The skyscraper technique is a link-building method in which you find a piece of content that already attracts many links, create a clearly better version on your own site, and then contact the sites linking to the original to suggest they reference yours instead or as well. The name comes from the idea of building something taller than the tallest building nearby.
How the skyscraper technique works
The method, popularised by the American SEO Brian Dean of Backlinko, has three stages:
- Find a target. Use a backlink tool such as Ahrefs or Semrush to find pages in your topic that have links from many different websites. Resource lists, guides, statistics pages and calculators tend to attract the most.
- Build something better. Not just longer. Better can mean up to date where the original is stale, UK-specific where it is American, more accurate, easier to use, or backed by original data.
- Reach out. Contact the people running the linking pages, explain what is different about your version and why their readers would benefit.
Say a builder in Kent notices that a widely linked guide to loft conversion planning rules was written for the US and has not been updated in years. A clear guide to permitted development for lofts in England, with diagrams and a checklist, gives home improvement bloggers and local news sites a real reason to update their links.
Why it matters
Links from relevant, independent sites remain one of the main ways search engines judge which pages deserve to rank. The skyscraper technique is useful because it starts from evidence: you know these sites already link to this topic, so you are not guessing at what they value.
It also forces a useful question for content planning: what would make this the best page on the subject for a UK reader? Even when outreach produces few links, a page built to that standard often ranks on its own merit and earns links over time without prompting.
Done properly, it also builds relationships. An editor who links to your guide because it genuinely helped their readers is more likely to quote you, mention you in a round-up or consider a future pitch. Those relationships are worth more over time than any single link.
Common mistakes
- Confusing length with quality. A 6,000-word page that repeats the original with more padding gives nobody a reason to switch.
- Template outreach. Editors can spot a mail-merge email at once. Generic “I loved your article” openers are deleted unread.
- Poor prospect lists. Many links to popular pages come from scrapers, directories and dead sites. Contacting them wastes time.
- Ignoring the original’s strengths. If the original is an established industry resource, a near copy will rarely displace it.
- Drifting into paid links. Offering money or gifts for the link changes the tactic into a link scheme.
How to act on it
Begin with your customers’ questions, not with a backlink report. Find the topics where the existing well-linked content is outdated, not written for the UK, or missing something you know first-hand. Add information gain: your own process photos, pricing ranges you can stand behind, a calculator, or survey data you collected yourself.
Then build a short list of linking pages that are live, relevant and maintained by a real person, and write each email individually. Treat any links as a bonus on top of a page that already serves searchers. If you want help choosing topics and running outreach that stays within Google’s rules, that is part of my link building service.