Evergreen content has long been a cornerstone of SEO and brand authority. In 2025, as algorithms prioritize user intent and content quality more than ever, mastering evergreen strategy remains essential—but the rules have evolved. Here’s how to make timeless content that ranks, resonates, and converts today.
Topical vs. Evergreen Content
When developing content for digital marketing in 2025, it’s essential to think beyond just the message—consider how long your content will stay useful. Content typically falls into one of two categories: topical or evergreen. These terms apply across formats—whether it’s blog posts, videos, infographics, or social media.
Evergreen content, like the trees it’s named after, remains relevant and valuable over time. It answers timeless questions, solves persistent problems, or provides foundational knowledge. This type of content continues to drive traffic and engagement months or even years after it’s published.
Topical content, on the other hand, focuses on timely or trending subjects—like current events, viral moments, or seasonal campaigns. It’s often attention-grabbing and highly shareable, but its relevance fades quickly. Just as you wouldn’t revisit last week’s headlines for breaking news, audiences tend to move on from topical content just as fast.
A balanced content strategy includes both types: topical content to capture short-term buzz, and evergreen content to build long-term value and authority.
Examples of Topical Content:
- The Best Halloween Costumes of 2014, According to Us
- Starbucks Just Put the Secret “Pink Drink” on Its Official Menu
Evergreen content, on the other hand, remains engaging and valuable long after it’s been created. It’s content that continues to be useful, entertaining, or relevant even years after its publication—something your audience would still be happy to encounter and benefit from, no matter when they find it.
Examples of Evergreen Content:
It’s essential to create both topical and evergreen content for your business’s website, social media, and other online marketing channels. However, if your resources (time or budget) are limited, focusing on evergreen content is often the best strategy. This is because evergreen content typically generates a higher return on investment (ROI) compared to topical content, making it a more sustainable and valuable marketing asset in the long run.
Evergreen content remains relevant and useful long after its creation, continuing to attract traffic and engage users, which results in ongoing value for your business.
Why Evergreen Content is Valuable
Creating evergreen content offers numerous benefits, with the most obvious being its long-lasting relevance compared to topical content. This type of content remains useful and shareable for an extended period, sometimes even years after publication. While developing high-quality evergreen content may require more effort upfront, it can significantly reduce the time and resources spent on constantly generating fresh content.
Evergreen content also provides greater SEO benefits than topical content. Since users continue to search for evergreen topics over time, these pieces maintain their value in search rankings, unlike topical content, which typically sees a drop in relevance. For example, users will always seek advice on managing dinnertime battles with their kids, while searches for “best Halloween costumes of 2014” are long gone. Publishing evergreen content on your site not only boosts traffic and search rankings but also increases its chances of earning backlinks, further enhancing SEO.
Additionally, evergreen content is a powerful tool for attracting and engaging new members of your target audience. By sharing it through newsletters or tweets, even years after publication, you can consistently build brand awareness and establish authority. The best digital marketing strategies strike a balance between topical and evergreen content to maximize user engagement and ensure the best return on your content marketing efforts.
A standout example of this strategy is The New York Times, which skillfully combines topical and evergreen content in its marketing. While its primary focus is timely news, the publication also creates articles with enduring relevance. One such example is:
Creating Evergreen Content
If you’re ready to create some evergreen content, here are a few tips to help you get started.
Pick the Right Topics
Certain topics are better-suited to retain value over time. These include topics like:
- Relationships
- Parenting
- Budgeting
- Diet & Exercise
- Food
Avoid trendy topics, current events, statistics, news, or seasonal holidays. While holiday-themed content can have short-term relevance, it only remains evergreen if created in a timeless way. Similarly, fashion and tech-related content, especially reviews, tend to stale quickly. Make sure whatever topic you choose is relevant to your business in the long run.
Choose an Evergreen Style
Certain formats and content styles also tend to have more evergreen value. Here are a few approaches that can help:
- Answer a Question: Think about common questions users have about your products, services, or industry. Aim to create content that provides honest answers without being overly promotional. Building authority and trust among your audience is far more effective for evergreen content.
- Give Advice: People often turn to the web for advice. Whether it’s tips to make their lives easier or guidance on a common problem, helpful advice can remain relevant for years.
- Teach a Lesson: People are naturally curious. Educational content that introduces basic industry concepts or explains “how things work” is always in demand. For example, The New York Times’ feature on how Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese is made received nearly half a million views just one day after posting. High-quality, engaging educational content has lasting power.
Finding Content Opportunities
One challenge with evergreen content is that some topics may already be saturated. In these cases, use your brand voice and perspective to make the topic uniquely your own. A content gap analysis can also help uncover untapped opportunities that are relevant to your niche.
Incorporating Evergreen Content
Once you’ve created a piece of evergreen content, don’t just publish it and forget it. To maximize its potential, you need to promote it effectively.
Avoid burying your evergreen content deep within your blog or content feed. Once a piece is published, it can easily get lost behind newer, topical posts. Be proactive in making sure your audience can find and access your evergreen content over time.
For example, The New York Times has a special column, Modern Love, dedicated to relationship articles, ensuring that readers know where to find evergreen content. They regularly promote these pieces on social media and in ads, whereas their topical content requires less promotion since it’s naturally consumed by readers looking for breaking news.
When creating your content strategy, it’s important to balance both topical and evergreen content. If your time or budget is limited, consider focusing more of your resources on evergreen content. This allows for long-term engagement while still occasionally publishing topical content for quick relevance.
A well-rounded portfolio of evergreen content can be a valuable asset for your digital marketing efforts. It keeps sustained traffic flowing to your site, strengthens your brand authority, and improves SEO. Creating evergreen content can be as simple as answering an FAQ, sharing industry insights, or offering valuable advice to your target market. Try creating evergreen content for your next piece and see how it benefits your business in the long run!