How to Execute the Skyscraper Technique for Building High-Quality Backlinks to Your Content

Today, increasing organic search traffic is no easy feat. It demands plenty of upfront work, particularly when you have a restricted budget.

One of the most effective ways by which you can increase your overall search traffic is through the “Skyscraper Technique.”

Brian Dean of Backlinko developed this technique in the year 2015. It is a widely recognized method that helps build backlinks to your content. As you may already know, backlinks are one of Google’s top ranking factors. These links are extremely important in the SEO world because they signal to search engines that your website is high-quality, relevant and reputed.

Read on to know more about this technique and how to execute it in order to build high-quality backlinks.

What Is the Skyscraper Technique?

The Skyscraper Technique is a way to create engaging content, which will, in turn, help you earn high-quality backlinks to your content.

Here’s the technique broken down into 3 simple steps:

• Searching for link-worthy content
• Producing something better
• Sharing what you have created

In simpler terms, the technique helps you build upon the best content out there to create something even better, and then promote it to the right people.

But why is it called the “Skyscraper” technique? This is because you create the best piece of content on the internet for a particular topic. As it will be the biggest piece of content on the topic, it will stand above every other content piece (just as a skyscraper stands above every other building in a skyline!)

Image Source: Snov.io

How to Use the Skyscraper Technique to Build High-Quality Backlinks?

Now that you know what the Skyscraper Technique is and its benefits, let's discuss how to use it to get high-quality links.

1. Check What's Buzzing in Your Niche

There is no use putting effort into a content piece that no one's going to consume, right?

Hence, you need to produce content that is in some sort of demand at the moment.

We recommend that you find content that's buzzing in your niche right now. Using a tool like BuzzSumo will help you find such trending' topics. With the help of this tool, you can easily identify content with the maximum social shares. This will exactly be the kind of content you need to create your skyscraper piece on.

Another way you can find popular content topics in your niche is to check out famous online communities such as Reddit or Quora. The topics with a high number of “upvotes” will be the ones you should be writing on to create skyscraper content.

2. Search for the Topic In Google

Once you select the topic you want to build upon, type the topic into Google and hit “Search.”

Check the first two links (ignore any ads). Google finds these pieces the most relevant and hence shows them as the top two results. These are the content pieces you have to beat and build upon.

Note: When you go through the links, you will see that they are well-researched, highest-quality pieces available to your ideal audience right now. In other words, these pieces are the tallest skyscrapers right now. Now, what you need to do is build your own piece taller than them.

3. Research Your Competitors

The previous step helped you identify your competitors, now you need to research them.

Here’s what you precisely need to do:

Use the Ahrefs tool to get a list of keywords that your competitors are ranking for in organic search results.

Note: With this tool, you also get to know the amount of traffic your competitors are receiving.

Tip: You can also learn how to spy on competitors to monitor them closely.

4. Think if You Can Create Something Better

Now that you know about your competition and what you are really up against, you need to ask yourself this crucial question – “Can I create something better?”

If the answer is yes, it’s time to get going! Here are some tips on how you can create a better piece of content than the ones already out there:

A. Write Long-Form Content

You can significantly improve a content piece by diving deeper and going bigger. For instance, you search for the topic you selected for your skyscraper piece on Google, and the result shows “10 best…”

Now, how about you go bigger and longer and share “30 best..” ? (if, of course, you are able to provide quality tips throughout).

Another reason we say that you create long-form content is because it indicates that you have done in-depth research to create such a comprehensive piece. Also, when you offer people information on a particular topic in one single place, your content gets more shares and reaches more people. It even gives you a chance to establish yourself as a thought leader in your field. All of this means one thing – an increased chance of gaining high-quality backlinks to your content.

Note: If you want to deliver high-quality, fully-researched content to your clients, you can think about hiring DashClicks’ white label content services.

B. Lay Special Focus on the Headline

Writing an eye-catching, compelling headline is integral to the Skyscraper Technique. Think about it, if the reader is not convinced with your headline, will they even read the rest of the content? Hence, we recommend that you put special emphasis on coming up with a headline that captures the attention of the reader and convinces them to read your piece.

Here are some tips to create catchy headlines:

• Use when, why, how, and what
• Use numbers to offer key takeaways
• Make a promise that convinces the reader to read your content
• Demonstrate what the reader will get out of reading the article with the help of a unique rationale

C. Create the Ultimate Source for the Topic at Hand

To create a skyscraper piece, you need to create the best piece of content out there for the topic at hand.

To achieve this, plan your skyscraper piece in a way that it is complete in itself. The reader shouldn’t have to leave the page in order to search for further information on that topic.

Note: To create the ultimate content piece on the web for a topic, ensure you fully research, cover all the pain points, and incorporate the latest stats and case studies if possible. Also include graphics or images that back up your content.

Your content should also be:

• In an easy-to-read format.
• Grammatically correct.
• High-quality.
• Quality-checked by a professional editor.

D. Make Your Content Stand Out Visually

A poorly-designed page doesn’t exactly appear to be link-worthy. This is because it can give the impression of a low-quality page. Hence, ensure your content looks as good as it reads and stands out visually.

Add well-designed visual assets, infographics, and videos to make your page stand out even more.

5. Share Your Content

After you are done creating your content with the tips mentioned above, it’s time to share your content in order to land links.

Now, how to go about this step?

A strategy you can follow is to contact popular blogs in your niche with the intention of earning a backlink from them. Here are the exact steps to follow –

Step 1 – Open Google, search for “industry + blog” (for e.g. SEO + blog).

Step 2 – The search results will show all the famous blogs in your niche. Now, write them a polite email asking for a backlink. Here’s a sample email you can send:

Hi [name]!

I came across your blog while searching for information on [topic]. I really liked your insights! I also saw that you linked to this blog post: [your competitor]. I have also written a piece similar to this, which is more up-to-date and possesses additional information. Feel free to use this in your blog if you think your audience may find it interesting.

Thanks!

[Your name]

6. Measure Your Backlinks

After you create your skyscraper piece and start earning backlinks, your job isn’t quite done yet. You also need to know where the backlinks are coming from in order to fully leverage the skyscraper technique.

We recommend that you use a tool to access your backlink profile. The tool will show all the backlinks to your site which will help in monitoring.

Note: Make sure you also monitor metrics such as Domain Authority, Page Authority, and Spam Score of every backlink you are earning. Keeping a track of these metrics helps you build amazing backlinks that work in the favor of your website and business!

Offer Top-Notch SEO Services to Your Clients

Are you a digital marketing agency that wants to offer SEO as a service to your clients? If yes, you can think about hiring white label SEO services.

At DashClicks, we offer best-in-class SEO services to help your clients get on top of the search engine results. When you opt for these services, your client’s site will be regularly updated and optimized. This includes link-building as well.

The team at DashClicks even disavows links at its end to disassociate your client’s website from toxic backlinks.

Note: You can also consider using DashClicks’ InstaReports App, a digital marketing audit tool which includes your client’s backlinks data.

Conclusion

As you already know, backlinks are important to your SEO efforts. The Skyscraper Technique is a powerful link building tactic that helps you build backlinks from awesome content, giving you the chance to boost your website rankings and organic traffic.

Ensure you diligently follow all the steps we discussed that talk about how to use and execute the skyscraper technique, with the main steps being:

• Finding link-worthy content
• Creating something better than it
• And lastly, sharing what you have created

All the best!

If you want to know more about link building, here's a link building guide for beginners.