What is the Backlinko Skyscraper Technique and How Does it Work?

If you are looking for a way to put your brand and your content on center stage, you’re not alone. Many businesses are frustrated with trying to rank their site, but they don’t have any solid strategies in how to do it.

There is a new technique that was developed by Brian Dean and his staff of Backlinko.com known as The Skyscraper Technique.

What is the skyscraper technique?

The skyscraper seo method borrows from both the old traditional idea of link sharing that was successful for some businesses in the early history of the internet while combining this idea with creating high-quality content around popular keyword searches and backlink history.

Skyscraper method by Brian Dean has some videos on his site addressing this important strategy, and he offers some tips to users as to how to utilize it to your advantage. The theory behind this technique is, in a way, an extrapolation of the “field of dreams” idea. Instead of “if you build it, they will come,” you adopt the strategy of, “wait until others make, then move in on top of them.”

This is said somewhat in jest, but you’ll get the point when you see what backlinko link building method is all about.

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More on skyscraper link building service

Below are the three major steps or components of implementing the Skyscraper technique. Study this method and watch the videos, then try it for yourself.

1. Find content that is link-worthy.– To start, locate content that is popular on the internet. Look at the topics and the approach that these content creators are doing and see what is making them successful. Make sure that the topic you choose is in your industry and that it is relevant to your site and content. Use tools such as Google keywords tool and Ahrefs.com to see where several links are pointing.

2. Create something better on top of it (the skyscraper).– Creating better content on a similar topic or taking your content and making it more thorough or up-to-date can take you the top floor of the skyscraper and above the others who are not drilling as deep on the same content.

Pay attention to the design, as well as the content itself. Both are important when it comes to building your skyscraper because people are attracted to attractive sites. Also, make sure that your site is responsive (for mobile customers) and that there are no “dead links.” Dead links can lower your rankings in Google.

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3. Reach out the right people. Use email campaigns and ask them to link to your content that you are using on your website. By asking others to link to your new content, you can outdo the best content on the same topic simply by teaching the search engines to take users to you instead of all of the others (on the lower floors).

Quality, not Quantity

The reason these techniques work is because people are attracted to “the best.” In this video, Brian Dean illustrates how he has successfully used The Skyscraper Technique to increase his ranking by piggy-backing on the content topics of others while creating high-quality, original content.

It’s important to note that he didn’t just go to Google Keywords planner and choose any ranking keyword. You need to find words that fit into your niche and your industry well. If you choose words that are not relevant to your brand, you may lose any ground you gain with this method when Google lowers your ranking due to not being relevant.

So first, make sure the topic fits into your website nicely. Then find a keyword that you can use that has several monthly searches. Use some of the leading seo title length checker tools to be sure about the titles of your website content.

Use Broader Search Terms

Using the Skyscraper Technique can definitely help to move your site up in the rankings. But sometimes, it may need a boost. Some people have used the technique and have reported that they saw no results. But when they looked at the content that is getting so many links, they discovered that there was a broader search term that was getting more searches. The broader keyword may be the one you want to use because it will likely be getting more hits on an average day than one that is using the more narrow and less popular key words.

Always use Google’s keyword research tool and plan your SEO around the keywords that are getting the most hits and searches each month. Neil Patel has a good resource for this on his Quicksprout site.

Falling from the Skyscraper

To play Devil’s Advocate, we looked at another site that is run by internet marketer and writer, Dale Cudmore, to see what he thought about the skyscraper technique. In his articles, “Falling from a Skyscraper,” he talked about his journey with the Backlinko Skyscraper technique and how he tried to use it to increase his ranking. He did everything the technique said to do, but at the end of 6 months, saw no real results. In his article, he theorizes that there are only a few who are successful with such techniques but those are the ones you hear about the most, while the ones who failed are never mentioned.

Given the world we live in today where it’s hard to tell who has the correct information and who doesn’t, this could be true. But he also suggests that the odds are somehow unfairly stacked in Brian Dean’s favor, and that is how he is getting better rankings using the Skyscraper technique.

He is highly critical of the Skyscraper technique, citing various studies that seem to support his theory that it only works with high authority sites, such as Brian’s which are well-established.

However, his argument appears to fall short at the end when he suggests that the only solution to combat the inherent competitiveness using the Skyscraper technique is to apply consistency to your method.

Some Growth is Better than None

While we agree that consistency is important, this should not discourage bloggers or site owners from utilizing the key points of Brian Dean’s technique because it is based on sound reasoning and complements the way that Google search works. Let’s face it: you may not reach the top floor. But if you get to the 4th floor, it’s better than staying on the bottom! Doing something, anything is better than nothing.

Whether you decide to use the Skyscraper technique or not, some things can help you increase your potential reach. Creating a professional infographic, for example, will help you to create fresh, new content that will draw attention from people who are searching for this same content online.

Go through the Brian Dean Skycraper method and see if you can apply it by finding popular search terms and links and creating content with infographics on these hot topics. It sure can’t hurt to try!

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Who knows? You just might find the way to build your skyscraper to the sky, using your very own methods!

So take advice from both Brian and Dale and weigh the results you get as you go and then decide which works best for you.

How We Can Help

If you need help creating a professional infographic, call on us. At infographicdesignteam.com, we know that, whichever marketing method you choose, you can’t lose when you use infographics as one of your marketing strategies. It’s the best way to tell you story, without saying a word!

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