What Is The Skyscraper Technique And Its Best Practices?
If you have difficulty building high-quality backlinks to your business website, know you are not alone. Not only is building backlinks tricky, but it is also time-consuming. The good news is that there is highly effective and renowned strategy called the skyscraper technique 🏢. This strategy is used by marketing agencies and SEO professionals world wide 🌏.
What Is The Skyscraper Technique?
The skyscraper technique is an effective link-building technique where existing content with a great response is improvised, and the backlinks are replicated.
This technique works in 3 steps:
- Look for relevant content with a good amount of backlinks.
- Improvise the content and come up with something even better.
- Request those that have backlinked to the original piece to now backlink to the new, improved piece of content that you have created.
Why Is The Skyscraper Technique Used?
The real challenge behind link building is the number of results you will get and the varying ability to scale. The skyscraper method is used as it allows you to create an outstanding content idea that attracts organic traffic, helps get quality backlinks and comments from readers, shares on social media channels, and allows you to stand on top of SERPs.
Even though high quality knowledgeable content that is easy to read is crucial, the skyscraper technique is still required to enable link building and landing in the top search results on Google.
It is important to note that backlinks and social media shares must be from high-authority websites and relevant to your posted content. Otherwise, they hold no real value. You can identify whether a website is high-authority by looking at its DA (Domain Authority). The greater the DA is, the more backlinks you will get, and vice versa.
The best part is that this will slowly and gradually help boost your own DA, making you rank higher on Google and help build credibility. All of this makes it essential to get backlinks using the skyscraper technique.
What Is The Success Rate Of The Skyscraper Technique?
The success of the skyscraper technique is guaranteed, and the good news is it still works. This holds true because:
- High-ranking content is created by understanding what Google values and appreciates. Due to this, always review content that gets ranked first so that you can create a better version of it.
- Even though longer content may look better, consistency is the right tactic to ensure success. Post frequently (1 to 2 articles per week) but keep the word count average around 1000 words, for example.
- Content should be spiced up with stories, emotions, examples, opinions, and even experiences, as this catches the attention of AI and changes made to Google’s algorithm.
How To Write Skyscraper Content?
Just because the skyscraper approach can lead to disaster if implemented incorrectly does not mean you should avoid using the strategy. Below are 3 ways you can nail the technique:
Look For Top Tier Content
Look for content in your niche that pops up in the top 3 to 5 search results. This content should have been shared a lot but now has inaccuracy, outdated information, broken links, and other issues you can work on, improve and fix. This will allow you to generate something better that piques reader interest but is also concise, current, and trendy.
Offer A Unique Angle
Adding your unique touch or point of view to a common topic to attract readers that enjoy learning something new can be a great addition. You can add a specific viewpoint or personal story which offers readers a new way to solve an old issue.
Focus On Content Value But Stay Concise
Skyscraper content is meant to be more valuable than the original. You should not skip information, but long-form content does not mean it should be boring. For example, you can add videos or use an interactive tool to simplify a complex topic and naturally bring value to your content through visuals.
What Are The Best Practices For The Skyscraper Technique?
- Research Top Content Using Specific Keywords Or Search Terms
The best content will not always have the top SERP ranking; you need to identify content that has a good amount of backlinks as well. The first step to do this should be knowing what your niche is and any topic you wish to build skyscraper content on. Next, search on Google and thoroughly review the first five relevant links.
These are your top competitors, so pay attention to your writing style and structure. Some websites rank due to high DA, so their content may not be as great. Make sure you can differentiate between good and okay content. Once you have the best content, check their backlinks to ensure authenticity.
- Assess Reference Site Content
With the websites narrowed down, you need to see what article is suitable as the main reference and what others can be used as side references. This will allow you to fill up missing information on the top competitor post, allowing your skyscraper content to stand tall.
If you find it difficult to identify what is missing, then you should compare all posts against each other—input research to fill in the remaining gaps.
- Make A Content Outline
Skyscraper posts are often long-form content, but you cannot fit all the topics into one post. The best way to tackle this issue is to create an outline. Create a list of essential sections and subheadings you must include with key points for all sections.
Include all subjects your competitor covers plus added information, then try to write in your own words. This will help you generate a superior post.
- Make Your Content User-Friendly
Writing content is not the only thing you need to do; you must also make it easy to read, user-friendly, engaging, and interactive. Add visual elements like tables, lists, images, and infographics. Add videos where required and use subheadings and titles to break the content into readable sections.
- Focus On Brand Awareness And Reach
Once your content is ready, the final step is link-building. If you have come up with top-notch content that is better than the original, websites that have linked to that piece might be interested in referencing your article instead.
Create a list of the websites that link to your competitor and search for contact information and email addresses for each. Use a specialized template when requesting links, as you may need to send many emails. Writing a personalized message for every website is not going to be possible.
Simply tell each recipient that you wish to be considered as a resource link and thank them for their time.
Endnote
The skyscraper technique is essential for stealing backlinks and increasing your chances of ranking top in the SERPs. The technique helps by allowing you to generate informative content that is better than those on competitor sites.
What Is The Skyscraper Technique? Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
