Should I Create Timely Content or Evergreen Content?

Is it better to create timely content or evergreen content? This article will discuss whether you should create timely content or evergreen content, which falls under content marketing strategy. Besides content creation, having a content marketing strategy is just as important. According to the Content Marketing Institute, your content marketing strategy is the “why” of your content creation. Why are you creating specific content? Who are you targeting? And lastly, how can you help your audience in ways that your competition can’t?

Believe it or not, choosing between timely and evergreen content can greatly affect your budgeting and profits. As a matter of fact, content marketing is a profit center. This means that having an effective content marketing strategy will ensure that neither your budget nor profits are negatively affected.

So, should you create timely or evergreen content? Deciding between timely and evergreen content all takes balance. Your content shouldn’t necessarily focus on one or the other, but rather have a happy mix of both. Not only will diversity in both content show that you’re well-versed in your industry, but will also do wonders for your SEO and website traffic.  

What is Timely Content?

Breaking news, promotions, and trending stories are all considered timely content. Anything aligned with current events, holidays, and public interest are typically timely content. The purpose of timely content is to inform your audience of things that are going on in real time. 

Types of Timely Content

If you decide to create timely content instead of evergreen content, it’s important to be familiar with different types of timely content. The type of content you choose to create should match the platform and target its audience. Here are a few different types of timely content and examples of when to use them:

• Offers, promotions, and/or launches

Creating content that highlights promotions, new product launches, or limited-time offers is important for audience awareness. However, it’s important to not excessively post timely content such as this as it can seem pushy towards your viewers. 

Example: Hotels will offer direct booking discounts where customers can get a discounted price making reservations directly with the hotel instead of  a third-party website. Not only does this attract more customers, but would also increase website traffic.

• Content relevant to your industry/business and interesting to consumers

Posting relevant and trending topics in your industry can give your business credibility and authority. Keeping your audience informed on what’s going on in the industry and how it affects your business shows consumers that you’re a reliable source.

Example: A financial wellness company posting tips on how to budget during the COVID-19 pandemic especially during a time of high unemployment. 

• Content that brings a unique perspective on a popular event or holiday

Timely content can be used to piggyback on a popular event or holiday. This can be a golden opportunity for your business to create unique content and showcase your brand in a groundbreaking way. Another great thing about this is that it can be planned in advance. However, be sure the event or holiday has a relation to your brand and/or company.

Example: Johnson & Johnson tweeted an ad to celebrate the birth of the Prince of Cambridge. As you can see, Johnson and Johnson’s brand resonates with the new royal baby.

• Reacting to global events in real-time

Remember how it was mentioned that the type of content you choose to create should match the platform? Twitter is an effective platform used to deliver real-time news to a mass audience. As a business, you can use this opportunity to attract brand awareness.

Example: Oreo tweeted an ad during a power outage at the Super Bowl, which gained 525 million earned impressions.

Why Timely Content is Important

Staying up to date with industry news and trends positions you as an authoritative figure. It’s also important to note that the more active you are with timely content, the more SEO and Google will favor your website. There are other ways that timely content can benefit your business:

• Boosts engagement

Content that is relevant to current events can encourage engagement (likes, shares, and comments) among your followers.

• Increases SEO 

The more engagement your content attracts, the more attention it draws. In other words, backlinks and shares that redirect users to your website will be noticed by Google. Thus, increasing your search engine result rank. 

• Draws in leads and demand

When promoting a new product to customers, writing a post with release dates and information about it will attract interest in the product or new customers for your business. 

• Has more opportunities for outreach

If you’re able to hit that sweet spot between perfect timing and captivating, your content can have organic outreach. Content that is funny and/or moving has more potential to gain impressions from an audience beyond your network. This will open up opportunities to have multimedia coverage.

Because timely content relies on timing and trending topics; this content tends to have an expiration. In other words, posts with short-term relevance tend to be forgotten quicker and people will move on. So, what if you need to create long-lasting relevant content? This brings us to our next topic, evergreen content. 

What is Evergreen Content?

As a business, you need to decide on whether you should create timely or evergreen content. Let’s say your content marketing strategy seems to lean towards content that has long-lasting relevance and is of high-quality. Something that’s the total opposite of timely content. 

Evergreen content tends to stay relevant for a long period of time as they cover topics that usually don’t change.

Types of Evergreen Content

What’s great about evergreen content is that it can be used on most digital channels such as your website, blog, and social media.  If you decide to create evergreen content instead of timely content, you need to get familiar with different the types of evergreen content:

• Guides and How Tos

This is a great way to showcase your expertise to consumers. Guides and how-to’s are best as video tutorials or content for your website.

Example: Home Depot creating a how-to video on cleaning a grill. 

• Case Studies

Showcasing a project your company did or that’s relevant to your industry will inform your consumers and paint you as a credible source.

Example: SEO Design Chicago published a case study about how a visually appealing website helped grow a band’s social media presence.

• Information about your products/services

Are you offering a new product/service? Does it have a new formula? Writing content that highlights the information of your products/services is an effective way to engage your consumers. You can use this type of evergreen content to get creative and advertise in a compelling way.

Example: Before Apple releases a new version of the iPhone, they list out specs and features in a video demo. 

• Lists and checklists

You can use your existing content or other content from credible sources to create a list that won’t go outdated.

Example: Evergreen Content Ideas- The Ultimate List of 100 Ideas.

These are only a select few types of evergreen content. There are obviously more directions you can take, but if you decide to create evergreen content instead of timely content, these are great starters. 

Evergreen Content Ideas

SEO Design Chicago offers content creation services and a team that can come up with many ideas for evergreen content. However, if you’re looking for some inspiration on creating high-quality and long-lasting content on your own, here are some evergreen content ideas:

• Write history

People will often wonder how change in an industry comes about, especially in the tech industry which has quickly changed in the past decade. If you’re a tech blogger, writing about the history of the iPod and its transformation to the iPhone would make good evergreen content.

• Niche glossary

There might be a time when your readers run into words or lingo they’re not familiar with. Creating a list of terms and definitions that are regularly used in your niche can help readers better understand what you’re talking about.

• Best books in your industry

Finding the best books in your niche can pose as a challenge to many readers. You can help them out by writing an article about the best books to learn more about your industry.

• Testimonials

Customer reviews and/or testimonials is another great idea for evergreen content. Not only will testimonials paint your business in a good light, but positive content such as this will remain on your digital footprint forever.

Why Evergreen Content is Important

Just like timely content, you should also be creating evergreen content because this can help shape the overall foundation of your business and its success. Here are some of the following ways on why evergreen content is important:

• If your content is more than 1500 words, it can increase your website’s search ranking.
• Due to higher search rank, it can help increase your website traffic.
• It can help build a large and loyal following of readers.
• Content that has a longer life-span tends to produce more leads; and 
• More leads turn into high conversion rates. 

How You Should Divide Your Content Between Timely and Evergreen

Now that you know the importance of creating both timely and evergreen content, how much of each should you be devoting your content to?

Our advice is that you should be following the 80 percent rule. In other words, the marketing industry standard ratio is 80% evergreen content and 20% timely content. 

So, should you be creating timely content or evergreen content? The answer is you should be creating both but with the 80/20 ratio in mind.

As always, if you need any help creating content, contact SEO Design Chicago today!

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Should I focus on creating timely content or evergreen content for my business?

You shouldn’t choose one over the other – the key is finding the right balance between both types of content. The marketing industry standard recommends following the 80/20 rule: 80% evergreen content and 20% timely content. This combination shows that you’re well-versed in your industry while doing wonders for your SEO and website traffic. Diversity in both content types ensures neither your budget nor profits are negatively affected, as content marketing should function as a profit center for your business.

2. What exactly is the difference between timely and evergreen content?

Timely content includes breaking news, promotions, trending stories, and anything aligned with current events, holidays, or public interest that informs your audience of real-time happenings. This content has an expiration date and tends to be forgotten quickly. Evergreen content covers topics that don’t change and stays relevant for long periods – like guides, how-tos, case studies, product information, and educational materials. While timely content drives immediate engagement, evergreen content builds the foundation of your business’s long-term success.

3. What are the main benefits of creating timely content?

Timely content offers several key advantages: it boosts engagement through likes, shares, and comments on current events; increases SEO because higher engagement draws Google’s attention and improves search rankings; draws in leads and demand especially when promoting new products with release dates and information; and creates more opportunities for organic outreach when you hit the sweet spot between perfect timing and captivating content. Staying active with timely content also positions you as an authoritative figure in your industry.

4. Why is evergreen content so important for long-term business success?

Evergreen content helps build the overall foundation of your business in several ways: content over 1,500 words can increase your website’s search ranking, leading to higher website traffic; it helps build a large and loyal following of readers; content with a longer lifespan tends to produce more leads; and more leads convert into higher conversion rates. Unlike timely content that expires quickly, evergreen content continues working for your business months or even years after publication.

5. What types of evergreen content should I consider creating?

Great evergreen content options include guides and how-tos that showcase your expertise (perfect for video tutorials or website content); case studies that demonstrate your company’s projects and establish credibility; detailed information about your products/services that helps consumers understand what you offer; lists and checklists using existing content that won’t become outdated; industry history articles; niche glossaries defining terms your audience might not understand; best books in your industry recommendations; and customer testimonials that create positive, lasting content.

6. How can I make sure my timely content is effective and not pushy?

The key is strategic timing and relevance to your brand. Avoid excessively posting promotional content like offers and launches, as this can seem pushy to viewers. Instead, focus on content relevant to your industry that’s interesting to consumers, unique perspectives on popular events or holidays (ensuring they relate to your brand), and real-time reactions to global events. Match your content type to the appropriate platform – for example, Twitter is effective for real-time news delivery, while longer-form content works better on blogs or websites.

7. Can evergreen content really help with SEO and website traffic?

Absolutely! Evergreen content is particularly powerful for SEO because it continues to attract traffic long after publication. Content over 1,500 words can significantly increase your website’s search ranking, and higher search rankings naturally lead to increased website traffic. Since evergreen content covers topics that don’t change, it builds authority in your niche and tends to earn backlinks over time. This creates a compounding effect where your evergreen content becomes increasingly valuable for SEO as it ages, unlike timely content that loses relevance quickly.