Anyone involved in online marketing knows that fresh, well written and regularly updated content is now an essential component for achieving high search engine results page (SERP) rankings.
As such, it might come as a surprise to some to find that ‘evergreen’ content also has a role to play, but what exactly is evergreen content and what is it good for?
Long tail
Long tail – sales of low-demand products collectively having a market share that rivals bestsellers – has been the backbone of many a successful digitally marketed venture.
Back catalogue music is a perfect example, where sales over a long period of time may significantly eclipse the initial burst of interest and activity in new releases.
When it comes to written content, something that endures can deliver traffic, generate leads and shares, and help boost SERP rankings for months or even years.
Of course in the here today, gone tomorrow world of online content, something that aims to be of value for a long time needs to be special in many ways.
How to be evergreen
If the content is going to be relevant to users over an extended period of time it needs to be adapted in certain ways.
Graham Charlton, Editor in Chief at Digital marketing news website ClickZ Global Editor in Chief Graham Charlton explained his take on evergreen content in a recent blog post: “Evergreen content needs to pass the long click test. If searchers click on it, see something useful within it and spend time on the page, this sends a positive signal to Google. It indicates that the content has satisfied the searcher’s needs and deserves its position in the SERP. Good evergreen content needs to do this over time.”
Charlton also stresses the need for the content not to date too quickly: “I could attempt to write the definitive guide to local SEO [search engine optimisation], but Google may update its algorithm or introduce some new features three months later, rendering my article obsolete overnight. In general though, if you aim to provide useful advice for readers it stands a good chance of success.”
This is why it is important that evergreen content is well written and that the topics it covers are carefully chosen, which can be achieved by outsourcing content to experienced web copywriting professionals that specialise in identifying interesting subjects, creating compelling headlines and writing readable copy.
