Evergreen content is content with a long lifespan.
It is also incredibly important for search engine optimization (SEO).
In this article, you’ll learn everything you need to know about evergreen content – including what makes a topic evergreen, why evergreen content is important and some examples to inspire you.
What is evergreen content?
Evergreen content refers to any type of content that remains ever relevant, ever accurate, and ever useful long past its publication date.
Think of it this way: Evergreen trees always look green and fresh, even in the dead of winter.
By the same token, evergreen content always looks green, fresh, and up to date – even if it was published two years ago.
(Two years old is positively ancient by the internet’s standards, but if your content is evergreen, that’s not a problem.)
To be considered evergreen, your content must pass these checkpoints:
- It’s written on a topic that doesn’t change drastically from year to year. (For instance, new research doesn’t continually come out, which makes old ideas/ways of thinking about the topic obsolete.)
- It contains knowledge that’s foundational to a realm of study or skill.
- Most of the information is perpetually useful.
- Most of the information is perpetually accurate and relevant.
- It can have a few outdated facts or references, but these must be minor (you can update them with little effort).
And, if your content contains any of these hallmarks, it is not evergreen:
- News.s
- Seasonal information or information tied to a specific date, event or year.
- Research or statistics that will eventually lose relevancy as they fall out of date.
- Research or statistics that are regularly updated. (For example, a new report is released annually, so the prior year’s stats become obsolete).
- Content tied to current fads or trends.
Examples of evergreen content topics
Here are a few good examples of evergreen content topics:
- How to tie a shoe
- 10 tips to manage your personal finances
- How to choose a paint color for your kitchen
- Beginner’s guide to content marketing
- How to teach your dog to heel in 7 steps
Examples of content topics that are not evergreen
On the flip side, these are good examples of topics that are not evergreen:
- 5 ideas for your kid’s Halloween party (Seasonal topic)
- ChatGPT launches in November 2022 (News)
- The local football team beats their biggest rival (Sports news)
- 10 SEO trends to watch in 2023 (Current trends/tied to a date)
- Content marketing research report for 2022 (Research tied to a specific year)
Why evergreen content boosts SEO
So we know that the defining feature of evergreen content is a long lifespan past its initial publication date.
Whether you read it now, two months from now, a year from now, or two years from now, the information it conveys should largely remain accurate, relevant, and useful.
But why does this matter for SEO?
Reliability
By their very definition, evergreen content topics are ones that people are interested in no matter the circumstances.
They’re “old