Evergreen content: automatically publish random posts
Version 3 of the Post to Google My Business plugin adds the long awaited “Evergreen Content” feature. This feature allows you to select content from your website in bulk, and then the plugin will automatically publish random items from your selection on a schedule you define. This way your Google Business Profile will always be populated with fresh content. The Evergreen Content feature is available in the Pro and Agency versions of the plugin.
How to enable the evergreen content feature
In your WordPress admin dashboard, navigate to Post to GMB > Settings > Evergreen content, and check the “Enable evergreen content” checkbox.
Additionally you can also enable the “Evergreen by default” setting. When this setting is enabled, the “Add to evergreen content” checkbox will be automatically checked when you add new content to your website.
Next you will to need to define the posting schedule. The plugin will automatically publish a random post from your selection at the specified day(s) and time.
Proceed by pressing “Save settings”. Everything is now set up and ready. Now you’ll just need to select content that you want to be published.
Adding evergreen content
When the evergreen content feature is enabled, it will add a new checkbox to the “Publish” section of your WordPress content. Checking this checkbox and subsequently Publishing/Updating the content will add it to the list of evergreen content.
When the “Evergreen by default” setting is enabled in Post to GMB > Settings > Evergreen content, the checkbox will be automatically checked.
Likewise, unchecking the checkbox and Publishing/Updating the content will remove it from the selection of evergreen content.
Selecting evergreen content in bulk
When you have a lot of preexisting content, of course having to go into each post and checking the checkbox would be very inconvenient. Therefore the plugin also allows you to select evergreen content in bulk. To select content in bulk, first navigate to the post/page/cpt overview. Select the items you want to mark as evergreen content, and select “Add to GMB evergreen content” in the Bulk Actions dropdown. Press Apply to add the items.
To remove evergreen content in bulk, select the items you want to remove and select “Remove from GMB evergreen content” in the Bulk actions dropdown. To see which content is currently marked as evergreen, consult the “Evergreen” column in the content table.
What to do when the evergreen content checkbox isn’t visible?
When the “Add to Evergreen content” checkbox and bulk actions aren’t visible, first make sure Evergreen content is enabled (Post to GMB > Settings > Evergreen content).
Next make sure the plugin is enabled for the post type you’re trying to add. To do this, navigate to Post to GMB > Settings > Post type settings and enable the appropriate post type(s).
How to change the post template?
Posts published through the evergreen content feature will follow the Default auto-post template defined in Post to GMB > Settings > Autopost settings, or it will use a template from the Post to GMB > Auto-post templates section when a different template is selected for the content or post type in question. To learn more about editing the auto post template, check out the article about the auto-post feature.
Note: The automatic re-post setting will be ignored for posts created by the evergreen feature to avoid “spamming” your GBP listing with posts
Keeping tabs on posts created by the plugin
To see what the plugin is doing and whether it is successfully publishing content, you can check out the Dashboard page (Post to GMB > Dashboard). Here you will find a calendar view that shows when posts have been published, or are scheduled to be published. To get more info you can click each post which will open a dialog with info and options.
