What exactly is meant by the term evergreen content? Writers preparing content for the internet often employ search engine optimization strategies to help increase page views. One such SEO tactic is writing evergreen content and learning to employ it can be a successful strategy for increasing page views and keeping page views consistently high over a period of time.
Defining Evergreen Content
Evergreen content is a piece of content that can be read and viewed as a “current” article for an indefinite amount of time. When an article is classified as evergreen content, it is a topic that people are interested in throughout the entire year, and for years to come. The style of writing used is to keep any time sensitive information out of the piece, to ensure that the article doesn’t become antiquated.
Some articles are also seasonally evergreen. That means that an article about creative Thanksgiving meals may become popular during every holiday season, but in the springtime it will always be stagnant.
Benefits of Evergreen Content
Evergreen articles will help you increase page views for an extended period of time. Articles that are filled with pertinent information will always be useful, regardless of when they were actually written or published. Other articles may be highly focused on a particular date or an upcoming event. Once this date or event passes, the content essentially dies.
But an article that is focused on information rather than time can continue its life cycle indefinitely, continuing to increase page views and earn you money. With enough evergreen articles published, you will see that even without writing anything new, you will be getting thousands and thousands of page views every month.
If you are a writer here on Associated Content, take a look at your content page. Which articles get page views month in and month out? Taking a look at my own content, for example, some articles, still commonly receive over 1,000 page views per month even after being written quite some time ago. But other articles about one-time events see the dreaded “$.01” under current performance and pay. (See pictures above).
Converting Content to Evergreen Content
So how does one convert an article into a piece of evergreen content? Write an article as you normally would but omit information that can date the piece. For example, an article about cheap Christmas gift ideas can be applicable every year. But an article entitled “Cheap Christmas Gifts for 2008” that only includes the fad toys of the year will be of no use or interest to anybody in 2009 and beyond.
Drawbacks to Evergreen Content?
Not every article can be successfully transformed into evergreen content. Some articles are meant to be time sensitive and are meant to be about one specific time or event. You shouldn’t take out dates or specific pieces of details from a piece of content that needs it or would benefit from it just to try to make it last longer.
Additionally, highly popular topics are often news stories or fads with a short life span. To take advantage of a quick influx of page views, you have to make the article focused on the short term and whatever event just took place or will soon take place. These articles may never receive page views again, but could get you thousands in the several week lifespan that it does have.
Deciding which articles should be evergreen content and which should not be isn’t a scientific process and can be different for every content producer. Both styles have benefits in terms of their page views and their popularity, and the choice is yours. Learning how to create evergreen content though can be a helpful tip for any content producer looking to increase page views.
