How to Implement Skyscraper Technique for SEO Success in 2025

Skyscrapers are wonderful, aren’t they? I wouldn’t have agreed more until I visited Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper, a year ago.

But what amazed me more was the thought of the construction underway Dubai Creek Tower, which is anticipated to be taller than Burj Khalifa. Taller than the tallest. That’s right.

What if you can apply this technique in SEO? Your content will be better than the best. 

And the result?

Your website will see a brilliantly sharp spike in traffic like never before and your website will shoot up to the #1 rank on Google seamlessly.

Ready to know how? Let me walk you through the skyscraper technique right away.

What is Skyscraper Technique?

The term “Skyscraper technique” was first coined in 2013 by Brian Dean, founder of Backlinko. 

The skyscraper technique involves creating content that’s better than the existing content in top-performing pages related to a particular topic. 

This is primarily done to acquire backlinks from websites that are linking back to these top-ranking pages. 

Building powerful backlinks helps you strengthen your backlink profile, drive more traffic to your site and boost your search engine rankings.

This strategy, indeed, worked for us when one of our previously well-performing content- “Top 10 Search Engines”- saw a drop in traffic and ranking.

With the skyscraper technique involving focused content refresh and optimization and strategic link building, our organic traffic rate for the blog skyrocketed from just 600 in July 2024 to 10,000+ in January 2025. 

That’s 17X organic growth in 6 months. See the trajectory elegantly going up in the image below.

Simply put, you create better content than your competitors so that people find it more valuable and want to link back to your page. Getting more reliable websites to link back to your content helps you outperform your competitors and achieve #1 ranking on search engines. That’s the skyscraper technique.

Is Skyscraper Technique Still Valid (And How to Make It Work Right)?

There’s a reason why people are skeptical about the impact of the skyscraper strategy. It’s been over a decade since it was introduced.

We are now in 2025. Both Google and the user search behavior have changed in a lot of ways. That said, it’s pretty natural to question the effectiveness of the strategy in today’s context.

The good news is IT WORKS. If you know how to do it right, the skyscraper technique can work wonders for you too, just like how it did to us.

From only 70 domains linking back to our article in July 2024, we now have 102 trusted domains pointing to the content. That’s a major reason behind our organic traffic shooting up crazily in a matter of months. 

 The secret to making the skyscraper strategy work for you requires these prerequisites.

• Find the right content 
• Create a better version THE RIGHT WAY! (More about this in the next section)
• Write well-crafted, custom-made outreach emails.

That secret sauce made it happen and BOOM! Our blog soared straight up to Google’s #1 position.

Steps to Implement Skyscraper Technique

There are three steps involved in implementing the skyscraper technique. 

1. Identify Link-Worthy Content

The first step is to find relevant content with more backlinks. If you have a specific competitor in mind, you can start by finding their best content using Ahrefs.

Enter your competitor’s website on Ahrefs Site Explorer and navigate to the Best By Links section. 

Click on the numbers under Referring Domains or Links to page against each page to see the websites linking back to the content.

You can filter these domains by link type, one link per domain, Domain Rating, HTTP code and more. 

Alternatively, you can enter the seed keyword on Ahrefs Content Explorer to identify relevant content showcasing great performance.

2. Create Better Content

Once you identify external pages to target for skyscraper link building, 

To outrank a piece of content that is already excelling in the eyes of Google, you need to create content that’s better than the existing one.

But what really is “BETTER” content”?

Better content doesn’t always mean longer content. If the top competitor’s article is 1500 words long, creating a similar article running up to 4000 words just for the sake of it will not help you rank higher.

Google loves helpful content. Content quality and relevance are key to achieving success in skyscraper link building.

Your content should offer value to the audience of the target site. That’s how you get webmasters to link back to you. 

Offer unique perspectives on the topic and include valid data points to substantiate your narrative. 

Consider adding statistics, charts, infographics that are specific to your business. Design these image-based assets in your brand colors and include your brand name so that you earn a link every time someone shares them.

3. Reach Out Strategically

Email outreach is the last yet most important step in skyscraper link building. Why?

Using the same boring template for all your link building outreach emails can affect the email response rates and make your efforts go in vain. 

That’s why you need to craft your emails strategically to address individual bloggers and highlight how linking back to your content can add specific value to their sites.

Does that sound like a Herculean task? No worries. You can partner with a trusted service provider like Stan Ventures to do the heavy lifting on your behalf. Extensive blogger outreach is part and parcel of our link building services.

As a seasoned SEO agency, we are a team of 200+ outreach specialists and link building experts offering scalable SEO solutions to global brands. 

No matter how big your outreach and link building needs are, we can handle it efficiently and produce amazing results for your brand. 

Tools to Execute Skyscraper Technique

Here’s a look at the tools for a seamless implementation of the skyscraper technique.

• Ahrefs – Identify high-performing backlinks and content of your competitors
• Semrush- Get insights into potential keyword, content and backlink opportunities for skyscraper link building.
• Hunter.io-  Quickly find the contact information of your link building prospects.
• Respona- Streamline your email outreach campaigns for skyscraper link building.
• Buzzsumo- Identify trending topics in your industry to create content that resonates with your audience.
• Grammarly- Enhance your content and make it error-free.
• Canva: Design visually appealing images and infographics for your skyscraper content.
• Google Analytics: Track the performance of your skyscraper content in real time.

SEO Benefits of Skyscraper Technique

The skyscraper technique has ample benefits for SEO. Check them out below.

Earn Powerful Backlinks

As you target domains that are already linking back to top-performing pages, the links you earn using the skyscraper technique are most likely to be from authoritative sources. The more authoritative the site linking back to you, the more powerful your backlink is.

Drive Qualified Organic Traffic

The high-quality backlinks you build using the skyscraper technique can drive more referral traffic to your website. These are leads you can convert into profitable sales for your business.

Improved Content Visibility and Engagement

As skyscraper content focuses on creating content that’s superior to the top-performing content, your content is more likely to get more online visibility and user engagement as long as it adds significant value to the audience.

The skyscraper link building comes in handy to get your website ranked higher on Google by replicating your competitors’ backlinks with better content.

Remember, it requires strategic implementation of the skyscraper technique to achieve great results.

Need help creating the skyscraper strategy that’s just right for business? Book your free link building consultation with Stan Ventures today.