Don’t Throw Away Old Articles: A-Z Guide on Evergreen Content

Don't throw away old articles

Creating content that reflects trends is undoubtedly a great way to lure the audience. However, by next week, your post is already outdated, and the traffic eventually slows down.

So you have to create new content frequently, at times, even on a daily basis. While this might be a working strategy, it is also a time-consuming and rather exhausting process. 

What else can you do to make sure that your content stays significant no matter the season or fad? That is where evergreen content strikes the golden ticket. These posts are practically future-proof and stay relevant endlessly. 

In fact, 51% of companies report that repurposing their existing content is one of the most effective methods to boost content performance. 

Evergreen Content That Lasts

If you look back at your old posts, you might come across a few pieces that have the potential to stay evergreen. Let’s take an example. For instance, a review of an educational service such as EssayHub on the educational platform will still hold its significance for the younger audience. After all, students are always looking for essay help from professionals. 

However, if you do not update the post with new features or optimize it for the search engines, it might not perform well, even if the content, in general, is okay. While evergreen content can do half the work for you, you still need to perform regular checkups to ensure that it continues to thrive. 

How to Identify Evergreen Content 

The best evergreen posts are those that appeal to a broader audience. It should attract new customers, as well as offer value for loyal readers. If you have a large site with hundreds of blog posts, it might not be easy to nitpick the right articles. Instead, you can try to identify and search for keywords or dates. Here is what you are looking for.

Detailed and Comprehensive Material

Tutorials, reviews, and guides are always favorites among the audience. Look for posts that can educate your readers while offering value. Blog posts with at least five lists per 500 words seem to be doing four times better than regular articles. 

Fundamentals 

Regardless of what your niche is, you should be able to find ideas that focus on the basics. Say you run a mentioned academic review site. You may have evergreen posts covering the structure of an essay, or what to look for in a tutoring service. 

Posts That Drive Traffic 

Your analytics would give an idea of which posts are still driving visitors to your site without any extra work from your side. Though it might not be in high numbers, with a little dusting, you should be able to revise its performance. 

Refresh Content

Enhancing your content is the best way to give it a new look. 

  • If you have any outdated statistics or facts, it is time to replace it with the latest data;
  • Change the title or mention that the post contains updated content;
  • Update the publishing date;
  • Add new images.

Most importantly, spruce up the material with a new CTA that will redirect the users to pages that will best serve your current interests. 

SEO-redoing

Your blog consists of two SEO components, on-page and off-page. Though both approaches change over time, some crucial elements can still boost your SERP. A couple of years back, Hubspot released a detailed report on how they increased their traffic by 106% by doing historical optimization

Depending on your viewership and blog size, you might be able to do the same by relevant conversion-focused optimization:

  • Update the keywords in the article, title, and CTA;
  • Replace any broken links;
  • Update meta descriptions and alt tags.

Before you republish any material, do not forget to document your posts’ current rank in order to track the performance. 

The Bottom Line: How to Create New Evergreen Content

Crafting evergreen articles might require more work than a regular post. But when done right, it will bring about success. In order to make the best of posts’ longevity, consider what you want your audience to do next? 

The CTA is crucial, especially since you are looking for long-term benefits. Do you want to boost your marketing steps or promote more sales? The page is going to last for a while, so you want the action to contribute to your page to help achieve a certain goal. 

You also want to look into whether a revised article will fit in your market tunnel. If you want to find new customers, then include plenty of information and redirect them to other posts on your page. 

While updating old articles is always a great plan of action, it is only a part of your marketing strategy. If the blog has been around for a few years, then it is good to check for old content worth renewing. In case you notice a significant boost in traffic, make sure to update regularly.

FURTHER READING