Does The Skyscraper Technique Still Work?

Brian Dean, a SEO expert, created the Skyscraper Technique almost 8 years ago. This new method of gaining organic traffic was reportedly used by Dean to increase his own traffic by 110% within two weeks.

You've been working in SEO for longer than 24 hours and you already know that these are some impressive results. This technique gained significant traction when it first appeared in the digital media.

To be fair, this was in 2015. Both you and I know the digital marketing landscape is rapidly changing. With new innovations like AI and ChatGPT, many are asking, "Does the Skyscraper Technique still work?"

While the simple answer to this question is yes, digital marketing is not easy. This is why we are going deep into the Skyscraper Technique and how to implement it. We will also discuss what it takes for 2023.

Quick Takeaways

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  The Skyscraper Technique, an SEO strategy that uses top-ranking content and back-linking to increase organic traffic
  
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  75% people don't scroll past the first page on Google.
  
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  Create high-quality content using easy-to-read formatting. Link-building techniques are used to increase your chances of being ranked
  
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  You need to find top-ranking content and improve its quality and promote it to professionals.
  

You want to increase organic traffic. Skyscraper Technique can be one of the best ways to get relevant links to high-quality content.

What is the Skyscraper Technique?

Skyscraper is a link building strategy that enhances top-ranking content, and replicates backlinks to increase organic traffic.

Imagine looking across Philadelphia and seeing the tallest skyscraper. Because the taller the building, the more attention it attracts. Skyscraper Technique aims to make your content the highest building on the skyline.

If your competitors are building skyscraper content too, make sure that yours is at least a few feet higher. You can create more content, with better structure and greater value. This way your building, I'm referring to your content, gets the most attention.

Image Source: SEO Optimizers

The Skyscraper Technique boils down to:

1. Find popular content from other websites that have been linked to
2. Revision and addition to the popular content, then publishing it on your site
3. Promote your skyscraper content with prospects

The article with the most useful, informative, and well-structured content will be chosen by users. Your skyscraper content will be the most complete if your audience is searching for the answer to their problem.

The Skyscraper Technique is So Powerful

75% of Google users never go beyond the first page. This means that if your content doesn't appear in the first five results, it is unlikely that your target audience will see it.

Image Source:Intergrowth

It is therefore crucial to optimize your content for search engines. You can significantly increase your chances of ranking by following SEO best practices.

Skyscraper Technique is powerful because it immediately puts the best SEO practices into action.

• Publishing relevant, high-quality content
• Optimize format using page titles, descriptions, or subheadings
• Link-building

You can be confident that your content is high-quality by using existing content as a guide. You will increase your ranking and generate more organic traffic if you use easy-to-read formatting.

The Skyscraper Technique: How we Still Know It Works

Because we use a simplified version for almost all of our clients, we know that the Skyscraper Technique works.

We have spent many years researching the best techniques to get the best organic search results. These were the results of our analysis:

1. Google values content that ranks well. This is the best way to make sure your content ranks. We review ranking content first. We then create a better version for our clients.
2. Although it may seem that longer is better, consistency has proven to be a better predictor for success than length. We focus on publishing a minimum of one or two articles per week with around 1,000 words.
3. We are incorporating AI and other changes to Google's algorithm into our content. This allows us to suggest more examples, opinions and stories, as well as emotions, for our clients.

Oberer Homes

Oberer Homes is one client who has succeeded with our method. Their dedication to producing high-quality content was evident after only a few months.

• 110+ top ranking keywords on Google
• Organic search increases by 26%
• Increase of 17% in web traffic

[From: How Oberer Homes earned more traffic, rankings, and leads with our content marketing service]

Nutanix

We have also assisted Nutanix, cloud computing specialists, to grow their digital presence over the years by focusing our efforts on sharing authentic, engaging content. Nutanix has gained the following:

• Almost 200,000 unique visitors
• Views of 365,000+ pages
• 1000+ Newsletter Subscribers

[From: Nutanix Content hub 'The Forecast’ Wins Awards for Massive Growth]

DivvyHQ

Marketing Insider Group and DivyHQ, a B2B SaaS firm, collaborated to create a content creation strategy that would deliver results. DivvyHQ was able to achieve the following:

• Organic traffic increased by 450%
• Several hundred email subscribers
• Keyword rankings with 2.4x the number of keywords
• Dozens upon Dozens of Trials and Qualified Leads

[From: How Content marketing drives traffic and growth for B2B SaaS companies]

Three Steps to Apply the Skyscraper Technique

Are you ready to generate more organic traffic? In just 3 steps, you can use the Skyscraper Technique to generate more organic traffic.

1. Find the Content of the Competitors

When it comes to creating content that is worth re-creating, there are three main points you should consider.

1. Keywords and topics
2. Rankings of SERP
3. Number of backlinks

You must first decide which keywords and topics you want to rank for. Once you have created a list content-worthy keywords using SEO tools and tactics, you can search each topic in Google to find the top five ranking articles.

Image Source Google

This is your competition. Open each page and evaluate its structure and quality. Once you have identified the best pages, use a backlink checker tool to check their backlink profiles.

Image Source: Ahrefs

You can find out how many websites have backlinked to a particular page by using a backlink analyzer. You will want to find the page with most backlinks. This can be used as a guide when creating better content.

2. Create Better Content

You must first assess your competition in order to create better content. You can identify the gaps in each article that ranks high.

• Which key information is missing from the report?
• Is there any detail missing?
• What can be done to improve structure?

Consider the above questions and then create a outline for your superior content. Then, get to work! When writing, keep these things in mind:

• More visuals are better. Use infographics, graphs and lists to create interesting graphics.
• Freshen up. How can you improve the information, statistics and graphics?
• Make your article longer. Give your readers 11 tips if your example article has 10 tips.
• Make sure you are clear and understandable. It is a good rule to write at the eighth grade reading level.
• Separate it. High-quality content uses a lot white space. To make each section clearer and more readable, use bullet-points, titles and subheadings.

Your post may be longer but it doesn't necessarily mean that it is better. If your content contains relevant, easy-to-read information, you're on the right path.

3. Publishing, Promoting, and Pitching Your Best Content

It's now time to share your skyscraper content with the world. But clicking "publish" is not enough. There are more than 10,000,000 blog posts published each day. This means that your blog content will stand out.

Your email list, LinkedIn and any other access to your industry professionals can be used to promote your content. Reach out to other sites that have previously linked to your content, as well as to those that have linked back to you.

Sending an email to prospects can help you highlight the value of your content. Let recipients know why you have better content and how they can benefit from it.

Learn more about email outreach. You can watch the video below.

Video Source: Ahrefs

Who opens unsolicited emails anymore? Our little secret is here

To promote content for our clients, we use Zemanta, a contextual targeting platform. Zemanta recommends content to your audience when they are already reading it. They are more likely than others to click on similar content because they are already in reading mode.

This approach achieves less than $0.10 CPC and nearly 1% click through rate (CTR). This is almost 100x more than digital display or paid search.

For every dollar that our clients spend, they receive approximately 10 new, relevant and engaged visitors.

Image Source: Business insider

The Skyscraper Technique: Challenges

Each great strategy comes with its own challenges. No pain, no gain, right? However, just because you might encounter roadblocks along your way to success doesn't mean that you won't be able to overcome them.

To overcome the challenges of the Skyscraper Technique, you must be able to see them coming. These are the key to organic traffic growth.

• Keyword Research. Link-worthy content is important, but you must not forget the importance keywords. Instead of focusing on a narrow audience, make sure you target keywords that have high search volumes.
• Search intent. Do not let your competition's success distract you from search intent. Make sure you understand whether your keyword produces transactional or informational results.
• Length. Remember, bigger isn't always better. According to Google's Helpful Content Update the key to ranking content is its quality and not its length. Prior to making your article longer than the competition's, focus on providing readers with what they need.
• User Experience. In the same way, remember to consider the user experience. Your audience will share your content more often if they find it user-friendly, which can increase your visibility and organic traffic.
• Relevance to the topic. Although it may seem tempting to target highly competitive keywords, it is important that you choose fights you can win. You can then build credibility for your website and gain momentum with your audience before you take on the largest competitors.

It's all about the details that make the Skyscraper Technique work. Although it may be difficult to master the Skyscraper Technique, you can make a difference by being patient and planning your strategy.

Get more organic traffic today

The Skyscraper Technique can be a proven method to increase organic traffic to your website. Your content could be ranked #1 in SERPs by identifying the best-performing content and revising it to a better quality.

Are you ready for ranking? Marketing Insider Group can help. Our experts can help you increase organic traffic by using keywords and quality content. Start today with our weekly blog content service or schedule a consultation to learn more.