Most content marketers are familiar with the idea of evergreen content. This content is considered cornerstone content for a website because it doesn't have an expiration date. Much like the evergreen tree, it flourishes and grows throughout the years, regardless of the season.
You don't have to be a content guru to see why this is beneficial to your business. Most content has a limited shelf time. If you're publishing annual studies, it's outdated the next year. Do you publish news articles? If so, no one cares much once fresh news breaks.
Evergreen content is an excellent way to boost your website traffic because, at least in theory, you'll get just as many views whether it's July 2017 or December 2019.
We are going to take a look at how to create and cultivate evergreen content designed to boost your website traffic for years to come.
Create the right type of content
The first thing you have to decide is what kind of evergreen content you want to publish on your website. There are quite a few different types to choose from, depending on your niche.
Typically, evergreen content consists of one of the following:
- FAQs
- How-to guides
- Product/place reviews
- Reference guides
When you're writing your content, think about questions your customers and readers may have when they stumble upon your article. This rule may sound like it would only apply to FAQs, but it actually applies to every single type of evergreen content listed.
Are you reviewing a hotel? Does it serve breakfast for every night you stay? What are the rooms like? How often are they full? These are all questions that might come up when a reader is searching for answers. Make sure you break down the process that goes into each topic and anticipate the questions that may come up prior to the reader's search.
Choose high-quality keywords
OK, so the time has come. You have a number of great topics in your mind. Time to start tirelessly cranking out content, right? Wrong. Before you even think about creating evergreen content, you have to research and choose high-quality keywords for your content.
Google's algorithm is quite complex, but it's the gold standard in search engine optimization. The search engine supergiant boasts that it's able to deliver quality content to users by doing the following:
- Analyzing search queries
- Matching relevant results
- Considering context
- Ranking useful pages
All of these points are important and connect in clear, and often nuanced ways. You have to pick keywords for your evergreen content that represent what people are searching for, it must be in the right context of their search in order to rank high, and your page has to be useful and functional for the search engine to consider ranking you high on the list.
How do you pick keywords?
Well, there are multiple tools to get you started. A good first step is to go to Google and start typing phrases popular with your niche. Google's autofill feature will show some of the most popular and frequent searches. This information will give you a jumping-off point.
Now, use a tool such as Alexa's Keyword Difficulty Tool or Google's own Keyword Planner, which allows you to enter in popular keywords and phrases for analysis. The results you get will help you determine whether or not you should use a keyword or phrase. Judge the popularity and competitiveness of each chosen word.
The key is to pick a word or phrase with a medium-high popularity and a medium-low competitiveness. Ideally, you want a high-popularity, low-competition word or phrase.
Additional optimization
Now that you have your topic and keywords, it's time to think about additional ways you can optimize for high-traffic content.
One of the best ways to do this is by linking to other reputable sources. Most websites looking to make their way to the top of the page don't do it alone. They link to content that fleshes out their points, gives further insight through research data or surveys, and provides more value overall to the piece.
You should also take this as an opportunity to add links to your own previously published content that relates to the topic at hand. For example, if you've written a piece about a certain aspect of the piece of evergreen content, link back to that page so readers can get a bigger picture and learn more information about the topic.
Share and periodically review content
Once you have finished writing and prepping your content, it's time to start sharing. Organic shares from your followers will boost traffic and help improve your ranking. You should make sure you hit all of your major social media accounts and affiliates. Make sure you keep adding your evergreen content to your social media schedule every couple months so that people get the chance to see your content at a time when it might be relevant to them.
Speaking of things you should be doing every couple months – or at least twice a year – is researching the topic you decided to write about to see if any new information has been released. Maybe a new tip or caveat has come to light that you can add to your piece. Note that this will give you an additional chance to share your content again.
There's no doubt that there are countless reasons for you to invest in writing evergreen content for your website. This type of content gets more views, increases your rank, and makes you appear reputable to a larger community.
Now it's time to get out there and start creating your own evergreen content. Before long, you'll have a rich, complex website with a range of valuable content for all of your readers.