Evergreen content is a specific type of content, whether it be text, slideshow, video or something else. This is created once, but designed to continue ranking in search engines for years, bringing in traffic and compounding in value. The idea behind evergreen, according to Forbes, is that this content keeps providing benefits to you indefinitely — in the form of domain authority, referral traffic, conversion rates and brand visibility.
However, simply applying a "set it and forget it" mentality to this type of content might not be the best approach, as there's some real value in keeping your evergreen content fresh and updated.
Update Content and Boost Your Traffic
While it's easy to create "timeless" topics — how-tos, lists, nostalgia features, etc. — many organizations don't plan on updating this type of content once it's published. However, if your company falls into this category, there's reason to change your strategy here.
The Ahrefs Blog found that page views can be boosted by more than 400 percent when marketers invest the time and energy in updating their content. Not only can updated content be posted and re-posted to social media feeds, but since the content is always applicable, it's great for link-building across the web, as well. As your updated evergreen content becomes more popular, you'll see higher search engine rankings, which will boost your traffic even more. This creates a snowball effect that'll keep your traffic up for months or even years.
Managing Content in a Practical Way
If you're just getting started with evergreen content, keeping a spreadsheet of articles that have been published and then keeping track of when they've been updated is probably the simplest way to manage your evergreen inventory. But what if you've been publishing content for several years and have hundreds, or potentially thousands, of evergreen pieces in the archives?
Instead of working your way backwards by date, work your way through your history by traffic, updating and editing your most popular pieces first. And when you get to pieces that haven't performed as well, consider deleting or rewriting them instead of wasting the time updating a piece that doesn't organically attract attention. In addition, it's recommended that you completely avoid updating pieces that are less than a year old, as this newer content won't have stabilized rankings yet.
Though evergreen content may cost a little bit more to produce and requires some long-term effort and capital to keep up to date, this content can propel your growth strategy over time. Updating your best-performing pieces is an important part of your content marketing strategy and worth your time and effort.
