What is evergreen content?
Evergreen content is content that keeps answering a question people ask year after year. "How to descale an espresso machine" is evergreen; "what we saw at this year's coffee expo" isn't. The name comes from trees that stay green through every season.
Evergreen pages are the backbone of most sites' search traffic because demand for them doesn't disappear after a week. They also attract links over time, since people keep citing a good reference. But "evergreen" doesn't mean "finished": the question may stay the same while the correct answer changes.
Formats that tend to last
- How-to guides for tasks that don't change often.
- Definitions and explainers, such as a glossary.
- Reference pages: checklists, size charts, conversion tables, specifications.
- Troubleshooting guides for common problems.
- Buying guides built on criteria (what to look for) rather than on this season's products.
News, event coverage, trend roundups and product announcements are time-bound by design. They're worth publishing, but they won't carry traffic for years.
Evergreen still needs upkeep
Pages that answer lasting questions still drift out of date: a menu moves in the software you describe, a law changes, a recommended tool shuts down. That slow slide is content decay, and it's the main threat to evergreen traffic.
Put your best evergreen pages on a review schedule, maybe once or twice a year, and check them against current reality. The refresh old posts guide walks through the process. Updating a strong page usually beats writing a new one on the same topic, which also avoids keyword cannibalization.
Dates on evergreen posts
Readers use dates to judge whether advice is current, so hiding them rarely helps. Show when the page was last meaningfully updated, and keep the published and modified dates in your Article markup accurate; Hydrogen SEO's Article schema can fill them with the %date% and %modified% smart tags. Changing the date without changing the substance is a false freshness signal that readers notice quickly. Update the content first, then the date.
Common questions
Is evergreen content better than news for SEO?
They do different jobs. Evergreen pages build steady traffic over years; news can bring spikes and links. Most sites benefit from a base of evergreen content.
How often should I update evergreen content?
Whenever the facts change, and at least on a regular review, such as once or twice a year for important pages.
Should I remove dates from evergreen posts?
Usually not. Show an accurate last updated date so readers can see the page is current.