Skyscraper Technique In SEO: How To Get Quality Backlinks? 

If you have a website, your primary aim is to boost your traffic organically as much as possible, right? This is the main aim of almost every website out there since more traffic means more money and, most importantly, more backlinks. Therefore, if you wish to skyrocket your website traffic and gain lots of backlinks, I recommend using the skyscraper technique.

This is a technique that has proven to be successful for many website owners and bloggers, boosting their search traffic by 10x. If you do this right by creating the skyscraper content in the right way, it will have the highest chance of ranking at the top. 

Therefore, get your notebook out and learn how to use the skyscraper technique in SEO the right way in 2024 by reading this post! 

What Is The Skyscraper Technique In SEO? How Does It Work? 

Regarding buildings, which one do you think gets the most attention? Two types of buildings get the most attention – the best-looking (qualitative) and the tallest (quantitative). 

However, if every skyscraper in the vicinity tries to be tall, you must create an even taller skyscraper to hog the limelight. This explanation perfectly sums up the skyscraper technique of SEO.

As the term suggests, the skyscraper technique in SEO is a content creation method where you create a better version of content that already exists.

However, the skyscraper technique is best used for topics that can be expanded upon quantitatively – like a “Top Ten” post. If you see a certain “Top Ten” post rank at the top, try to create content by expanding on it. Therefore, make a “Top Twenty” or “Top Thirty” post instead!

If you do this the right way by providing relevant information, there’s a higher chance of it ranking at #1. Moreover, if you rank it higher than the post you expanded upon successfully, it will start getting more backlinks from other posts on the same topic! 

Therefore, using the skyscraper technique makes your content rank higher and fetches you more backlinks.

In addition, if you manage to rank your skyscraper content at #1 on Google SERPs, then the backlinks in the previous #1 post might come to you instead! Therefore, you can steal backlinks (ethically) from previous top-ranking pages and boost your website’s traffic and DA (Domain Authority)! 

The Three Steps Of Skyscraper Technique SEO

You can use the Skyscraper technique in the right way by simply following three steps. Finding niche-relevant skyscraper content is not as challenging as it sounds. However, creating skyscraper content that beats all other similar content on the same topic is the tough part. 

Therefore, if you are ready to use the skyscraper technique to create amazing content that ranks high, brings a lot of traffic and revenue, and helps you gain lots of backlinks, follow the three steps below! 

Step 1: Identify Relevant Content Topics With The Most Backlinks 

The first step in using the skyscraper technique is to find a niche-relevant topic to work on.

However, what is a niche-relevant topic?

A niche-relevant topic has a lot of demand in your niche – something most people would read. For example, when it comes to finding SEO guides to boost your website traffic and rankings, some of the most in-demand topics that people search for are: 

• Top Ten Advanced link building strategies for faster website growth! 
• How to do on-page and off-page SEO the right way? 
• Why is technical SEO so important in 2024? 

…. and so on. 

These are all helpful and relevant content ideas that people in the SEO industry would search for on Google. Therefore, if you can make a good SEO guide for people on a certain topic, it’s bound to get backlinks. The better your content is, the more likely other people will want to backlink to your website.

The best way to find niche-relevant content ideas is to use tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, and AnswerThePublic. By using these tools, you can see the top-ranking content for specific topics you search for. 

Now that you know which topics to work on, it’s time to check the top-ranking websites for the topical keywords. Therefore, search on Google with the topical keywords to find it out quickly! 

Once you find the top-ranking web pages, copy their URL and analyze the page’s backlink profile using the tools above. This is how you can get the list of all websites backlinking to the top-ranking page. The higher the number is, the better this topic will be for you! 

Additionally, after getting the list of backlinking websites, use various Semrush alternatives to filter authority websites with the highest DR. 

Step 2: Create Better Content 

Now that you know which niche-relevant topic to create content on, it’s time to get typing. 

You have a simple aim here – create content on the same topic that is better than the top-ranking pages.

Therefore, your objective here is to improve the content by adding more relevant information and options.

Here are two ways to make your content better than the top-ranking content on the same topic and keywords: 

1. Quantitatively 

Let’s say you have a topic like: “Top Ten Advanced Link Building Strategies In 2024.” You can create content that is better by creating a top 20 list! 

However, ensure that the extra information you are adding is relevant and helpful. Simply providing more information without value will be useless here. Moreover, try to add unique details to the topic you are writing about. 

2. Qualitatively 

If the topic and keywords you target cannot have a list article, then you must create better content qualitatively by adding more relevant and unique information. 

Therefore, try to find the content gap regarding the topic. A content gap refers to all updates and changes regarding a topic that occur after it is published. Therefore, if you have more “fresh” information regarding a topic that is not present in the top-ranking pages, add it!

Moreover, ensure that your content looks good. You can do so by adding more (and better) images, infographics, screenshots, illustrations, and more! 

Doing all of this ensures that you are creating quantitatively and qualitatively better content than the top-ranking post! 

Step 3: Outreach To Other Prospective Websites For Backlinks 

Now that you have the content ready for publication, it’s time for you to reach out to the right people with the right websites.

To do so, you must reach out to authority websites relevant to your niche. This is why I always recommend keeping a directory of all niche-relevant websites. Keeping such directories is essential since it helps you to reach out easily for backlinks. 

However, since we are using the skyscraper technique here, you must outreach to websites that have backlinks to the top-ranking pages regarding the topic you are writing on.

Moreover, do you remember taking out the list of all websites that are backlinking to the top-ranking page on the keyword you are targeting? Now it’s time to send emails to them asking for backlinks!

Therefore, when you send them mail, come up with a creative template to convince them to backlink to your page. In addition, explain why your content is better than the preexisting top-ranking page on the topic/keyword. If you can convince them why your post is better, you can close this deal easily! 

How Skyscraper Technique Works With AI Searches? 

As the user search behavior is shifting with AI searches, the implementation of the skyscraper technique also changes. That is, it employs a different strategy for building backlinks through AI searches. 

So, here is how it works with the AI models in search engines— 

1. Identifying High-Performing Content 

Firstly, through the AI search results, the technique helps in identifying the high-performing content. That is, it finds the top-ranking content on the AI Overviews and goes through the high-quality backlinks used on the pages. 

So, this helps marketers find relevant and promising content topics that the top competitors are providing. Scrolling through vast datasets to find the relevant ones. 

2. Creating Improved Content 

Moreover, it goes deeper into creating AI-generated content that topples the high-quality ranking ones. That is, it adds unique insights from ranking articles, comprehensively covers the subsections, and directly addresses the user intent. 

So, naturally, the user gets more qualified content that is highly relevant and useful. Now, they can use the content to gain more visibility in the online space. And, to improve their discoverability with high-quality backlinking.

3. Conducting Targeted Outreach Campaigns 

In addition to this, the skyscraper technique conducts a human-centric outreach campaign to discover potential prospects. That is, it helps create an original piece that is both compelling and engaging for attracting new leads. 

So, it gives an original insight into why the other authoritative sites should provide you with the backlinking opportunity. Making you stand out amidst the crowd and encouraging them to link to your content. 

Limitations And Challenges Of The Skyscraper Technique 

Even though the technique is quite beneficial, it comes with some drawbacks. So, here are some limitations and challenges of the skyscraper technique in SEO— 

• Overusing the technique can lead to a lack of novelty. That is, when the technique is overly implemented, it means that new skyscraper content no longer stands out. So, it has become one of the generic ones, 

• Expanding the content for better results. Since lengthy content is not a direct signal for a high-performing strategy, extending the length without relevant information can adversely impact the SEO performance. 

• Ignoring the overall content outreach strategy. That is, if you are simply focusing on creating better content and expecting to see results, you will be disappointed. So, you need to create superior-quality content along with promoting it with effective promotional campaign plans. 

Case Study: How Brian Dean Used The Skyscraper Technique 

The skyscraper technique in SEO was first brought to light by Brian Dean of backlink.io.

He first executed the skyscraper technique with his amazing blog post, Google’s 200 Ranking Factors: The Complete List. This is an in-depth guide that details 200 different factors that determine your Google rank.

As you can figure out, learning about 200 SEO factors that determine your Google rankings is an essential read for everyone in the world of SEO. From SEO freelancers to even the highest-paid SEO consultants – everyone will be interested in reading this post.

Brian later explains this entire process in a different blog post, stating how he gained thousands of backlinks using the skyscraper technique and grew his website traffic by 110% in just 14 days! 

This gain of backlinks and traffic was unheard of during that time. After his successful demonstration of why the skyscraper technique in SEO works, millions of SEO experts and websites started using this technique – a testament to its success. 

Employing The Skyscraper Technique In SEO 

The skyscraper technique is an invaluable SEO technique that can help you gain lots of backlinks and traffic in 2024. Sure, it’s a time-consuming process and is difficult to pull off successfully. However, successfully doing so will help you reap great rewards by doubling down on gaining traffic and backlinks! 

Thanks for reading this post! If you have any queries, please comment below!