What Is Evergreen Content? How to Come Up with Such a Content?

Nowadays, it is easy to create a website and start blogging. In some cases it is quite easy to rank well, so we know that our effort is being paid off.

But for how long?

Is it always the case that once our website starts ranking well, it’ll be so also in the long run?

You might have content that ranks well for a year or maybe 16 months.

But how do come up with content that is evergreen?
Do we leverage social media?
And what is evergreen content, anyway?

In a few minutes, you will be familiar with the green content and by the time you’re done reading this post, you know how to come up with evergreen content.

We are also going to mention whether or not the evergreen content can be “yearly”.

An Overview of Evergreen Content

So let’s answer the basic questions: what is evergreen content?

To put it simply, it is content on your site that lasts a long time, ideally years.

Let’s take a look from another angle;
Social Media.

There are tons of information on social media (whether it is Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram).

The content inside social media keeps changing rapidly and we barely remember what we have seen a minute ago. Quite often we can’t even find the same post (particularly on Facebook).

It is quite difficult to absorb information from social media unless you have built your tribe already.

This means you already have established authority whether you have tens of thousands of followers on Instagram or a huge Facebook group with thousands of fans.
– We are going to touch the social media one more time, in a bit.

Establishing an authority takes time, so at the beginning of your journey, it is recommended to focus on Search engines.
So to build evergreen content, you want to make sure that people search for it on Google and also other search engines (Bing/Yahoo, Duckduckgo, and others)

In other words, you want to come up with search intent content, that will last for years and years.

I know that it might not be easy, but think about these examples:

• How to do X – These are guides, for example how to tie a tie
• Tutorials – How to learn to play guitar
  or
  – how to create a nice looking homepage using Generate Press theme (sure the software may update from time to time, but the core of the tutorial remains the same)
• List of phrases – terminology websites

These are topics that are valuable for a long period of time.
Sure, there might be minor changes, but the basis of the topic remains the same.

What Exactly is Evergreen Content?

Evergreen content is content that has relevancy for a long period of time. It stays relevant, no matter what the season is.
That’s why the term “evergreen”. It has an analogy with trees that never lose leaves.

In the online world, it is traffic to a certain website or specific blog post, that is consistent throughout the year(s).

Another characteristic of evergreen content, when it comes to the online world, is that it takes some time until it matures.
Meaning until it ranks well.

That applies to the new blogs or websites.

Again, it is the same analogy with trees.
Take Chinese bamboo for example.

A Chinese bamboo tree takes about 5 years to grow.

For the first 4 years (or four and a half) it doesn’t get through the ground.
After 5 years, once it gets through the ground, it starts to grow rapidly. Approximately 2.5 feet per day (that’s about 0.75 meters per day).
It is possible to hear the crack sound – that’s how fast the bamboo grows.

Now the good news about the online world is that it doesn’t take years.
If the content is valuable, it can start ranking on the 1st page of search engines within 3 or 4 weeks.

And even if it takes longer, that is OK.
Again, if there is value, people keep coming to your content – blog posts and they share it with others.
It is like digital real estate that rises in value.

Of course, you must maintain the content from time to time.
As your website grows, nurture the content by doing SEO internal links.

Make sure to link your content to Social Media, and Youtube.

Remember, in the beginning, we were mentioning that social media is not quite a good source for evergreen content.
Well, the reason why we want to share it on social media is the SEO aspect. These are natural backlinks to your site.
That helps with your domain authority.

On top of it, there is a chance that someone on Facebook clicks on it and visits your site.

Can Evergreen Content be Yearly?

The simple answer is yes.

For example, your niche is coffee machines for home.
One of your articles concerns the Best Coffee machines for homes in 2022.

So yes, it can be yearly. 

One Tip:

When creating the specific article where you mention the year, you don’t have to mention the year inside the post.

Just make sure to mention it in the Meta Title and meta description.
This can be automated, meaning once a new year starts, it is automatically changed in the Meta Tite/Description as well.

I use the AllInOne SEO plugin and this is what it looks like.

Just click on the “View all tags” and select the year as the tag.

This is what you get:

In the search engine, the current year appears.

This is very helpful when you have a lot of articles with years, so you don’t have to change it manually.

You don’t use AllInOneSEO?
I am sure it works for YOAST as well.

Or you can also check other plugins that have this option.

Let’s sum it up:

Dos and Don’ts

Here are the Dos and Don’ts when it comes to content by yearly, and the Meta section of your article:

Dos

Put the year in the:

• Meta title
• Meta description
• Social meta title
• Social meta description

Don’ts

Do not put the year in the:

• Post title
• Content

Question:
What is Meta Title / Meta Description? 

These are things you put into a section underneath your blog post.
What does it do?
It makes Google understand what your blog post is about.
It also is a tool that helps your site be shown in search engines (Google, Bing/Yahoo). 

The Three Important Rules for Evergreen Content

You may be familiar with core Google updates.
It happens usually twice per year and depending on how strong your content is you may or may not be affected by the Google core update.

To diminish the chances of being negatively affected by such an update keep in mind the 3 following main strategies.

1) Informational type of content

This is a type of content that has no commercial intent.
Meaning, that people coming to these kinds of posts will find some new information and they are educated about certain stuff.

So you are informing your audience about the niche and its specifics mostly by:

• Tutorials
• How to’s

This is the main part of your evergreen content.

Example:

• 5 Alternatives to ClickBank Affiliate Program.

2) Buying guides

These are guidelines where you show your audience to make the right decision for their specific needs within the niche they search for.

Some content within the buying guides can be associated with a specific year, or also doesn’t have to be.

Example:

• 3 Best WordPress Hosting (in 2022)

3) Reviews

Reviews have commercial intent.
This means that the chances that a person visiting your site is going to purchase something are pretty high.

Example:

• Salehoo Review
  or
• Is IM mastery academy a scam?

But again, even here you are helping your audience decide if an individual product is any good and giving the information about the product.

How to balance these 3 types of content?

Do it 1: 1: 1.

This process works. 
If you stick with these 3 main pillars you don’t have to worry about any Google algorithm update.

The bottom line is to offer as valuable information to your reader as possible. So even if they don’t buy anything, they are better off, after consuming your content.

Regarding Digital Product Reviews

If you want to convert well (meaning you want to increase your revenue) one of the best strategies is to create product reviews.

I have mentioned the Google Core update and what can happen with traffic to your site.
As it is visible from the screenshot above, this site was hit by such an algorithm, due to thin content.
Meaning the author of the site has been focusing too much on digital product reviews.

Don’t Mae Such a Mistake.

In case you are in MMO (make money online) niche, you focus on digital products such as courses, training, or tools that should help you to make money online.
That’s cool.

Please note, that there are many courses that do not last long.
Some only a few months. Some of them can last years, even decades.

The courses/companies that last only a few months barely have value and most of the time they are scams (or misleading products).
While it is important to inform your audience about such scammy products, focus also on the courses that last long.

For example, John Crestani’s Super Affiliate System has been around for a couple of years.

You can even pick a name of a digital marketer (so-called guru) that has been around for years.

If you google, “Jamie Lewis marketing”, you learn that this guy is a serial scammer.
In other words, this Jamie guy keeps creating new and new products on a regular basis?

Why, because people soon find out that there is no value.
Jamie is aware of this fact and that’s why he moves on and creates a new one.

Again, as I mentioned, it is important to inform the audience about such misleading products, but at the same time, such posts (reviews) will rank well only for a few months.

They fade away and so does your content.

Conclusion

Evergreen content gets a consistent amount of traffic that lasts for years.

It is a great source of passive income, but at the same time, it is recommended to keep an eye on your content.
That means, from time to time update what’s new, or create new internal links.

By now, we know that evergreen content can be also yearly, and we don’t have to change the year manually. Assuming that we show the year only in a specific location of the article.

Make sure to come up with content:

• That is informational
• Offer guidelines to your visitors
• Has specific product reviews

If you keep the balance 1:1:1, you don’t have to worry about any upcoming google core updates.
In the worst-case scenario, your traffic can drop by let’s say 10%, but it will eventually go back.

If you have questions, or you would like to add some information, please do so in the comment section below.

I will be glad to provide you with feedback.

Thank you for reading
Mike