How to create Evergreen Content: Articles that stay relevant over time

Introduction

Creating evergreen content is an essential strategy in content marketing and SEO copywriting. This is the type of content that remains relevant and up-to-date, despite the passage of time. An evergreen article, for example, is not dated and the information it contains remains interesting, useful and relevant to readers and web users, year after year. It's content that doesn't go out of fashion, that's timeless and that continues to generate traffic over the long term.

What is Evergreen content?

The term "evergreen" comes from the English language and means "always green". In the world of digital marketing, it's the name given to content that, like conifers, never loses its leaves and always remains rich and up-to-date, no matter how the seasons change. Evergreen formats can be varied: blog articles, tutorials, complete guides, infographics, instructional videos, etc. The main thing is that this content remains relevant over time and is not linked to fleeting news items or passing trends.

Why create Evergreen content?

Creating evergreen content has a number of advantages for your site or blog. Firstly, this type of content attracts visitors for a long time. Because it is always up to date, people continue to read, share and comment on it months or even years after the date of publication. This helps your site's natural search engine optimisation (SEO) and visibility, since Google greatly appreciates this type of content, which remains constantly interesting to users. What's more, evergreen content can serve as a reference in your field of activity, helping to establish your authority and earn the trust of your readers.

How do you create Evergreen content?

So how do you go about creating evergreen content? The most important thing is to choose subjects that are timeless. These subjects must be relevant and of interest to your audience today, but also tomorrow. For example, instead of writing about the year's trends, base your content on basic principles that don't change over time. Next, make sure you update your content regularly to keep it fresh and relevant for your readers and the search engines.

Why evergreen content is a strategic investment

The world of content marketing is often compared to the stock market, where certain assets depreciate as quickly as they appreciate in value; a buzz tweet can trigger a dazzling spike in traffic, then fade into oblivion in a matter of hours. In the face of this volatility, the alternative is similar to real estate: you build a solid article, as solid as a stone house, capable of maintaining (or even increasing) its value year after year. This is precisely the promise of evergreen content. Take the example of the How to Tie a Tie guide by Real Men Real Style published in 2012, it still appears in the top Google results for the query tie a tie thanks to a winning combination of graphic clarity, integrated videos and timeless advice. This kind of content isn't just persistent; it's cumulative. Every natural backlink acquired between 2012 and today strengthens the position of the article, creating a virtuous circle reminiscent of Warren Buffett's concept of "compound interest".

Identifying timeless subjects: the strata method

Geologists can read the history of the Earth in the strata of rock; content creators can read the history of their niche in the strata of questions asked by Internet users. To identify a truly evergreen subject, we can superimpose :

1. The human needs strategy

Physiological and psychological needs change little. Maslow's search for health, love, security, self-esteem and fulfilment has spanned the centuries. An article on How to improve the quality of your sleep will remain relevant for as long as human beings need to sleep. The well-known example of Harvard Health Publishing where the post Blue light has a dark side published in 2012 is still generating millions of organic sessions.

2. The sustainable skills strategy

Some skills last much longer than the tools that facilitate them. Knowing how to write a convincing cover letter, learning to code using algorithmic logic or pruning a vine all fall into this category. The website CodecademyLaunched in 2011, the Learn JavaScript Syntax - First Steps introductory course maintains a steady flow of traffic; the syntax has evolved with ES6, but the underlying algorithmic logic has not.

3. The strata stable legal or scientific framework

As long as the theory of gravitation remains valid, an article explaining free fall or the difference between weight and mass will be referenced. On the other hand, a dossier on temporary tax deductions linked to a pandemic is by its very nature perishable. Hence the importance of choosing a territory where the rules don't change every six months. The online encyclopaedia Investopedia succeeded in this challenge: his article Compound Interest Definition dates back to 2006 and is still an authority, because the mathematical formula has not aged a day.

Digging deeper: triangulating sources

Writing evergreen content is a bit like making a vin de garde: the raw materials must be of the highest quality, and the blending must be meticulous. Here's a roadmap:

1. Academic literature reviews

An article based on meta-analyses, systematic reviews or works considered to be classics in their field builds a solid authority. For example, a post on The Zeigarnik effect and memory that cites Bluma Zeigarnik (1927), then bridges to more recent work published in the Journal of Experimental Psychologyis all the more robust because it brings together several generations of research.

2. Longitudinal statistical data

Statistics are the mother tongue of sustainability. The long series produced by the World Bank, the OECD and the United Nations are inexhaustible. An article on Global Literacy Rates since 1900 may be refreshed each year, but its backbone remains the same. This logic is not just a luxury for researchers; it is the reason why Our World in Data is always at the forefront of demographic and climate research.

3. Case studies and historical anecdotes

Last but not least, storytelling is a way of looking at the long term. A case study of the Ottoman Empire to illustrate sustainable inflation, or the London cholera epidemic of 1854 to talk about datavisualisation (John Snow's famous map), gives the article an old-fashioned character that reassures readers that they are not dealing with the ephemeral.

Structuring a timeless article: organic architecture

The structure is the backbone of a building; if it's well thought out, you can repaint the walls ten years later without touching the foundations. The classic Introduction-Problem-Solution model works, but evergreen content often benefits from a modular architecture. There are three approaches to this:

1. The inverted pyramid

Inherited from journalism, it consists of delivering the essential information in the first paragraph before going into more detail progressively. The advantage: the article remains useful even if the reader only reads 30 %. This technique can still be seen on Wikipedia, where the lead always summarises the main information.

2. The hub & spoke system

The hub is a master guide (sometimes 10,000 words) like Backlinko's Le guide complet du SEO on-page, around which specialist pages (Title tags, Alt tags, etc.) revolve. This configuration makes it possible to update the spokes without altering the overall relevance of the hub. HubSpot's internal data shows that clusters formed in this way generate 3.8 times more backlinks than a set of isolated articles.

3. The dynamic FAQ approach

By answering timeless questions (Who ? What ? Why ? How ? When ? Where ?), we obtain a self-supporting structure. The NASA website has been devoting a page to Why is the sky blue? for more than ten years; each sub-question (What about sunsets?) forms a sub-chapter, so that the page has stood the test of time without wrinkling.

Style, tone and readability: speaking to the person of the future

Social context, linguistic fashion and even political correctness fluctuate. To stand up, a text must aim for clarity and be wary of dated stylistic effects. Here are four principles inspired by George Orwell (Politics and the English Language):

• Avoid dead metaphors: they lose their meaning over time. Rather than pulling disco mobiles out of our cupboards, clean out the duplicates.
• Favour the active voice: The engineers test the prototype is less subject to blurring than The prototype is tested.
• Reduce the jargon: an IT expert in 2034 will still understand virtual memory, but perhaps no longer pagefile.
• Insert concrete examples: tomorrow's human will still have hands, emotions and overflowing mailboxes. A practical example of inbox zero will survive better than a pun on Snapchat Spectacles.

SEO evergreen: sowing seeds that can withstand the seasons of the algorithms

Google publishes 6 to 8 major updates a year, but certain best practices have remained stable for more than a decade:

1. Search Intent

Since the arrival of RankBrain (2015), Google has been striving to understand the purpose behind the query. Evergreen content is positioned by responding exhaustively to the dominant intention. The article How to Cook Rice on the Simply Recipes covers cooking with water, in the rice cooker, steam and microwave, so it can capture requests for cook rice in microwave or best water ratio for rice without creating ten different items.

2. Sustainable keywords and semantic cocoons

Keywords are also getting older: SEO 2023 will be obsolete within the year. On the other hand, search engine optimisation or learn HTML have been searched for since the year 2000. Use the Surfer SEO or SEMrush tool to filter out terms with a stable trend (Google Trends index, etc.). < 10 % of volatility over five years) helps to build a lasting vocabulary.

3. Timeless technical optimisation

Relevant Title and Meta Description tags, optimised loading time, hierarchical Hn structure, sitemap.xml file: these fundamentals are the equivalent of Archimedes' laws. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has been validating its pages since 1994: the graphic charter has changed, but the HTML semantics remain intact.

Proactive updating: the invisible timestamp strategy

The common mistake is to believe that evergreen content can no longer be touched. The secret lies in silent revision, like the curator who stabilises a painting without altering its signature. Three concrete practices:

1. Review factual figures every 12 months: population figures, interest rates, health statistics.
2. Adjust the software interface screenshots, but place the visuals within a universal container (neutral background, standard dimensions) to avoid breaking the layout.
3. Add an Updated section at the bottom of the page, dated (Last checked: May 2024), reassuring the user without detracting from the perceived time value.

The platform NerdWallet updates its credit card comparisons every three months, but the content remains evergreen because the decision-making structure (annual rate, fees, cashback) remains constant.

Typology of evergreen content: beyond the How-To article

While the tutorial is king, other formats lend themselves admirably to sustainability.

1. Glossaries and dictionaries

The UX Dictionary glossary from Nielsen Norman Group organises definitions around immutable principles: affordance, heuristics, user-centred design. Each new acronym (F-pattern, 10-foot UI) can be added like a brick without destabilising the whole.

2. Practical cheat sheets

Search Engine Land's Periodic Table of SEO Factors has been compiling on-page/off-page elements since 2011. Even if Google changes its criteria, for many people the periodical folder remains a mental benchmark, a poster to be displayed in the office.

3. Longitudinal studies

The website Statista creates pages Number of global smartphone users 2014-2028; the curve continues each year, but the URL and authority remain unchanged.

4. Operational checklists

The WHO checklist for safety in the operating theatre dates from 2008 and still governs anaesthetic procedures. Transposed to content marketing, a checklist of 20 points to check before publishing an article will remain relevant as long as WordPress has a Publish button.

Reuse and distribution: taking your evergreen on the road

The power of distribution is often underestimated. A feature article can be broken down into :

• Infographics (Pinterest, LinkedIn).
• Explanatory mini-videos (YouTube Shorts, TikTok).
• Podcast episodes (Spotify, Apple Podcasts).
• Slideshare or Instagram carousels.
• evergreen themed newsletters, like Welcome Flow from Morning Brew.

When Brian Dean published his Link Building: The Definitive Guide (2016), he broke it down into 14 YouTube videos, 3 case studies and a downloadable PDF. The result: 290,000 accumulated backlinks according to Ahrefs. The same principle applies to a science article Why is the sky blue? transformed into experiments for children on TikTok or e-learning modules for teachers.

Measuring success over the long term: KPIs with a slow half-life

Traditional indicators (CPC, CTR, instant conversion rates) are insufficient. To monitor evergreen content, it's best to observe :

1. Cumulative organic traffic

While the session curve continues to climb without advertising injection, the content is fulfilling its mission. Amazon AWS Academy's What Is Cloud Computing? page has recorded annual growth of 12 % since 2017 without paid promotion, a sign of organic capitalisation.

2. Total number of referring domains

Ahrefs shows that the diversity of domains counts for more than the raw number of links. Regular growth reveals the natural spread of the article, like a dandelion seed carried by the wind.

3. Average time spent & return rate

Content that keeps the reader for an average of 5 minutes in 2024, then 6 minutes in 2025, proves that it is getting richer. The theory of the Lindy effect (the longer something has survived, the longer it is expected to last) applies here.

4. Stable positioning on stable queries

Use SERPWatcher to monitor the main keywords. If an article stays in the top 3 for 18 months while the algorithmic landscape shifts, that's a strong indicator of resilience.

The network effect: building an evergreen ecosystem

A single article, no matter how excellent, runs out of steam on its own. Imagine the Library of Alexandria with only Plato's Republic scroll: fewer visitors, fewer cross-references. Creating an ecosystem means interweaving evergreen content. For example, if you write The complete guide to home composting, link it to sister articles: Selecting your vermicomposter, Mistakes to avoid with bio-waste, Composting in winter. In this way, each page serves as a gateway to the others (Wikipedia effect).

What's more, Google's algorithm relies more and more on entities (Knowledge Graph). By linking your evergreen content to a hub of entities (people, places, concepts), you strengthen Google's trust and the relevance of the internal mesh. This is why the New York Times has created Topic pages (Climate Change, Artificial Intelligence): they bring together recent articles and evergreen articles under the same semantic banner.

The depth bias: responding better than everyone else

The metric that separates the evergreen champions from the others is depth of coverage. A user who finds the complete answer will not need to open ten other tabs; Google implicitly notes this via pogo-sticking (immediate return to the SERP). Take the example of How to Boil Eggs on Serious Eats. The post explores cooking times, albumen chemistry, density testing in salt water, peeling methods, infographics, FAQs. It's still the reference since 2015 - although hundreds of articles come out every year on the subject.

To achieve this depth, it may be appropriate to :

• Launch a field survey (Typeform survey, user interviews) to include exclusive data.
• Integrate an in-house tool (online calculator, simulator) that makes the article interactive, like NerdWallet's Mortgage Calculator.
• Add a bibliography or Further Reading section, an often overlooked practice that reinforces authority.

Integrating the multilingual dimension: the multiplier effect

Well-translated evergreen content multiplies its lifespan by breaking down the contextual barrier. Mindful.org's article The Beginner's Guide to Meditation was translated into Spanish, German and Japanese; the international versions generated 37 % of additional traffic. To ensure that the translation remains timeless, it is important to avoid cultural references that are too deeply rooted (e.g. jokes on American talk shows) and to adopt universal examples (breathing, posture, mental calm).

The role of visual storytelling: timelessness through design

A clear graphic or a minimalist vector illustration ages better than a fashion photo frozen in a 2010 aesthetic. The website Wait But Why use simple, hand-crafted diagrams; these designs work just as well in 2014 as they do in 2024, because they're free from design trends. For your images:

• Choose an illustrator or flat design style.
• Avoid sets of stock icons that are too easily identifiable.
• Keep the source files to re-export in high definition when screen resolutions increase.

Anticipating technological change: writing for tomorrow's web

The history of the Internet shows that technology spares nothing: the abandonment of Flash, the spread of HTTPS, the advent of AMP. For content to survive :

1. Adopt open standards (HTML5, CSS Grid) rather than proprietary solutions.
2. Focus on accessible text: compatibility with screen readers extends relevance into a future regulated by accessibility.
3. Prepare your structured data (Schema.org) so that a voice assistant from 2030 can read your sourdough bread recipe aloud.

Conclusion: the evergreen philosophy as a paradigm shift

Creating evergreen content means taking the long view and accepting a different kind of temporality: slow but cumulative. Like a Japanese garden, each stone, each shrub is placed to remain harmonious over time. By respecting the strata method, taking care with research, building your article like a modular structure and cultivating discreet but regular maintenance, you will have digital assets that can withstand the seasons, trends and algorithm updates.

Creators who embrace this vision see their influence grow organically, while those who chase current events run out of steam. To quote a Chinese proverb: The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now. The same goes for your future evergreen content: plant it today, water it from time to time, and let nature do the rest.

You may also be interested in these articles:

Long-form content strategies: Why they can improve your rankings How to use Google Search Console to analyse your website's performance How to Use Google Analytics to Improve Your Search Engine Optimisation Strategy Optimising broken links: How to repair broken links on your website SEO and Video Marketing : How to optimise your videos for search engines