The SEO evergreen is a must for those looking to maintain steady traffic. If you ask me what kind of SEO your business needsunless it is seasonal, I will always tell you to look for SEO evergreen.
Translated as "evergreen SEO" we are talking about an type of SEO that does not expire or at least stays in perfect condition for a longer period of time. Of course, this is not always the case.
Both technically and historically, there are circumstances that can make something that, at first sight, seems not to be outdated, end up being so. In the end we are talking about SEO contentwhich is only part of the job. The technical part of a website has an equally significant influence on the positioning of a content.
That is to say, even if in your SEO content strategy prioritise the evergreen contentYou will need everything else to work in order to be positioned on an ongoing basis. The SEO evergreen does not work miracles, but it is about the More profitable SEO at a business level.
But let's start at the beginning before we look at advantages and disadvantages, as well as how we can combine it with others types of SEO. If you use it well, the SEO evergreen can become your main ally for making your positioning efforts profitable.
What is evergreen SEO?
Perhaps, the first thing we need to talk about is what is evergreen SEOby giving a few examples. Evergreen SEO is content that has no shelf life.. In other words, what counts remains unchanged (more or less) over time.
It is much easier to understand if we look at it with examples. For example, if you're talking about computers, an article talking about hardware components would be SEO evergreen. However, if we are talking about the best computers, it would not be because new models are continually coming out that may be better than the ones we have written about in the article.
In this sense, the best historical novels, if they could be considered SEO evergreenEven if new novels come out every day, this would not be the case in the technology sector.
Continuing with novels, if we had a bookshop we might also want to position the best novels to give as Christmas presents. In this case, it would not be evergreen either, because we are circumscribing the content to a specific moment: Christmas. It would be evergreen, however, if we were to stick to "the best novels to give as presents".
When I spoke in the introduction that there are historical circumstances that affect evergreen contentWe can easily see it here. For example, if one of the novels we have added goes out of print or a new revised edition is released. The content would still be evergreen, but it would no longer function as such because it has become obsolete.
Thus, the content initially conceived as evergreen will not always be evergreen, but the idea is to approach it in a way that can last as long as possible without needing changes or upgrades. That is, once it is done, it should work on its own.
This is obviously more cost-effective than having to keep updating. For example, the best computers in May 2023 will only work for us in May 2023, by June or July we will need new content or to update existing content. This means more workload.
Advantages of using evergreen SEO
The fundamental advantage of using SEO evergreen is that you will be able to positioning content throughout the year. In other words, it will be a constant source of traffic. To achieve this, the content must be well thought out, comprehensive and respond correctly to the searcher's intention.
In such cases, we can be in pole position for years. In my work as a SEOI have articles that have been in first position for more than five years, even with an acceptable search volume and without having to make changes. Five years is quite a long time and it is not usual, normally it will have to be updated, especially if there is a lot of competition.
Another clear advantage is that it helps to generate backlinks. Positioned content that does not expire is much more likely to be linked to and help us to improve our page authority and domain. This, in turn, helps us to hold the position.
On the other hand, it also helps to create internal linking strategies in the long term.
Being positioned all year round, not only facilitates a increased trafficbut also leadseither through subscriptions, requests for quotations, sales, etc. In this sense, if we have a constant traffic, it can be a perfect place to make CRO experiments with forms, buttons, banners, etc., and thus check what works best.
Disadvantages of using evergreen SEO
The main drawback of the SEO evergreen is that it does not work for all types of content. For example, it does not work for news, product listings or other categories where the date is relevant.
Equally, if your business is mainly seasonal, it may not be the SEO that suits you best. For example, in toys with sales focused on Christmas or beach products. In those cases it will give better results than others. types of SEO.
On the other hand, the date of an article is also taken into account in SEO. This does not mean that an older article cannot rank, but between two articles of similar quality, in some cases the newer one is favoured.
Dedicating our efforts to SEO evergreencan also cause us to lose opportunities for seasonal or occasional traffic. Sometimes, there are keywords that have much more seasonal or occasional traffic than others. evergreenand therefore not using them means missed opportunities for traffic and conversion.
Using evergreen SEO or seasonal SEO?
We can combine both types of SEOno problem. Moreover, it should be borne in mind that well done, the Seasonal SEO does not cease to be SEO evergreen which resumes its position at a certain time of the year.
For example, if we want to position year-end getaways, whenever the date approaches, we will see how traffic multiplies, with much higher figures than other similar evergreen keywords.
In addition, it should be noted that this type of keyword, even if the high search volumes disappear for part of the year, does not end up disappearing. This means that it will continue to bring in traffic more gradually.
Types of evergreen SEO content
The simplest way to understand what to use the SEO evergreen is to see the most common categories of content that can be found:
Tutorials
The tutorials are perfect content to make SEO evergreen. It is very useful content for the user and does not usually expire with some exceptions. It focuses more on informational than transactional content, but it helps to get more traffic in the early stages of the conversion funnel.
Content such as "how to clean a blood stain" or "how to dye your hair at home" can be very useful as a first step for a detergent or beauty brand, respectively. There are many options for tutorials and it is very easy to adapt them to the different categories of our business.
Guides
The guides are similar to the tutorials but have more general information. They are very common in areas such as the travel sector, events or video games. Compared to tutorials, they have much simpler and less technical information.
While tutorials usually start from the user's prior knowledge, guides explain something from scratch. For example, "everything you need to know to organise your wedding" or "guide to Southeast Asia" would work perfectly.
Interviews
The interviews are content that can work both as evergreen SEO and the opposite. It will depend on the interviewee and the questions we ask them. There are people who can be asked a evergreen interviewwhile they will not work with others.
For example, if we interview Penélope Cruz, we can ask her about her entire career, her difficulties as an actress in Hollywood, her recognitions, etc., or, on the contrary, we can focus on her latest projects. In the first case, her answers would not "expire" and would be useful for someone who wants to know more about the character, while in the second case, expiration would take precedence.
Lists
Other content of SEO evergreen that works very well are the lists. In this case, I have to qualify that lists are not evergreen per se. For example, you can make a seasonal list of "top 10 Christmas decorations".
But, if we don't know where to start in our evergreen SEO strategy It is always quite easy to make a list of something that does not expire. In SEO, lists tend to be very popular with Google, because users love them.
When faced with two similar pieces of content, if one is listed and the other is not, it is much more likely to get the click on the list, so I take into account when it comes to create your content.
FAQs, glossaries or dictionaries
Finally, the sections on Frequently Asked Questions, glossaries o dictionaries of terms are very useful for creating specialised evergreen content.
The FAQ section is also very useful for the company, being able to introduce the most common doubts that customers have and improve sales results.
The glossaries and dictionaries of terms help us to position ourselves as experts and to improve the semantic fields of our web pages.
I hope this article has helped you learn what is evergreen SEO and how to use it. If you need help in your SEO strategyjust write to us.
