What is evergreen content?
Evergreen content is web content that is created in a way that allows it to grow its audience steadily over time. It’s intended to always be relevant to readers and covers topics that people search for all the time. Evergreen content can be updated and optimised so that it is more likely to be useful to readers and so that it reflects the evolution of the topic or project it covers.
It contrasts with Static content, which is more focused on a specific moment in time and is not updated once that moment has passed.
Website traffic to evergreen pages generally starts out quite small, but it gradually grows as the page earns search authority for relevant keywords. Static content typically earns most of its traffic within the first few days after publication before it drops off almost entirely. Both evergreen and static content has its own strategic value in how we communicate our work to our users and help them find the answers they’re looking for.
Types of evergreen content on amnesty.org
Typically, when we are talking about evergreen content on amnesty.org, we are referring to the mostly text based, information content on the various issues we work on. The entire library of this content can be found on the What We Do landing page. This content includes Global Thematic Issue pages and Project pages, which cover more specific areas of work, often tied to a single region or country rather than approaching the issue from a global view.
There are other examples of evergreen content on amnesty.org which provide information on Amnesty International as an organization. These include the about us page, our careers page, the finances and pay page, our leadership page, among others.
Requirements for Global Issue and Project Pages
The structure and layout of the page should follow best standard practice to make sure it is accessible and easy to read.
- Lines of text should not exceed 75 characters. This can be assured by using 50/50 split column structure to arrange content and AV assets side by side (These will stack on mobile).
- The main text should be in the left column to maintain an F-Pattern shape that allows for faster reading. Case studies are swapped so the text is on the right and the AV asset is on the left, as this makes it visually distinct from the rest of the page.
- Lists of more than three items should be formatted as bullet points rather than writing them out in a sentence. Based on Millers Law, the average person can typically retain a maximum of seven items in their immediate memory. As such, we should ideally not have lists of more than seven items.
Start with a short overview section which introduces our key messaging on the issue or campaign.
- Do not include overview text that is too long. It should be two or three paragraphs long and each paragraph should not be longer than 3 sentences.
- The overview section should be followed by an in-page menu and then a call to action.
The main body of the page should be broken by clear, accessible structured headings which will be used in a navigation bar near the beginning of the page.
- Do not include more than one H1 on the page. The only H1 should be used in the Hero block at the top of the page.
- Make sure your heading structure is hierarchical. Heading level should be selected based on their context in the content, not just based on the font size.
- For more information on semantic heading structure best practice, check out these guidelines from the a11y project.
Evergreen content must include a primary call to action that directs users to an active way to get involved. This can include signing a petition, signing up for an online course, donating to Amnesty or becoming a member.
- There should one call-to-action so it is clear what we want the user to do next. According to Hicks Law, the time takes to make decision or action increases as the decision becomes more complex. By presenting users with a single, clear call to action, we can increase the chances that they will click on it.
- The primary call to action should be relevant to the content.
- Use the Call-to-Action Pattern so the style is consistent with other evergreen pages.
- Repeat the call to action across the page to improve its visibility.
Write with a conversational tone that can be easily understood by people reading about this topic for the first time
- Do refer to the reader as ‘you’. If the speaker is an Amnesty member or staff member, they should refer to Amnesty as ‘we’.
- Do not use passive voice. For example, ‘Authorities detained thousands of protesters’ not ‘Thousands of protesters were detained by authorities’.
- Do use present tense instead of imperfect tense when possible. For example, ‘Amnesty campaigns for human rights’ not ‘Amnesty has campaigned for human rights’
- Do not use jargon, acronyms or other complicated language. If we need to reference a specific government body, be prepared to explain what that body does and why it is relevant to the topic.
- Do add in-line links to reference existing materials so that people can explore those resources in a new tab. This can make it easier for you to focus on the main points in the blog post without overwhelming people with too much information.
- Do not use footnotes to cite your sources.
Avoid language that sets the content in a fixed period in time.
- Do not refer to ‘last week’s headline’ or the report Amnesty published ‘last month’. If you need to specify when an event occurred, say the date and month.
All content should meet our minimum web content accessibility standards
- Do not use photos with text edited onto them. This includes infographics being added as image. If you want to add an infographic, use a data visualization tool like Infogram or Flourish.
- Add alt text for all images. Alt text should be short and descriptive. It should not include text like ‘photo of’ or ‘image of’ since this can get repetitive for screen-readers
- Add subtitles to your video if it has voiceover or otherwise relies on sound to communicate. This includes adding subtitles in other languages if the page is being translated into other languages.
- Use structured text to break up your writing into manageable chunks.
Adhere to our audiovisual publishing guidelines
- Do not add distressing images or video, for example of death or physical effects of human rights abuses, on evergreen pages. This material should only be presented as evidence in our research documents and is not appropriate for the audiences who are most likely to read our evergreen content.
- For work related to the death penalty, do not use images of methods used to execute people such as nooses, electric chairs, needles.
- Do look after your own well-being when working with disturbing content.
- Use appropriate language · Follow Amnesty’s inclusive language guidelines. For help, check out A-Z list of terms.
- Do not use expletive or offensive language.
Recommendations
Make your text easier to read or skim
- Do use bold formatting to highlight the most important parts of your text.
- Do use bullet points instead of listing out items in a sentence with commas.
- Do move important points onto their own line to give them gravity.
Use high quality images and video that don’t weigh down your page
- Do not use screenshots of photographs or videos, unless we do not have access to the originals.
- Compress your images so they are less than 2MB. You should be able to do this without impacting the image quality if you are using an original image file.
- Crop images so they complement your page layout.
There should not be more than one complex interactive element on one page. This is to avoid overwhelming the reader in a way that will make it harder for them to engage with the material
- A complex interactive element includes interactive maps, charts or diagrams that require users to click to reveal information, 360-view interactions among others. These interactions are likely to make the users experience more complex and less likely to retain information from the page. If they are used, there should not be more than one on a single page.
- There are some interactives, like bar charts or line graphs, which are less overwhelming and can make the content more accessible than if that information was conveyed in an image. It is acceptable to include multiple interactives like this to a single page.