The skyscraper method has only been around since 2015 but it has had a major effect for bloggers, marketers and small businesses to say the least. 

I’m going to keep this simple and use an analogy. 

Say you are an architect and you're building the next big skyscraper in Chicago, or Boston, or Dubai, etc. You do all this research, figuring out exactly what materials to use, who you need to hire, when is the best time to build. You spend a massive amount of time prepping this brand new building and you finally turn your attention to construction.

After months or years of prep, the building is up. People flock to the site to see this amazing skyscraper that shoots straight into the sky. You are the main attraction. 

Then the next year you notice construction across town. You see a skyscraper basically being thrown up into the sky much faster than you were able to. Wow, does it look similar to your building! Wait, it’s actually larger. 

The people visiting your building flock to the new one since, after all, they want to see the tallest building and you aren’t that anymore. Kinda sad huh…

Ladies and gents, that’s the skyscraper method in SEO put into a cityscape. This happens all the time in content creation now. You put so much time into making the best possible content for your audience and someone swoops in like a supervillain and takes your content, tweaks it just a little, and now they are ranking higher than you.

Creating Better Content

Kind of seems a little skeevy, right? You should not look at this as stealing content. It is the complete opposite of that. It’s almost like finding the perfect source of information to provide your audience with something that is better than anything available. So how can you build better content using the skyscraper technique? Follow these steps:

Find a Keyword

First, you need a keyword. A “Keyword” is the word that people will be putting into Google or speaking into their Alexa devices. What is the main point of your content? 

The more specific that keyword, the better. However, you want to make sure people are actually searching for that word.

You can check a specific keyword using this tool.

Content Discovery

Find content focused on your chosen keyword from your competitors that is driving “backlinks” and can be improved on easily through your expertise and research. 

A page receives a “backlink” when another website or blog decides their content is pretty good and refers to that content. We talked a little about backlinks here.

Any link that is pointing to your website is actively telling search engines your content is valuable and relevant to bump up your domain’s authority allowing for higher ranks.

It also brings in more traffic to your site if the links can be followed.

You can check a page’s referring domains and backlinks using a lot of SEO tools that can be found on the market or free online. You’d probably benefit from either this or this. You can also check out the Chatham Oaks Software Directory here. 

Content Creation

Alrighty, it’s the time consuming part. Now that you found your keyword and the current content that is ranking highest for that keyword, let’s make something even better.

You want to focus on making your content (blog, video, article, guide, etc.) longer, more multimedia, more detailed, more recent, and better designed. Yup, it’s a lot.

More multimedia means include different content types. Videos, podcasts, infographics, etc. 

Get into the fine details of each matter, lay out the piece of content according to your brand’s style, and make sure you mention how recently you created it. Also, continuously update it so it stays the most recent.

Everything needs to be valuable. If you can’t hit one or two of those benchmarks, it’s ok. You just need to make sure you offer more value than what is currently there and Google will do the rest. 

Set Your Content up to Rank:

Besides making the most valuable piece of content you possibly can, you also need to focus on positioning it to rank for that keyword. There are a few simple things that you can do to give your content a good shot to rank high for your keyword.

There are a lot of variables that go into search engine rankings. In order to confidently rank for your preferred keyword, a solid grasp of all of these variables are necessary. 

However, to even have a chance you need a solid foundation for positioning for the keyword. Here is how:

• URL Slug

  • Create a link where people can find your content. This is your address. Make sure it includes the keyword you are trying to rank for.

  • Example: www.example.com/blog/skyscraper-technique

• Title / Meta-Title

  • Your title is seen on the search engine rankings page as a link to your piece of content. Your goal is to draw attention as well as include your focal keyword. People really like numbers, parentheses, and brackets and will usually click on them. Your best bet is to keep this short and interesting.

  • Example: Guide to the Skyscraper Technique in Content Creation 

• Meta-Description

  • Shows up underneath the title on the search engine rankings page. This should include details regarding what the page is about. Try to keep the length of the meta description less than 150 characters so it will show completely. You should try to include your focal keyword and even other keywords that are similar to the focal keyword.

  • Example: A comprehensive guide to writing your blog using the skyscraper technique to improve SEO backlinking strategy.

• H1 Heading 

  • Your H1 heading is the largest heading on your page and typically conveys what the page is about. There should only be one or two H1 headings on your page. You want to include the focal keyword but make sure it does not match the Title. This hurts more than helps.

  • Example: What is the Skyscraper Technique?

• H2 and H3 Headings: 

  • H2 headings are a step down from H1 heading. These should be the subtitles for each section which can usually be considered related keywords (or amplifying keywords). 

  • H3s can be used to note important quotes, lists, captions, and other text that are separated from the body of text.

• First and Last 100 Words on the Page: 

  • Although not the most important piece, having a solid description of the piece of content and why it's valuable to your audience to read is important as the first 100 words or the opening paragraph. This has many benefits including reducing people leaving your page as well as giving Google some more info on why it is relevant to a wider audience.

Email Outreach:

So this part is always tough. Email outreach is never fun but in this case it is necessary.

When you first found the piece of content you wanted to improve, you also found a list of lots of websites that are referring to what they believe is the best possible source they can find.

Now you have something better.

You can use this tool for a deeper look at the backlinks. Two things to note. You want to look for links that are classified as “Dofollow” and have a high URL rating. 

Dofollow allows people to click on that link and go to your page. 

High URL ratings are so important. A high rating for a URL implies they have authority according to search engines. When they are pointing towards your content, they are giving you authority.

When you find backlinks that you believe are attainable, start sending emails including why you are reaching out, the link to the content they can use, the improvements you have made and why it is important to them, and, finally, an ask to swap out the link. 

Conclusions:

A lot of the time, blogging can feel like you are throwing darts in the dark while doing a handstand and dribbling a basketball. I know how tough it is in this day and age to have your blog gather the attention from your audience. 

That is the beauty of the skyscraper method. Find a keyword that makes sense, find the content that is working now, make valuable content that is just way better, position yourself to rank, and reach out to the people that don’t know your content exists. 

Soon they will, and you’ll have the best skyscraper in the city. 

Good luck!