repurpose your evergreen content in social posts
- Create resource round-up lists that link back to older evergreen content
- Have an FAQ page or resource page on your website that links to your most popular evergreen content
- Re-share posts whenever relevant
- Run Facebook ads to popular posts
- Create fresh pins that point to your top posts
I have a sneaking feeling you’ll be an evergreen pro in no time—and your website traffic and brand reach will get to cash in on all your work. It may not feel totally natural at first, but by focusing on evergreen content 80% of the time, you’ll be setting yourself up for years of healthy engagement and booming traffic. And that’s priceless.
