Everything You Need to Know About Evergreen Content

Do you want to be visible on search engines in a sustainable way? And at the same time, why not improve your lead magnets and conversion rate? To do this, there is a formidable digital communication technique: evergreen content! Before giving you 6 tips for creating this type of content and 9 ideas for topics to cover, let's start with a quick definition of this concept in content marketing.

🌱 What is evergreen content?

In botany, an evergreen plant never loses its leaves and therefore always remains green. This is called a persistent plant. By analogy, in a content marketing strategy, evergreen content (also called evergreen content) is a timeless text that persists over time and does not become outdated.

In contrast to articles that create buzz, you create content that remains relevant in the long term. This allows you to answer general questions and convey information that cannot be influenced by current events. It is therefore an aspect that you should not neglect when setting up your editorial strategy.

If you want to work on your SEO, it is also an important aspect to consider. Indeed, your articles have a chance to be visible for a long time on search engine results pages. Moreover, you can position yourself on both long-tail keywords and high search volume keywords. This way, you increase your chances of attracting significant and qualified traffic to your site.

In the rest of this post, I will share with you my best tips for creating evergreen content and finding topic ideas that will help you achieve good visibility on the Internet.

💥 6 tips for creating evergreen content

To create content that does not become outdated, you need to do some research beforehand. In addition, you need to follow a content creation methodology that allows your information to be immutable. Here are my 6 tips for designing evergreen content.

1. Analyze your target audience

As always when talking about content creation, you need to know who you are addressing. By knowing your audience, you can better answer all their questions and needs. Of course, if you are new to digital communication, you will be interested in your SEO persona to achieve your goals effectively.

By doing so, you increase your chances of reaching your target audience and increasing your ROI in the long term. Moreover, by putting yourself in the shoes of your readers and prospects, you will certainly find many timeless topic ideas to develop.

2. Identify your most successful content

If you are already communicating on the Web, you can easily draw inspiration from the content that works best in your field. Recently, Google has made available a simple and effective tool to identify the pages on your site that are most popular. To learn more about this, I suggest you read my blog post on Search Console Insights: https://www.seoquantum.com/billet/search-console-insights.

Also, analyze the impact of your publications on social networks, podcasts, videos, and paid search campaigns. All the information you can obtain about the results of your digital communication allows you to refine your content creation in the long term.

3. Get inspired by your SEO competition

An analysis of your SEO competition is an essential action in content marketing. You can not only find a large number of topics to cover, but also better understand the type of content that appeals to your target audience.

Once again, you will find a wealth of information by following the performance of your competitors across all digital communication channels. You can then create high-performing evergreen content by drawing inspiration from your competition on the Web.

4. Cover the topic comprehensively

Now that you know your target audience and the topics they like, you can create content. But to be visible in the long term, it is important to provide high-quality information. Otherwise, you risk seeing your competition quickly outrank you in the SERP.

Aim to be as comprehensive as possible. Draw inspiration from different content covering the same topic and share your own experience. Moreover, it is certain that long texts allow you to rank for a large number of keywords. They also tend to generate more inbound links, which will benefit you in the long run.

5. Adapt the format to the topic

When talking about evergreen content, we don't just think about textual content. Indeed, there are four main types of content that allow you to cover a topic in a unique way. And each of these content types serves different objectives (information, conversion, commercial, etc.).

To create different content formats, you will need numerous content marketing tools. I invite you to discover them in this other blog post: https://www.seoquantum.com/billet/outils-content-marketing.

6. Avoid any time-sensitive information

Finally, when creating evergreen content, avoid at all costs adding time-sensitive information that could quickly make it obsolete. A simple tip is to favor the addition of specific dates without the user being able to determine the creation date of the article. To do this, refrain as much as possible from using expressions such as:

• this year;
• X years ago;
• recently;
• soon;
• etc.

To increase your click-through rate, you might be tempted to add a year to your title even if your content is timeless. For example, "monuments to visit in Paris in 2020". As long as there are no time references in the body of the content and the title is updated each year, this method is feasible even for evergreen content.

💡 9 evergreen content ideas

Obviously, you need to adapt your content to your theme. However, there are types of content that allow for unparalleled longevity. Here are 9 evergreen content ideas, regardless of your field.

1. Answer timeless questions

You know your business inside out, and some questions may seem so obvious that it seems superfluous to write an article on the subject. And yet, think about the questions most frequently asked by your customers!

By doing so, you probably already have a good base of topics that you can add to your content calendar. Always keep in mind that your goal is to answer the questions of your buying persona. So be sure to use vocabulary that is appropriate for your industry but understandable to non-experts.

2. Create a FAQ

Following the same intention as before, you can also convey your message by creating a FAQ (answers to the most frequently asked questions). This page can cover many topics, whether directly related to your business or to provide a short answer to simple requests.

However, your FAQ cannot cover every topic in a complete and detailed manner. Nevertheless, you can work on your internal linking by providing only a summary of your comprehensive answer that will be fully accessible by clicking on a hyperlink.

3. Write historical content

Every theme has its history! It is certainly not difficult to create several articles that deal with the history of your sector or even your company. To do this, you can easily create a keyword clustering around the subject.

Take the example of a company that sells bicycles. You could then create various evergreen historical content covering the following topics (topic cluster from our semantic analysis tool).

4. Create a glossary

Here is another timeless domain that allows you to easily create evergreen content. You know all the professional jargon in your field and know when your audience does not understand it. Creating a list of definitions that are understandable to those new to your industry will not take too much time and will satisfy your readers.

Moreover, a specific glossary allows you to attract a large number of potential customers who are researching your topic. Once again, you can redirect them to your information or sales pages to try to convert your visitor into a customer.

5. Create a tutorial

Whether through a video, infographic, or blog post, a tutorial is an excellent way to provide detailed information to your audience. Of course, the longevity of the subject you detail will determine the longevity of your content.

For example, if you created a tutorial on Windows 8, it would become obsolete shortly after the next software update. On the other hand, if you have a survival-themed site and detail step-by-step how to make a fire without matches, your content will definitely be evergreen!

6. Offer a comprehensive guide

In my opinion, a comprehensive guide is the quintessential evergreen content! It allows you to cover a topic in its entirety and create an essential content pillar for the natural referencing of your site. It is indeed the best way to talk exhaustively about a generalist theme that potentially has a large search volume.

Close to the tutorial, the guide allows you to communicate on a larger number of timeless topics. You can also use it to create a comparison between different products or adapt the content to the level of understanding of your reader (e.g., guide for beginners or experts).

7. Interview experts

Do you want to discuss technical topics? Then an interview can be an excellent way to proceed! Moreover, if your speaker is recognized in their field, this evergreen content creation technique fully satisfies Google's EAT criteria, which is so important for your SEO.

In addition, based on a single interview, you can create a multitude of content types. You can indeed record a video of your conversation, use the audio in a podcast, transcribe everything in a blog post, and even create an infographic that highlights the main points.

8. Share case studies

A case study is another way to provide content that will always remain relevant. You can delve into your analysis and demonstrate your expertise by showcasing the successes you have achieved.

No date is required in this type of format, and the results highlighted do not depend on time. With each of your professional successes, you have the opportunity to create evergreen content. Don't miss this opportunity!

9. Write a white paper

A white paper is a great ally for your overall digital marketing. By definition, it is a practical guide of a few pages intended for your prospects. It allows you to answer specific questions, position yourself well on search engines, and capture the email addresses of your potential customers.

Moreover, you can write as many as you want! Choose relevant topics that persist over time and you will have the opportunity to create useful and timeless content without limitation. You can then draw inspiration from those that work best to refine your conversion rate in the future.