Once you start publishing, familiarizing yourself with the best blogging practices is the next logical step. Dating blog posts is a controversial topic among bloggers. Different people have different opinions, and every blogger chooses whether or not to date an article. Moreover, some bloggers date some blogs and not others.
This article explains evergreen content, its significance, and why you should date your blog posts. We will also include a list of solutions for adding and removing dates on your blog.
What is evergreen content?
Evergreen content is content that continues to be relevant long after its publication. Readers can always gain insight by reading the information in an evergreen article or blog. While most blog posts offer time-sensitive information, some formats organically fall into this category.
Evergreen blog post formats include tips, listicles, product reviews, and how-to content. For longevity, instructional blogs and videos should contain timeless information. Some ways to achieve evergreen content on your blog are to answer frequently asked questions from your audience and offer industry-standard tips and tricks to help understand confusing concepts.
Importance of evergreen content
Evergreen content helps you:
- Attract and direct your target audience to your desired goal by introducing them to your sales funnel.
- Improve your website’s ranking on search engines.
- Drive organic traffic to your site.
- Increase user engagement by connecting with your audience on social media.
- Establish yourself as an expert in your niche
How to write evergreen content – Top 3 tips
- Carefully choose your keywords. Keywords determine the relevance of your content. Long-tail keywords improve the odds of having visitors on your webpage than short ones. Before creating content, detailed keyword research is necessary to determine which works best for you.
- Optimize your content. After choosing your keyword, use SEO best practices to optimize your blog. Some best practices include adding backlinks to connect related articles, using your keyword in the heading, and adding relevant images.
- Write for beginners. While you may be an expert in your niche, using jargon in your writing deters potential readers. Always ensure you write in a language beginners in your field can understand. Remember, beginners are the most information-hungry readers surfing the web. Using easy-to-understand language keeps them coming for more of your content.
Should I date my blog posts?
If your content is not evergreen, dating your log posts is good industry practice. The reasons to do this include:
Providing context
Blogging exists in a fast-moving world where the best writing principles, social media, and ways to gain insights change without notice. Dating blog posts help you provide context to your readers. They understand the perspective of your content better and determine its relevance.
Building trust
When readers see your blog’s publication dates, they can track your first address of a particular topic. Subsequent writings on the same show experience with the subject and helps establish your expertise.
With this, readers can trust that the provided information is relevant and good enough to address their pain points.
Search engines also use blog dates to rank. A blog featuring the publication date has a better chance of click-through than one that doesn’t.
Date solution on your blog posts
If you’re still undecided about dating your blogs, the following are some options to explore:
- Adding dates on the front page of your blog. Adding a date on your blog’s homepage hides dates from older posts and shows visitors to your recent publications.
- Subtle dates. In most cases, publication dates for blogs appear right below the heading. If you intend to make your dates low-key, you can include them as footnotes or use muted colors and small fonts. Doing this draws a reader’s attention from the date and directs it to the information containing the answers they seek.
