“Emma,” I can hear you say, “trying to keep on top of my website’s SEO is driving me nuts. Isn’t there a quick-fix for keeping my website’s rankings up?”
The short answer? No.
The long answer? No… but switching your website’s focus to evergreen content will put your website in much better shape than if your primary content focus is flash deals, seasonal highlights, and one-off announcements.
If you’re scratching your head at what I mean by “evergreen content” and how to make it relevant for your website, don’t stress; today’s blog is a dedicated all-you-need-to-know overview of evergreen content. (And why it is a non-negotiable for your website!)
“So What is Evergreen Content?”
When explaining evergreen content to a potential client, my favourite analogy (and a popular one in the digital marketing community!) is an evergreen tree. You know how they stay lush and green year after year, regardless of the season? That’s exactly what you want the bulk of your website’s content to be.
Classified as “content that has long-term value”, evergreen content is content that:
- Needs minimal (or no!) updates to stay accurate and relevant
- Is in-depth and longer than the average blog post, surpassing the recommended minimum of 500 words
- Provides either information about your brand or cements your brand as an industry leader of a relevant subject
- Acts as “link bait” due to informational value, which encourages other websites to link to yours (and in turn bumps up your backlink amount!)
- Is easily repurposed for social media or email marketing content
- Encourages your website visitors to stay longer, which improves vital SEO factors such as the average time spent on a page, bounce rates, and the number of pages visited before departure
“What Are Some Examples of Evergreen Content?”
Some great examples of evergreen content include:
- Checklists
- FAQs (like my “Meet the Wee Writer” FAQs session!)
- Biographies
- Case studies
- Tutorials
- Meet-the-founders
- Product reviews
- Common mistakes in your industry
- Resource lists
- The history of your brand
- Industry-related glossaries
In fact, this blog itself is an example of evergreen content!
“Is Evergreen Content Really That Impactful When it Comes to My Website’s SEO?”
Absolutely! As mentioned above, evergreen content positively impacts your website’s SEO by:
- Encouraging high-quality backlinks, which are an important ranking factor
- Promoting longer website visitation and decreasing visitor bounce rates
- Generating leads year after year vs. seasonal or flash-in-the-pan content, which generate leads for only a short amount of time (such as blogs centering around an upcoming one-time special)
- Establishing thought leadership in your industry and bolstering your brand’s credibility in the digital sphere
- Being easily keyword-rich and industry-relevant
“Emma, I Still Don’t Feel Like My Site Needs Evergreen Content. I—”
Let me stop you there. There are two kinds of business owners or entrepreneurs that I hear say this. You’re either:
- Not focusing on SEO at all due to a lack of time and/or budget (understandably! The day-to-day grind is difficult enough without labouring over website’s SEO)
Or…
- Are cranking out blogs week after week, month after month in an attempt to stay afloat of your existing rankings
I’ll tell you this: whichever camp you fall into, you’re leaving serious money (and visibility) on the table.
Although evergreen content is a must-have for your website due to its SEO-related benefits, the selling point for most business owners and entrepreneurs is this: having evergreen content on your website makes it so you don’t have to work as hard on your website’s SEO.
That’s right. I’m giving you an out from having to tiredly scramble for blog topics on a weekly basis. As listed above, evergreen content, in comparison to trending content, rakes in the leads long after its publication due to not expiring easily… meaning that, rather than pushing out trending blogs weekly, your effort would be much better spent curating one keyword-rich evergreen content-oriented blog per month. The result? More leads with less effort! (Which, less face it, is what we’re all looking for in a content marketing strategy.)
“Do You Have a Case Study About the Benefits of This Kind of Content Marketing?”
You bet! While working with Sidney-based spa coaching company Kirsten Foss Coaching in a dual blog writing and social media marketing role, we had a client come to us in late 2019 looking to have us take over her blogs.
The client had been signed on for nearly a year at that point as a social media marketing client and was absolutely fantastic: she had pages upon pages of industry-specific content; case studies stacked upon case studies detailing her business’s success in their niche; a blog for every special and seasonal discount… and yet, while she had secured local geographical rankings through sheer volume of content alone, she A) wasn’t ranking for her preferred keywords and B) was having to extend her already crammed work week to push out one-to-two blogs a week.
Why? Two key reasons. She:
- Was neglecting key SEO inclusions such as internal links, outbound links, and long-tail keywords
- Was focusing almost exclusively on trending content
So what did we do? We took her gruelling blog schedule off her plate and, by early 2020, had already succeeded in:
- Improving her website’s bounce rate by 59%
- Bolstering her website’s traffic by 5%
- Increasing her ranked keywords by 10%
How? By switching to one keyword-rich, niche-specific evergreen blog per month.
Did it come as a surprise to her? It did, but it shouldn’t have! In fact, her top-ranked blog before outsourcing her website content was one from 2016 that was chock-full of evergreen content.
The bottom line: evergreen content works hard so you don’t have to!
“Alright, You’ve Sold Me on Evergreen Content. How Do I Make Sure Mine is Successful?”
Ensuring that your evergreen content is a success boils down mainly to ensuring that you’re following proper SEO procedures. These include:
- Making sure your website is optimized for mobile usage
- Having a meta description
- Including image alt text for all accompanying visuals
- Diversifying your topic tags (no overlaps!)
- Linking internally to other pages of your website when appropriate
- Focusing on well-researched long-tail keywords that match your target market’s search intent
“Emma,” you may be saying, “I’m far from SEO-savvy. Do you have any beginner-friendly tips that preferably aren’t explained with jargon?” For you, I’d strongly recommend:
- Ensuring that your evergreen content blogs are a minimum of 700 words, as, in 2020, that is the agreed-upon minimum word count for most SEO purposes (although this is always shifting alongside Google’s algorithms! Check here for what top SEO leaders say is the ideal blog length)
- Adding a clear call-to-action at the end of your blog content to ensure that you’re making the best out of the leads you’ve captured
- Add images to decrease bounce rates; the less bland a page looks, the better!
- Take tone and jargon into account when writing for your target audience
Sound Like a Lot? If You’re Short on Time or Experience, It Can Be; Visit My Content Writing Page Today to Learn Why Business Owners and Entrepreneurs Just Like You Have Chosen to Outsource Their Content Marketing to Me
Have any questions or comments about utilizing evergreen content in your content marketing? Reach out today!