Evergreen Content - Write Articles about Topics that don't Change

Definition of Evergreen Content

• Evergreen: Perenially fresh and enduring.
• Content: The materials, including text, video, and images, that forms a document or article.
• Evergreen Content: Perenially fresh and enduring articles.

Examples of Evergreen Content

There are several types of evergreen content. Examples include encyclopedic entries, product reviews, how to tutorials, and other informational resources. What makes content evergreen is an enduring quality that is unlikely to change.

Examples of Evergreen Hubs

• While Robin will tell you English is a living language, but the grammar rules for who vs whom are pretty constant. This article will be a valuable resource for years to come.
• Some types of product reviews lend themselves nicely to evergreen content. James's series on Rolex watches is encyclopedic in nature, so the value of the content will endure.
• Some questions never get old like "How to say I love you". Millions of people a day ask this question and many people are interested in different opinions on how to do it.

Which Topic for Evergreen Content is More Popular

Why is Evergreen Content Valuable?

Evergreen Content can be extremely valuable. A well written piece of content that does an excellent job at answering a question, explaining how to do something, or reviewing a product or place in detail can satisfy people over a long period of time. Hence the name "evergreen content". Since evergreen content is enduring and capable of receiving traffic for many years from search engines, directories and other collections of useful links it can be extremely valuable.

Imagine you have a sports website or a blog that publishes scores for the games that were played the day before. Your site has 1000 readers. You publish an article that is read 1000 times that day. However, after that day is passed, the article is no-longer current because it's old news, there are new games now, and that's what readers care about today. Today, you decide to take a day off to play in the sun. You come home and check your traffic. Since you didn't publish a new article almost all your traffic is gone.

Now imagine that you have a site that covers proper manners and answer questions like "How to set a table", "How to hold a folk", "Proper way to write a thank you note" and "Is it rude to talk with your mouth full". You will write one article per day. At the end of the year, you have over 300 pieces of evergreen content. The site has people that come to it to see what's new, which are your loyal users, but the majority of your traffic comes from Yahoo, Google and MSN. Today, you decide to go for a walk and rest your hands from all the typing you have been doing. At the end of the day you sit down at your computer and check your site's stats. You see a slight increase from the same day last week, because you published four great evergreen articles the previous week. Evergreen content is kind of like owning a bond that pays a dividend. You write the article, then it pays a dividend over a long period of time with traffic to your site.

The Idea Bank is full of examples of evergreen content suggestions. Feel free to rob it:)

Comments

Mary Craig from New York on February 24, 2013:

An evergreen hub if ever there was one! In addition, very helpful and educational as well. Some folks get confused about 'evergreen'...this is a clear explanation.

Voted up, useful, and interesting.

Anamika S Jain from Mumbai - Maharashtra, India on July 02, 2012:

I agree with you. Writing on topics that never change makes better sense. Awesome Hub, voted up and shared...

mrinmoynath on July 02, 2012:

Really interesting article. Thanks.

Rajan Singh Jolly from From Mumbai, presently in Jalandhar, INDIA. on July 01, 2012:

Very useful tips and awesomely well explained. The idea bank link is awesome. I'll be robbing it openly. Thanks Paul.

Voted up and useful. Shared this hub.

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Katina Davenport on January 13, 2012:

I just found this hub. Very useful piece of information. I will be coming up with more evergreen content.

Kelly Umphenour from St. Louis, MO on January 08, 2012:

Super up and awesome! Thanks - I have read a few about evergreen articles - this one really shines!

Raci Niwa from Talisay City, Cebu on January 04, 2012:

i've linked this hub from a previous page and i find the two quite engaging and informative...thanks for sharing...i still have much to learn...

s49u58zanne from Temple Texas on December 31, 2011:

There is some really great information here I will try to use evergreen in my hubs. My specialty is the trucking industry and the issue that are facing the industry.

mljdgulley354 on December 08, 2011:

Paul, thank you for sharing this information. I don't know how evergreen my hubs are but I want to search this out more.

Ian Hetri on December 08, 2011:

Very informative for article.

Potro Direjo from Indonesia on October 08, 2011:

Paul Edmondson (Hub Author, 2 years ago):

mixing in evergreen content on news sites is a good strategy to get more traffic.

Thank you, very enlightening.

Sean on September 22, 2011:

This article is so "evergreen!" Glad I was able to find it to truly understand the evergreen meaning.

kievan on September 15, 2011:

Simple. Short. Sweet. Inspiring.

Thank you :)

joseph merlin from Jupiter on August 28, 2011:

This is what I am looking for Thanks for your great article. I have a website and I have some evergreen articles Now I will also look for Ever green content for long run results.

Remy Francis from Dubai on August 25, 2011:

Hello Paul

Thank you for the insight. Wow! I learnt some very important things here.

sakesare on July 17, 2011:

Great information...thanks for sharing...

Amelia Griggs from U.S. on June 04, 2011:

Excellent tips and so true! Thanks for your recommendations, Paul. When I came across your hubpage, I thought of "evergreen" trees. I will keep the "evergreen" content idea in mind when writing more hubs. :-)

Thanks again!

Easylearningweb

Monika on April 11, 2011:

Wow! I will now analyze my blog and ask my writers for their input in helping me produce more evergreen content. What a fantastic article.

doug hay on April 04, 2011:

Great post. Thank for you laying this is out in simple language so other bloggers can apply this valuable technique.

Rick Rudd on March 30, 2011:

Great idea. Reminds me of the term "fashion is never finished".

Margaret Minnicks from Richmond, VA on February 14, 2011:

Thanks for sharing tips about evergreen content.

Jamie Brock from Texas on February 10, 2011:

Thank you, Paul. I appreciate this info on evergreen hubs.

cashmere from India on February 04, 2011:

Good tips to follow, great content from you as ever!

cceerpp from Ghana on January 11, 2011:

Excellent information. Thanks a lot.

Tony McGregor from South Africa on January 02, 2011:

Very useful and informative Hub. Thanks for the tips.

Love and peace

Tony

JArvinV from FL on December 07, 2010:

Great tip and great explanation. Will definitely have to focus on 'evergreen' topics from now on. Thank you for this!

LaurieDawn on November 10, 2010:

Thank you for your informative hub. A newbie on hubpages, it helped me quite a bit to figure out what to write on next.

Thanks for sharing! I wondered what evergreen meant when I was reading about it on another website.

Blessings,

Laurie

Audrey Hunt from Pahrump NV on November 10, 2010:

This type of hub and the information offered is my favorite type. Thanks for helping me understand the meaning of evergreen. Wonderful!

Freelance Writer and Web Developer on October 25, 2010:

Your average article on the internet is basically a spun version of info that's already out there. 'Evergreen Content' is a good concept.

4youreyes on October 22, 2010:

Wonderful hub you explained things very nicely it helped me a great deal Thanks have a good day !!!

JohnBarret on October 12, 2010:

Really very informative and evergreen article.

websclubs on September 28, 2010:

Hi Paul,

evergreen content, some articles are relevant to an audience forever. Useful article Thanks

abidan on July 06, 2010:

evergreen content sounds great

actually this hub evergreen content has good quality information

rahat.infinite on June 12, 2010:

thanks helpful article

talfonso from Tampa Bay, FL on May 18, 2010:

I was so surprised that some of my content on sites I wrote on kept earning views in the long run - I blame them for being high quality and evergreen. Because of informative articles like this, I came up with a quote from me: like rosemary, make your content evergreen.

EmmaMedu on April 13, 2010:

Very interesting article! I got some more ideas about what to write.

George Martin from Fowler, KS on April 11, 2010:

Very interesting

HunterGiftBaskets from Newcastle, Hunter Valley, Australia on April 07, 2010:

Evergreen content is a synonym for meaningful content - what has meaning for individual readers and will maintain meaningfulness over time, so new visitors will become readers.

How to... whatever (general topics) have perennial appeal, just look at the ratings of lifestyle and home repair shows.

Great posting, inspirational..

devsir on April 07, 2010:

great helpful information

Mystique1957 from Caracas-Venezuela on February 24, 2010:

Paul...

This is great stuff! I can see why there were some flaws in my traffic, but with this info, I am positive I will improve very much!

Thanks for sharing it!

Thumbs up!

warm regards and blessings,

Al

Jan Charles from East Tennessee on February 19, 2010:

I already had evergreen content, but didn't realize it. I hope I can maximize what I was already doing, with your great advice. Thank you!

PWalker281 on December 31, 2009:

Wow, you are my new best friend! I never heard of "every green" content, but it makes so much sense. I've bookmarked this hub and can't wait to check out the rest!

Robertbloggert on December 03, 2009:

Great info and sorry I guess this answers the question I left on your other Hub.

Paul Edmondson (author) from Burlingame, CA on November 13, 2009:

sure.

laswi from Sri Lanka on November 12, 2009:

Thanks for the reply.

Paul Edmondson (author) from Burlingame, CA on November 12, 2009:

@laswi - We use a semantic analysis technology that analyzes the text of the hub and then suggests phrases to tag.

laswi from Sri Lanka on November 12, 2009:

Paul, a question for you. When we display our own Hubs, you get "Suggested Tags" just below the list of "TAGS". How does HubPages get this list of Suggested Tags? Is it relevant only to the Hub? Or, is there some connection with Google Trends or anything like that?

Also thanks for the great information in this Hub. Great job.

Philent on October 20, 2009:

Thanks for the tips. Hope I can come up with contents that will last. =)

Roffi Grandiosa from Bandung, Indonesia on September 21, 2009:

a great hub you got here..

Dr.S.P.PADMA PRASAD from Tumkur on September 09, 2009:

I just today visited your hubs and felt theya re quite helpful to all who wish to make money by writing successful hubs.This hub has many useful points-taught to everyone selflessly.

myawn from Florida on August 16, 2009:

Thanks for the insight didn't think about this until now I'm new here. Any help I can get is appreciated. An idea bank I didn't know this either.

cashmere from India on May 29, 2009:

Am headed over to the idea bank now. Did not know it existed.

caderade2 on April 24, 2009:

Good hub. This is useful information and your hub is defenitely an "evergreen" hub :)

gr8archer45 from Pakistan on April 22, 2009:

Very efficient & to the point advice!I agree about the how to articles Paul, among all my hubs, the how to bake a cheese cake attracts the biggest chunk of traffic than the rest.

Motaz from Egypt on April 18, 2009:

that's a great hub...I've came to this conclusion so late, unfortunately.

search engine traffic is the best

roshan1980 on February 16, 2009:

good advice, Thanks

WHoArtNow from Leicester, UK on February 16, 2009:

A great article as always Paul, some things to think about for the future!

Andre

reagu from Los Angeles on February 05, 2009:

Great suggestions. I'll use these principles when I write hubs.

unduki on February 02, 2009:

Wow, you answered questions I didn't even know I had. Thanks!

'J

SiddSingh on February 02, 2009:

Hi Paul,

Great information! Can this be the answer to this question: What is better, a blog or a website?

jvphantom from Jacksonville, FL on February 01, 2009:

Very Informative. I will read more. Your ever green is good!

LondonGirl from London on January 17, 2009:

The recent comments show you've created evergreen content yourself!

sahed from Bangladesh on January 16, 2009:

I VOTE FOR wikipedia.com

Dorsi Diaz from The San Francisco Bay Area on January 16, 2009:

Thanks Paul. I am really starting to understand enduring and "evergreen" content. It's fun to write about current "hot" topics but the ones that endure are the ones that people will always search for, like you said.

cowgirljess from Nor Cal on December 29, 2008:

Great article, I was wondering what you ment by evergreen, in another one of your articles.

Paul Edmondson (author) from Burlingame, CA on December 07, 2008:

@Peggy W - If you are launchign a new service and want people to find it by searching, then, yes, it's a good idea to use the name of your service in the title of the page or if you are making it on another page, put it in an H1 html tag and the title meta tag. Hope this is helpful and good luck with your new service.

Peggy Woods from Houston, Texas on December 06, 2008:

Thanks Paul. I am very new to writing hubs, etc. and found your evergreen topic interesting and useful. Since our product/service IS new........perhaps I should use the name of the service in my title?

Paul Edmondson (author) from Burlingame, CA on November 09, 2008:

@Internet marketr - that's funny, but actually very possible. Evergreen topics for sports are things like How to throw a curve ball or How to shoot a jump shot. For newsy sites, they are usually very good at gaining links since it's a bit easier to get links into your site for very current topics.

So if your site is timely and you get lots of relevant links to your content, then, mixing in evergreen content on news sites is a good strategy to get more traffic.

internet marketr on November 06, 2008:

But the Question is How to write everGreen Content for a Sport site??

Rudra on November 01, 2008:

Thanks, I am now shifting to evergreen topics.

fxdaddy from Hawaii on October 29, 2008:

Thanks Paul, this is a great article. I'm starting to realize that evergreen articles are the only ones worth writing.

Moon Daisy from London on October 28, 2008:

That's a great hub and very interesting and food for thought for all hubbers and website owners everywhere.  Thanks for sharing this information.

Mosz on October 26, 2008:

Super nice article about what Evergreen content means. Very well written! Best of luck to you!

Tyrone on September 10, 2008:

I never thought of this concept, now I know what to follow with my hubs!

Squintina Nightgard from Texas on July 13, 2008:

I try to only make hubs that I think are evergreen. I may be wrong, but at least the intention's there.

Paul Edmondson (author) from Burlingame, CA on June 23, 2008:

@Blake Yes, keyword domains mixed with evergreen content has proven to be a good model for consistently attacting visitors. It should be noted that some domains monetize better with content while others do better when items are offered for sale. Just depends on the domain and topic.

Blake Glenn from Washington, DC on June 19, 2008:

This is good information Paul. It's especially important since, in the last 18 months or so, several firms such as Demand Media and others, have raised millions in VC money to acquire domain names. They plan to use many of these names as conduits to distribute "evergreen content".

Thanks to your article, I have some content tips for my own site(s).

RyanRE from Bellingham, WA on May 30, 2008:

I learned something new today. I have been building lens for a long time and just started on Hubpages and this is the 1st time that I have ever heard the term "Evergreen content". I typically hear the term "Unique Content".

Dave McClure from Worcester, UK on March 16, 2008:

Great examples - the sports results site vs the manners site. Lots to think about.

jhulott on March 13, 2008:

Thanks Paul,

Evergreen content is also good when preparing autoresponder courses as people can sign up at anytime and you want to make sure the content is relevant to them.

ANH N. on August 30, 2007:

Thank you. May be very intersting!

eva from japan on May 03, 2007:

Thanks for writing this useful article. It open eyes of hubbers

Paul Edmondson (author) from Burlingame, CA on November 21, 2006:

Here's something else to think about. Write about stuff that is new today, but will be evergreen for the future. If you are first to write about something, the search engines usually will give you the top spot. If that topic has longevity, then you you'll get traffic for a long time. So I think the sweet spot is brand new today, but will have life. Like new product reviews, new hotels. Be first and you'll reap rewards.

des donnelly from Ireland on November 21, 2006:

Paul very interesting article, it makes one look at material with a different perspective and there's even an oxymoron in there for good measure. :-)

jstankevicz from Cave Creek on November 14, 2006:

Great HubPage and well stated argument for evergreen content. What do you call short lived content - Internet candy? The nightly news? Regards, Jack

Paul Edmondson (author) from Burlingame, CA on November 14, 2006:

Thanks for the comment.

Responding to an email...Yes, there can be a seasonality affect to evergreen content. Such that Halloween articles are popular at Halloween time etc. From the chart above, it's interesting that who vs whom is constant, how to say I love you peaks around Valentine's Day and Rolex Watches peaks around Christmas which is the biggest shopping time of the year. The trends make it easy to see the seasonlity in the topics.

sapheyerblu from Western Nebraska on November 14, 2006:

This is a great article, very informative. Thanks.