Make Evergreen Content the Cornerstone of Your Firm’s SEO Strategy

Evergreen content is a critical piece of your SEO puzzle. We show you why it’s so important and how you can take advantage of it for your law firm.

The modern internet runs on content, and even though you’re a lawyer, you are in the content creation business. Content not only helps your SEO, but also encourages visitors to spend more time on your site and burnishes your reputation as knowledgeable and trustworthy. So, the question isn’t whether you should create content for your website; the only question is what kind.

The answer, if you’re in search of long-term SEO value, is evergreen content.

Evergreen content is search-optimized content that remains relevant and discovered by readers long after its publication date. It is, in effect, evergreen. By continually attracting new readers, a piece of evergreen content continues to serve the twin goals of enhancing your SEO and drawing new visitors to your site.

What Is Evergreen Content?

The simplest way to describe what constitutes evergreen content is to explore what it isn’t. News items, updates on services, anything relying heavily on current statistics, or holidays are not evergreen. All of these will vanish from relevance as subsequent events supplant them, the holiday season ends, and new services are announced.

Important to note that this does not mean you shouldn’t write blogs, record podcasts, or shoot videos going into these points. Quite the contrary; all of these can and should appear in your library. You need to understand that as valuable as they are in the short term, they will soon underperform and eventually recede into the archives.

Evergreen content retains its relevance long after its initial release. Most often taking the form of listicles, how-to pieces, tips, FAQs, evergreen content will continually address the concerns of fresh visitors. The best pieces will accrue more traffic over time as they become a go-to resource that answers a specific question or cogently explains an important point.

If there is a question you get a lot in your practice, creating a piece of content to really break it down is an ideal way to develop a piece of evergreen content. The idea is to publish something that will never go out of style.

Why Is It Important?

As with most arguments for producing content, the primary case for evergreen content is SEO. One of the primary drivers of SEO is backlinks, and a piece of evergreen content is far more likely to build a robust library of those than the alternative just by virtue of remaining relevant. The more backlinks a piece accrues, the higher its SEO value will be.

Another reason evergreen content is great for SEO is that because it will remain relevant for a long period, you will acquire a steady stream of traffic to your content. That traffic will boost your page ranking and continue to compound over time as you climb the search rankings. The more users searching for a query related to your content find that content, the more authority search engines will grant your page and website, continuing the cycle of acquiring search traffic.

Thanks to its persistent relevance, you can continue to promote an evergreen piece long term, giving it ample opportunity to build an audience and the accompanying links. Others will find it, link to it on their sites or social media, and every time this happens, you have ample reason to promote it again.

How to Create Evergreen Content

Producing content that stands the test of time and connects with your audience takes some work, but the work is well worth the effort. Once you grasp the essential steps, like keyword research, optimizing for SEO, and adding engaging elements, you’ll have the tools to craft content that stays relevant and keeps people coming back for more. Here are some of the key strategies involved in creating evergreen content:

1. Start with keyword research. You want to create content that users are searching for. Because most of the short, obvious keywords are going to be eaten up by major sites, concentrate on long-tail keywords instead. That also gives you more specifics on what precisely you should be writing about. There are a variety of tools available to research keywords. Use your favorite, or for a low-tech solution, you can employ Google’s own autocomplete on the navigation bar to generate oft-searched topics. Once you have a good idea of what people want to consume, you can get to work creating it.
2. Decide on format (blog, video, etc.), outline and write the content. If it’s a blog post, consider a format like a listicle or an FAQ. If it’s a podcast or video, write a script that you’re comfortable delivering. Whether this means writing out every word, or giving yourself a loose list of talking points, you know how you best present yourself. Lean into your strengths.
3. When writing, avoid overly technical terms and jargon. You’re writing for beginners, so clarity is your friend. Experts generally don’t need broad assistance on a topic, and they are also comparatively rarer than a layperson. Writing to the largest possible audience means more people searching for it, means more chances for backlinks.
4. Next, you need to optimize the content for SEO. Put your keyword in the title if possible, and if it’s a blog post, you should seed it throughout. Don’t stuff it too full of keywords, though. Search engines will recognize if you’re trying to game the system by using your keywords too often and you will be penalized accordingly. Keyword stuffing also makes your content difficult to read, decreasing the likelihood that your readers will share it or come back to your website.
5. As part of the optimization process, don’t forget aspects like internal linking, outbound links, title tags, meta-descriptions, alt-text for images, and of course CTAs. All of these will help a piece of content’s engagement.

What Does Legal-focused Evergreen Content Look Like?

Evergreen content shares features across professional spheres. Narrowing the focus to the legal profession reveals some interesting options. You are lucky to have a profession that is mysterious and intriguing to the public. Many of them have questions that you are equipped to answer.

When creating evergreen content, think about things like:

1. Original research is a wonderful springboard for evergreen content. Look at a common question you might get. For example, if you’re a personal injury lawyer, your clients might wonder about the percentage of cases that go to trial, and whether they have better odds at a good cash settlement at trial or via settlement.
2. You have access to more successful case studies than most. Go into what a good case looks like versus a bad one, and how specific elements can influence the outcome of a case. These can go hand in hand with a “what went wrong” style piece, because often people learn better from mistakes than successes.
3. An outline of what to expect, tailored to your specialty. If you’re in personal injury, talk about what happens in the aftermath of an injury, what steps they should take, and how the case proceeds. If you handle divorces, the same thing. Always include tips on what the client should be doing.
4. The history of a law or legal quirk is always fun. Sometimes you want to produce something that’s just fun to read. One of these “weird law” pieces can gain traction with a lot of spontaneous social media shares.
5. A complete rundown of a specific problem or type of case is very helpful. Remember, though a case for you is just another day, for your client it’s often one of the most stressful times in their lives. Getting deep into a single topic will become an invaluable resource for those facing it.

Lead Science: Your Content Creation Partner

There are as many ideas for evergreen content as there are questions posed to you in your practice. Once you start identifying options, you’ll find that the process becomes easier. Soon you’ll have more ideas than you know what to do with, and alongside a schedule of regular content, you should be building an audience in no time.

Looking for a partner to create captivating digital content for your website? Our comprehensive SEO packages include content creation designed to increase your search rankings and website traffic:

• Our team of SEO experts will work with you to create custom content for your website that will delight your visitors and boost your search traffic.
• We handle all the heavy lifting with keyword research, content audits, and develop a content strategy based on your unique needs.
• You’ll gain access to advanced reporting powered by Google Analytics to track your website’s performance.

Schedule your Lead Science discovery call today. We have over two decades of experience fueling the growth of businesses just like yours with advanced website optimization and SEO strategies.