Ways to Increase the Longevity of Your Evergreen Content

Let’s consider your blog page your closet. Some blog posts, while helpful at their publishing, lose relevancy (and value) over time. These blogs are the closet equivalent of purple velvet bell-bottoms. On the other hand, some content is like the little black dress that always seems to stay in style.  

Evergreen content is that little black dress. It is always in season, and always in style. Great evergreen content can stand the test of time and be a constant source of website traffic and engagement no matter how many years pass.  

Everybody wants to leave a legacy, and companies are no different. So, how do we create content that will be a valuable source of website engagement for years to come?  

Download our checklist of 30+ ways to promote content here.

What is Evergreen Content?  

Evergreen content is:  

• Content that covers topics that are always relevant  
• High-quality content that offers value through information  
• A piece of content on your site that generates consistent content and engagement  

What are some examples of evergreen content?  

Just because true evergreen content can be hard to produce doesn’t there’s a barrier on who can produce it. It doesn’t even have to be relevant to a large group of people – just the ones you care about. Here are some examples of great evergreen content of different mediums and different industries:  

10 most common Embroidery Stitches  

Which Yosemite Mountain Should You Hike: Clouds Rest or Half Dome  

How to propagate a fiddle leaf fig  

How to increase the longevity of evergreen content  

Make sure the topic is truly “evergreen”  

If you hope to create evergreen content, but talk about content with an expiration date, you’ll eventually see traffic drop off or slow to a stop. The key to creating evergreen content is choosing a topic and information that will always be helpful, relevant, and up to date.   

Let’s say you’re in the skincare business. A blog on the “Best Products for Your Skin Type” is great, but wouldn’t be considered true evergreen content because the best products change all of the time. But a blog on “5 Reasons Why You Should Wear SPF Every Day” or “5 Steps to Make Your Skincare Products Last” probably won’t change much over the years.   

Answer a question or solve a problem  

The only evergreen content that will take off is content that is well planned, produced, or written. Whether that’s a long-form look at a topic, a detailed tutorial, or just a question answered simply, clearly, and concisely, ensuring that your content adds value to your audience is the difference between no engagement and engagement for years.   

Not every question needs the same amount of content as the next – for a question like “common salutations in Spanish” may not require many words. But a topic like “how to prepare for the LSAT” may need some serious explanation.  

Create alternate versions of content to link to the original  

If you have a very successful piece of evergreen content, it can be worth your time to recreate it over different mediums. Consider creating an in-depth video covering the topic for YouTube and web pages, short, friendly videos for social media, infographics to circulate, in-depth downloadable – the only limit is your imagination. Creating alternate versions of content you already know your followers want can increase the reach of your message and cater to people who have preferred ways of digesting content.   

Update with new info, take out the old  

Sometimes, even if the topic of the content is evergreen, the information is not. Identify the pieces of content that need to be revamped.   

Here are some examples of information that may need updating:  

• Mentioned statistics or data  
• Linked articles  
• Current trends  
• Images  
• Newest strategies  
• Industry examples  

Update page design  

Even if you have a great piece of evergreen content, where the information is all up to date, it’s important to also update the style of the content. Some people may disregard your content as outdated solely based on the web page design – so make sure your page design stays as fresh as the content. This can be as simple as adding new current images or updating the formatting of the text – in many cases simple changes make can make older content look refreshed and new!  

Tweak titles  

As your business grows, so may your strategy. Over time, it’s common for new keyword focuses, terms, slang, and buzzwords to crop up. That means the keywords you use in your evergreen content may change, so you not only offer more up-to-date content but also increase the searchability of your content.   

For example, if you have an old blog tutorial on setting up Google Ads, you may have to have updated the terminology from Adwords to Google Ads. If people pull up a tutorial now that uses “Adwords” in the title, they’ll know it isn’t fresh content (and Google will too).  

Update links and Check for breaks  

Not all websites live forever. Make sure you aren’t linking to any dead ones! It’s important to check your priority content regularly to make sure all of the links you highlight are also still relevant, functional, and the current best linking option. With older evergreen content, it’s not uncommon to find 404s or outdated content through links.   

The time and energy that goes into creating a truly unique and fantastic content experience will often come back to benefit you ten-fold. Ready to amp up your interactive content strategy? Reach out to our team!