The Skyscraper Technique And How It Can Up Your Link Building

The Skyscraper Technique And How It Can Up Your Link Building

The Skyscraper Technique And How It Can Up Your Link Building

Updated on: 27 September 2023

The Skyscraper Technique And How It Can Up Your Link Building

According to research findings, the top results in search engine results pages (SERP) share several commonalities, one of which revolves around their backlinks. They will either have the greatest number of backlinks compared to the second or third on the SERP, have lots of them that are high quality, or both.

At first glance, it may seem like these backlinks can only be built organically by publishing content that is so comprehensive and informative that other websites link to it from their site. In other words, it is just one of the fundamentals of SEO link building at play. However, these days, sticking to the basics is no longer enough, and brands often need to work with digital marketers or an SEO agency in Indonesia to build up their link profile using strategies like the Skyscraper Technique. Below, we go over the brass tacks on the inner workings of the Skyscraper Technique and the main reasons why it is still used today.

An Overview of the Skyscraper Technique

The Skyscraper Technique is a link-building strategy that involves three simple steps:

1. Find relevant pages with many backlinks that you want to improve on

2. See if they have room for improvement and fill those gaps

3. Reach out to those linking to the original piece to link to your improved content instead

The basis for this strategy is that people naturally prefer the best, whether it be a product, service, or piece of content that has everything they want to know and then some. Just like how the tallest skyscrapers get the most attention, so does the content for a given topic, hence the name of the technique. And since websites will always prioritize linking to the best possible resources online, the Skyscraper Technique remains relevant to this day.

Creating this better and improved content or ‘skyscraper content’ to overtake the original piece generally needs to have several or all of the following qualities to be successful:

  • Up-to-date and more comprehensive
  • Written or reviewed by a subject matter expert/more credible author
  • Presented more effectively
  • Published on a website with a higher authority

Other ways of making improvements include adding unique tools and visuals or presenting new insights that add value for the readers. It should go without saying that skyscraper content is the cornerstone of the skyscraper technique, as other websites will have no incentive to link to your website without it. However, there are also times when content is not judged solely on its quality but on where it comes from. For instance, many websites often link to brands with a good reputation. If they deem them to have a consistent track record of producing good content, they may even continue linking to their articles without reading every single one.

But apart from the content, email outreach is the second key to successfully executing this technique. This is the process of reaching out to web admins who have linked to the target content you have improved on and promoting your skyscraper content to them. In other words, you need to convince them to link to your website instead. The assumption here is that since they have already linked to a reputable article, they are likely to be interested in staying up-to-date and linking to a better and more recent source.

Why It Is Still Worth Implementing the Skyscraper Technique

The skyscraper technique works as advertised and will help you earn the backlinks you need to drive more traffic to your website and boost your SEO. Even now, Google associates certain types of backlinks as a vote of confidence. In general, the greater the quantity and the higher the quality of your site’s backlinks, the more likely Google will peg your website as an authority. The most notable advantages of the skyscraper technique include:

  • Inherit links from competitors
  • Earn backlinks from pages with established authority and high traffic
  • Prompts you to put out quality content, which also brings other benefits
  • Scalable

However, it is worth noting that it has been several years since this link-building strategy was developed and has been in widespread use since then, so its effectiveness is no longer as it used to be. That said, many digital marketing agencies in Indonesia still believe the technique works despite the popular belief that content is more important than links nowadays.

Conclusion

The Skyscraper Technique is a legitimately effective link-building tactic that still works today. Still, the odds of making it work hinge on several prerequisites: creating top-class content with a strong, unique selling point and having a good email outreach strategy that appeals to web admins. To ensure your digital marketing efforts are successful, it is also crucial to track important SEO metrics. Given its popularity, having it in your SEO toolbox is highly recommended so you do not miss out on building your link profile more efficiently.