The Google search engine updates its algorithms and requirements for webmasters several times a year. It helps to provide users with the most relevant answers and to reduce the use of forbidden practices closer to zero. Despite the frequent updates, backlinks are still one of the main factors in ranking today.
Many beginners may be surprised to learn that there are dozens of methods to build link mass, including legal and banned ones. SEO skyscraper is one of the white-hat tactics most modern webmasters use to get quality backlinks. What is the skyscraper method, and how does it work? In this article, you can find answers to such questions.
ℹ️ Defining the Skyscraper Technique
The skyscraper technique is a legal way to generate backlinks that appeared in 2013. Its founder is a well-known search engine optimization specialist and founder of the Backlinko website, Brian Dean. The essence of this method is quite simple, as you should aim to find popular queries in your niche and create quality articles. Quality content will allow you to attract backlinks.
You might also have a question about why this is called the skyscraper technique. Well, it’s easy – quality content is compared to tall skyscrapers that stand out among other buildings in the city. The main objective of the SEO skyscraper technique is to create and publish such content on website pages that will stand out and attract the attention of users.
⏺️ The Factors Behind the Skyscraper Technique’s Effectiveness
The popularity of the skyscraper method started right after Brian Dean published the results of his experiment. He created high-quality content and sent 160 emails to various webmasters. Then, he managed to get 17 links from authoritative sources, which increased the total organic traffic of the site by 110%. Sounds pretty impressive, doesn’t it?
The main factor in the effectiveness of the skyscraper technique is content that stands out from the competition and that the target audience will be interested in reading. However, in 2024, the number of webmasters who will agree to change an existing link to yours is much less than it was 10 years ago.
⚙️ Reasons to Adopt the Skyscraper Technique in SEO
Using the right approach, the skyscraper technique can be a very useful tool for SEO promotion. This tactic has a number of advantages, and here are the most important ones:
🔹 Increasing traffic metrics. If your content is truly superior to that of your competitors, you can expect a boom in organic traffic.
🔹 Building authority. Quality articles and other content will help boost the number of backlinks. Google will definitely take this factor into account when forming the DR (Domain Rating).
Moreover, SEO skyscraper can also be called a tactic for long-term prospects. You will strive to create the best content that always attracts the attention of users on the Internet.
❓ Does the Skyscraper Technique Still Deliver Results?
It has been more than 11 years since the skyscraper technique was invented. Since its appearance, it has made a huge furor among SEO experts all over the world because this approach has produced a lot of results. However, many people wonder if it is relevant to use such tactics for SEO now.
Search engines have come a long way in the last decade, and many things have changed. Despite this, the skyscraper method still bears fruits to this day, just not as impressive as it was originally. A professional SEO optimizer adapts to market conditions and will always find an effective solution.
❓ How to Do Skyscraper Method
What is skyscraper content, and how to use this method in modern conditions? We often see such questions from newbies in the field of SEO. It’s not surprising because this method can still be effective today, as you may have already seen. That’s why we decided to share a step-by-step guide that will help you understand this topic and start getting backlinks. In short, the whole process looks like this:
- Understand what topics are relevant.
- Create unique and quality content.
- Reach out to blogs for links.
However, we also want to highlight that the results from a skyscraper link building campaign can depend on many factors, including the level of competitiveness. The less unique content on popular queries, the easier it is to get better ranking positions.
1️⃣ Step 1: Identify Competitive Content
SEO skyscraper technique starts with a detailed analysis of the market, competitors, and results of the latest search queries. Your main task during this phase is to determine which topics are the hottest at the moment among your target audience. If you are focused on a specific geolocation, be sure to include the name of your country, region, or city in your queries.
It’s highly likely that you already have a semantic core assembled that contains keywords and related topics. This will give you a small clue as to what might be of interest to your target audience. We recommend creating a separate file where you will record all keyword queries and their frequency. This will help you better organize your skyscraper link building strategy.
🔍 Finding Content Using Relevant Keywords
Nowadays, there are plenty of online tools that help you discover popular and relevant keywords. For example, many marketers use Google Keyword Planner, or you can quickly gather keyword ideas and variations with our keyword tool. The next step in the skyscraper technique is to find high-performing content for those queries. Simply enter your target keyword into Google and analyze the top-ranking pages to understand what makes them successful.
You should focus on those pages that are at the very top of the search results (except for advertising positions). Pick a few websites and carefully analyze them and their published content. Make sure that this content is referenced by other authoritative sites, because this is one of the main requirements for SEO skyscraper promotion.
🔍 Finding Content Analyzing Competitors’ Content
To find the right content to implement the skyscraper technique, you can use another way. All you need to do is to choose a few of your nearest niche competitors. You can use Ahrefs to determine which competitor pages have the most backlinks.
Now, you have learned which pages can potentially be suitable for SEO skyscraper tactics. Analyze such content by considering uniqueness, keywords, and phrases. One of the prioritized factors for content selection is also the amount of organic traffic.
2️⃣ Step 2: Developing a Better Content Alternative
Interestingly, with the advent of the skyscraper technique, the main feature of content optimization was its volume. Simply speaking, search engine optimizers made similar text longer. Back then, search engine algorithms took this into account as a valuable factor and potentially useful content.
Over time, Google’s algorithms have evolved, and now there are a number of requirements for published content. You must write relevant text and include images, statistics, infographics, and other elements that will be useful to readers.
🏙 Characteristics of Skyscraper Content
As you may have already realized, your main goal in the skyscraper technique is to create content that is better than that of your competitors. However, it should not be plagiarized, as search engine robots only evaluate unique pages. We recommend sticking to these characteristics:
- High uniqueness of content.
- Relevant text and only real facts.
- Useful statistics or infographics.
- Valuable tips for readers.
- Detailed disclosure of the topic.
- Presence of images and links to authoritative sources.
In applying the skyscraper technique, you can get help from your competitors’ pages, which you can look at while creating new content.
🎯 Keeping Content Up-to-Date
It’s no secret that relevance is an important factor for skyscraper technique and modern search engines at all. Google only evaluates real facts, statistics, or data for the actual period of time.
When you pay attention to your competitors’ content, it may be old, and some of the data may no longer match reality. That’s why you should consider these points when creating content for your site, relying only on fresh facts. Don’t forget to include current dates in your text. Overall, this is one of the basic principles of skyscraper link building.
✔️ Enhancing Content for Better Search Visibility
The alternative version of the content you create should be better than the existing content many times. Why is it so? This content should convince webmasters that your page deserves to get a backlink. For this to happen, your page must be better visible in the search engine. So, how to achieve this?
Make sure that your created content is fully compliant with the E-E-A-T concept. These are factors that are important for Google in generating new search engine results listings. If you want to succeed in the SEO skyscraper technique, your content must meet parameters such as experience, expertise, authority, and credibility.
📣 Using Media Effectively in Your Content Strategy
It’s no secret that people perceive the information presented with the help of visual graphics, diagrams, charts, or animations better. Why? It is quite simple, as the human brain recognizes visual data in about 13 milliseconds. That’s why you should add media to your content. Here are the types of media you can include in your content during the skyscraper technique:
- Static and dynamic images.
- Graphs, charts, and infographics.
- Video clips.
- 3D animation.
Look at what types of media your competitors are using in their articles and publications. You must do something similar, only 10 times better, to succeed in the skyscraper technique.
3️⃣ Step 3: Reaching Out
The last step of the skyscraper method is to reach out to webmasters and blog owners who have posted links to your competitors. Since your alternative content is superior to the existing content, you must convince the webmaster to replace the link.
The best place to start is by compiling a list of resources that have left links to pages on that topic. A handy way to make them a business proposal is to send them an email describing why they should publish a link to your page. It’s important that your emails are personalized, as webmasters receive dozens of similar emails every day.
🔴 Mistakes to Avoid When Using the Skyscraper Method
The skyscraper technique is not a fast way to get links, so we see many websites making common mistakes in their rush to see positive results.
- Choosing the wrong keywords. The final result largely depends on the right choice of keywords. You must understand in which topics your audience is most interested.
- Unbiased assessment of your site. It makes almost no sense to offer blogs to change the link to yours if, before that, they referred to a site with a high DR.
Obviously, websites often make mistakes related to the content, forgetting that it is the most important factor of the skyscraper technique. Before emailing webmasters, make sure that your content is actually better than your competitors.
