Evergreen Topics vs. Hot Topics – Which Is Better?

January 19, 2017 Teresa Clark

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When you’re creating content for your website, the question of evergreen topics versus hot topics may come up. Evergreen content usually will be good for many months or even years, while hot topics are “old” after a short period of time. Even a day or two might be too long for some hot topics.

The very fast answer to this question is that you should have a website full of evergreen topics interspersed with some hot topics.

Most of the things you write about should be evergreen; however, you still should use hot topics. The right mixture of both evergreen and hot topics depends entirely on your niche. You might have 80 percent evergreen and 20 percent hot topics in order to put some new information into the mix and excite your readers. Try different percentages to see what works best for your niche.

Evergreen topics last longer than hot topics. That isn’t to say that you won’t eventually have to update your evergreen topics. But you can’t really freshen up hot topics. As soon as they’ve expired, they’re just content that’s taking up space.

Having plenty of evergreen content on your site will pay off, month after month and even year after year. But people are much more likely to share hot topics with their friends. A well-timed hot topic post will be shared more immediately with friends across social media. And hot topics are terrific for when you just can’t think of anything to write about. You can search industry news and come up with a hot topic off the cuff to add some excitement to your content.

Hot topics are a great way to bring excitement to your website. But you can’t be behind the curve when it comes to writing about a hot topic. You have to get to it right away because the topic isn’t going to be relevant next week. Writing about hot topics requires you to stay aware of industry trends so that you can be fast on your feet with getting the information out to your audience.

To create a well-rounded and interesting website, your content should be mostly evergreen topics with a splash of hot topics. By covering both evergreen and hot topics, you’ll provide your audience with more well-rounded choices of content. And having a variety of content to choose from will make your website that much more interesting, current, and relevant to your target audience.