Evergreen content is a key part of any content strategy. It is the content that consistently drives traffic, shares and links to your site.
In this post we look at:
- What is evergreen content
- The benefits of evergreen content
- How to find good examples of evergreen content
- Tips on creating evergreen content
What Is Evergreen Content?
Evergreen content has been defined as content that stays relevant long past its publication date. It takes its name from the evergreen tree because they retain their leaves throughout the seasons. Most content is relevant for a short period of time and while it may gain significant attention, the interest in the article declines quite quickly. By contrast evergreen content tends to read and shared consistently over time.
Content that stays relevant over time tends to include formats such as:
- Educational or informative posts, for example What is content marketing
- Practical posts, for example How to speak so that people want to listen
- Research or statistical reference posts, for example Millennials Overtake Baby Boomers As America’s Largest Generation
- Posts that answer questions, for example Frequently Asked Questions On Genetically Modified Foods
- Lists and resources, for example The Ultimate List of Marketing Stats. This particular list is technically not evergreen as it is updated each year but it works well as an ongoing resource.
There are also topics that remain evergreen and relevant over time. These include:
- Love
- Long life
- Health
- Parenting
- Career advice
While these formats and topics lend themselves to be evergreen it is ultimately the quality of the content that drives traffic.
What Are The Benefits of Evergreen Content?
How To Find Good Examples of Evergreen Content with BuzzSumo
We have recently added a new filter to BuzzSumo that allows you to search for good examples of evergreen content in any topic area or on any domain.
We look for articles that consistently gain shares and links over time. Based on this consistency we allocate each article an evergreen score. In simple terms the higher the score the more evergreen the article. If an article is less than 40 days old we score it a zero by default.
This approach is not perfect but it provides another perspective in the search for effective content examples. Thus rather than sort by total shares or links, the evergreen filter shows the top posts that consistently gain shares and links over time.
Searching for evergreen content by topic
Simply enter the topic you want to search for and filter by evergreen score as shown below.
Searching for evergreen content by domain
You can also search for evergreen content on a particular website by entering the domain you want to search for rather than a topic.
Tips on Creating Evergreen Content
One of the best posts on creating evergreen content is this post by Kevan Lee, Evergreen Content Ideas: The Complete List For Your Blog. The post itself is also a good example of evergreen content.
Kevan believes the three key elements when creating evergreen content are:
- Be the definitive source. This means writing comprehensive long form content where necessary. Our research consistently finds that authoritative, long form content gains more links.
- Write for beginners, do not assume too much knowledge.
- Narrow your topic, be very focused.
I would add to this answering the questions your audience is asking.
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