How to Successfully Execute the
Skyscraper Technique for Your Link Building Strategy
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is, in a nutshell, the strategy your team uses to get your website at the top of Google searches so more consumers have the opportunity to see what product or service you offer. The SEO landscape is ever-changing, as Google changes their algorithms to try to combat things like keyword stuffing and other planning strategies that SEO teams use to try to “win” the game against Google.
Past strategies like exact-match domains, content spamming, and an overuse of keywords used to be successful means of increasing your search engine optimization. These debunked strategies now work against the algorithms that Google has created. A new strategy, however, that is turning marketers into data centric individuals and SEO masters is called the skyscraper technique and it pertains to link building, a key part of search engine optimization.
Here is a guide on how to utilize the skyscraper technique.
What is It?
Though very effective, this technique is not overly difficult, and anyone with a baseline knowledge of SEO or content marketing practices should be able to follow a few steps and effectively utilize this strategy for increased traffic to a given website.
Utilizing backlinks, or highlighted words that connect one piece of content to another, SEO writers are able to make the content more scholarly by connecting reliable sources and other pieces of content that Google would also rank high on their pages. Credible backlinks equate to more traffic, in so many words.
The skyscraper technique was created after a study of literally billions of websites was conducted to determine if a number of backlinks in a given piece of content made that content more successful, as far as SEO/Google rankings go.
When someone with a skyscraper technique mindset is tasked with creating content, the first step is to find a piece of similar content with a lot of backlinks. Finding this content should require nothing more than a Google search, as the backlink-heavy content will most likely be at the top of your search return, so long as the content is also engaging and retains readers (another part of the algorithm that determines the quality of a piece is how long readers tend to stay on a page).
Once this similar content is found, simply writing something better is the next step of the skyscraper strategy. Think of a big city… no one ever talks about the second highest skyscraper once a new one is built that is bigger and better. This is where the technique gets its name. Find a place where skyscrapers are and build a bigger one!
The third step is sharing that content with the right people, so they can share it and increase its popularity… in the aforementioned metaphor, skyscrapers are rarely built and not seen… in SEO, the greatest piece of content can still lay dormant without proper channels for its release.
How Do You Master It?
As with any SEO writing, the most important part is keyword research and quality content. Start by organizing all the keyword and competitor content in Microsoft Excel or Google Sheet. If you don’t have a particularly strong creative writing team, outsourcing to a freelance professional in SEO isn’t a bad idea, but it’s also not the only way to find success, especially given the ease of use regarding the skyscraper technique.
For those who choose to master the technique in-house, research should be a big part of your overall time spend on a given piece. Determining which “skyscraper” you want to mimic is more important than the actual writing, so take your time to determine which similar pieces are backlink heavy, and don’t be afraid to follow those backlinks and use them in your own content, either.
In addition, reaching out to people who have linked to the content you are aiming to better is a must, as these bloggers and writers obviously had enough clout to get your attention, so they most likely have a lot of other people’s attention, too. Letting them know you have updated and better content than what they previously were linking to, means a bigger chance of growing your audience without really doing any audience-growth practices of your own.
Be Thorough
Taking shortcuts with the skyscraper technique is a surefire way to waste your time when it comes to creating your content. As previously mentioned, determining which similar content is currently the best is the most important part in ensuring your new content will be the new benchmark. Research deeply, write for an audience who wants to learn, and research those bloggers who may share your content regularly!
