Evergreen Content vs Trending Content: Which SEO Strategy Wins?

Creating content might look easy, but it isn’t. AI content creation tools might have made the job easier, but human effort is still required to make it stand out and offer value. It is inevitable to create content without comparing it to evergreen content vs trending content. This is because most of the content created falls into either of these two categories. So, out of the two, which one’s better for SEO? Though your opinions may differ, let’s examine both and their differences in this blog to determine which is more compelling.

What is evergreen content: Eternal & Timeless

Evergreen content, as the name suggests, is content that continues to receive valuable traffic and remains relevant for longer periods of time. The information in these content types remains the same for most cases, apart from a few minor refreshes here and there. As content marketing plays a vital role in achieving online visibility and sustainable growth, most businesses are leveraging evergreen content in their marketing strategies. One of the several benefits of evergreen content is that it drives long-term traffic by targeting high-intent keywords and continuously attracting audiences.

What is trending content: Instant Visibility Booster

Creating content based on current online trends is known as trending content. It could be about anything that is very well-liked and frequently discussed by users. News articles, social media challenges, online promotions, movie launches, etc., are some examples of trending content. The main highlight of trending is its surprising element, which, when connected with your brand message, helps connect with audiences almost instantaneously and results in the content becoming viral.

The thing about understanding what is viral content is that if you start early and get a break, you can get ranked highly in search engines without spending a hefty investment. Even though you can see a temporary increase in traffic, once the trend’s popularity drops, so does your traffic. Google’s freshness factor plays a key role here—it rewards newly published or updated content that matches recent search trends, making trending content more likely to rank quickly in the short term.

Evergreen content vs trending content: Weighing the Pros & Cons

Between the two, which one is best for your SEO strategy? Before deciding that, let’s break down the pros and cons of both content types to simplify your choice.

	Evergreen content	Trending content
Pros	Generates consistent search volume and web traffic for the topic in the long run.	Generates traffic and reach faster with minimal effort
	Helps improve SEO, authority, and rankings as the content generates traffic over time.	If started early, the chances of the content becoming viral & getting widespread exposure are higher.
	The content can be easily adapted to various formats with minimal refresh.	As the topic resonates with the current events and interests, this helps connect with target audiences.
Cons	Requires significant time, effort, and research upfront to generate traction and visible results.	Once the trend fades away, the content loses its relevance and becomes quickly outdated.
	May not generate the initial level of traffic as trending content.	The possibility of backfiring if the trend isn’t properly aligned with your brand.
	Limited set of evergreen content types to choose from.	Trending content is created for the moment; therefore, it doesn’t contribute to sustained SEO.

Tips To Create The Right Content Strategy

Whether you plan to create a trending or evergreen content strategy and publish it, certain strategies can be implemented for both content types. Let’s examine what these are:

Choose the content type

This is what you should decide before the creation process. Do you want to take advantage of the latest trends to drive massive traffic, or are you hoping for long-term SEO results? The best option is the one that best fits your goals. You can either go with the evergreen content by investing in creating relevant, valuable content. Or if you prefer the trending route and want to learn how do influencers create viral content, try creating short videos, reels, etc on viral topics.

Prepare a Content Calendar

Whether you choose an evergreen content strategy or a trending one, ensure that you create a monthly content calendar. Apart from providing a roadmap for content distribution, it ensures consistency in publishing, helping maintain audience engagement and building brand authority. What’s more, marketers can efficiently allocate resources and ensure that the requirements are met. 

It is wise to implement a hybrid approach involving both evergreen and trending content in the calendar plan. About 70% of it should be evergreen content that aligns with your long-term goals, and the remaining should be about trending ones that generate immediate attention. By keeping this balance, you can take advantage of viral content opportunities and create a consistent stream of traffic.

Repurpose Existing Content

Maximising the value and relevance of existing content can be achieved through repurposing. For example, if you have created viral content, it can be expanded into evergreen content and vice versa. In addition to saving time, this method helps close the gap between current trends and long-term significance.

Analyse & Monitor

As you create content based on the trend or long-term value, it has to be analysed periodically to identify any content gaps, and necessary adjustments must be made. For that, you can use various tools such as Google Analytics, SEMrush, Ahrefs, etc. For evergreen content, you can track which ones are performing well and update them with newer data to increase their relevancy. When it comes to trending content, monitoring metrics such as page views, shares, and bounce rates helps.

Optimize for SEO

Identifying content issues and tracking their performance through analytics is important; so is optimising them for SEO. If you have evergreen content, target long-tail keywords, as they align with user intent and search patterns, helping you achieve higher rankings. For trending content, focus on short-tail keywords and relevant hashtags. This ensures your content appears in real-time searches.

Evergreen Content vs Trending Content: What Drives SEO Results?

Now that you have learnt what is evergreen content and what is trending content, it’s time to answer the obvious question, “Which is better for SEO?” Despite both content types having unique perks, the most robust strategy is implementing a hybrid content approach. This means utilising both evergreen content examples and viral content. 

The reason behind this is that evergreen content consistently attracts organic traffic over time, helps build your authority within your industry, and generates a steady stream of highly engaged users. Whereas trending content drives rapid traffic and generates immediate attention. This helps increase visibility while leveraging current events at the same time.

It is important to maintain a healthy ratio when it comes to creating and publishing evergreen and trending content pieces. This not only helps establish a solid foundation for sustained growth but also allows you to remain in the spotlight by tapping into viral opportunities. When it comes to creating content that works for both,  you can get started with infographics, blog posts, medium-length articles, etc.

Winding Up

Content creation might be hard, but it’s not impossible. To get started, you must understand what is evergreen content and what is trending content to get an overall idea of them and how they can impact your goals, whether it’s long-term organic growth or immediate visibility. 

At GTECH Information Technology, we believe the most effective approach is to combine the strengths of both approaches. Through our professional expertise, you can learn the benefits of evergreen content and more in detail. We create content that enhances your online visibility and SEO services in addition to driving in viewers. Partner with us to experience the highest level of success.