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Skyscraping Technique: 5 Steps to Building A Reliable SEO Content Strategy

by Jay | Posted on December 28th, 2019

What comes to your mind when you hear about skyscraper content? It is one of the best SEO content strategies that help you build upon your competition. This means you must have finer details about the competition in your industry for this strategy to work for you. 

What is the Skyscraper Technique?

Skyscraper content focuses on finding, researching, and then building up new content starting from existing quality content. As Si Quan Ong explained it, “The Skyscraper Technique is a link building strategy where you improve existing popular content and replicate the backlinks.”


Skyscraping Technique: 5 Steps to Building A Reliable SEO Content Strategy

When done right, this strategy can check off most of the SEO tactics combined. In other words, this is an SEO content strategy that will help you improve your search rankings by following a few simple steps.

How does the Skyscraper Technique work?

Skyscraper content strategy works differently from most SEO strategies. It allows you to determine the need for using search competition. Further, it helps you determine what you need to do to rank better than your competitors in the search results. In comes in as one of the best content marketing tactics out there, but we put a little twist to our method.

There are ways you can fail with SEO using this strategy, so make sure you have the time to work on this strategy or hire a content strategist to help you. The best approach is to find out more about the keywords you want to rank, analyze the search results, understand your audience, and finally create SEO-friendly content. Keep in mind, for every piece of content you create you must make sure it fits for your business as well as your customers. Creating content that only favors one side may not work well for your business in the end.

 Repurposing content is a good idea if you are really into skyscraper strategy. This model allows you to create better versions of existing content. This means you can reuse and recycle the best piece of content you have over and over again.

You can also reuse the best content of your competitors, but remember to be smart. Been smart means changing and improving any content out there you find very useful to your business and your customers. With that in mind, let’s go through how you can create an SEO content strategy to guide you when preparing skyscraper content.

SEO Skyscraping content strategy

1. Know your competitors

This is the first step, and one to consider very seriously to excel in skyscraper content. Knowing what your competitors are doing and what they plan to do gives you an edge. Tools like SEMrush help dive deeper into the nitty-gritty of your competition, learn more about keywords to use and the kind of content to create. You can find your competition by typing in a keyword in the “Keyword Overview” you are trying to rank for:

keyword research using semrush

Once you have finer details about your competitors, it is easier to stay on top of the game through more focused and compelling content. You may also want to use other tools like Ahrefs and SpyFu to understand competition in your niche.

Within Semrush, you can see the organic results and see who your top competitors are for that specific keyword:

scope out the competition using semrush

2. Find common keywords

Keywords are used to rank. Knowing keywords your competitors are using to remain on top of the game is a big plus. As we said in the first step, tools like SEMrush will make your work easier. This can help you see who is ranking in specific keywords, and keywords you can leverage. You may also want to see which URL is ranking for particular keywords.

content strategy SEO dashboard

Analyzing competitors for skyscraper content

Scroll down until you see “Main Organic Competitors”:

finding competition using semrush

However, if your site is new, this informatiom might not be available. So try entering the keyword itself to identify who your competitors are with our Step 1: Know your competitors

3. Scope out the competition

This is a step where you dive deeper to understand competitors you have already identified. Primarily, you are trying to see the relationship between the keywords your competitors are using and the kind of content they create around specific subjects.

You can add several competitors in the “Keyword Gap” area:

keyword gap semrush

If using SEMrush, the keyword volume can help you make a sound decision. For example, focusing on pieces with a few more searches means you are in a more competitive space. Besides, you also get an opportunity to see high-volume content to consider. KD or Keyword Difficulty is also an important part to understand. To help you understand, less difficulty the easier you can rank for:

keywords using keyword gaps semrush

4. Spot gaps in competitor content

By now, you have identified the high-volume, high-value competitor content. Now it is the time to analyze the content, see what is missing, and move forward to make improvements. This is probably the most tedious step, and one you need to take seriously. Identifying gaps you can leverage is not an easy task, so make sure to take your time as well. Consider even listing all the gaps you notice to make your work more enjoyable.

Skyscraping Technique checklist that can make your work easier.

  • Are there internal links throughout the content that relate to the subject matter?
  • Is the content attractive? 
  • Do they have language parameters, a meta description, and canonical tags in place?
  • Is the target keyword in the URL, headline and title tag used freely throughout the body content?
  • Is the page load speed slow?
  • Is the page visually appealing?
  • Is there any call to action or tripwire within the content?
  • If video is incorporated, is a transcript included?
  • What does the backlink profile look like?
  • Is the content engaging? 

5. Create your skyscraper

After you have done your homework, now it is time to start preparing your content. By now, you have everything you need to create amazing content building off your research. You can build the content yourself or have someone create it for you. Freelance copywriters are an excellent option if you decide to outsource.

What next?

Your work does not stop here. You need to keep going to make sure the content you have created pays off. It is not the time to relax and wait for a miracle to happen. You must reach further to see desirable results. Here are some of the things you can do at this time.

a computer showing web statistics

Tracking statistics and rankings to measure success

Share your content

Today there are many ways to share and promote your content. Social media, email, guest posting, and so on. Make sure to share via channels you find relevant. Doing this is one way of driving traffic from other channels.

Track you ranking

It is wise to keep up with how you are performing. Consider getting a tool that helps you get real-time information. Make sure to measure your performance regularly to make sound adjustments.

We talk about linking to your competitors. Now it the time to up the game by finding relevant backlinks linking to your competitors and ask them to link to you. By doing so, and since you just revamped their concept, there’s a high chance they will love your content.

Wrapping up!

Preparing skyscraper content is not a strenuous task as it may seem. In fact, it is one of the most enjoyable tasks if you have a good content strategy. Need help to build a reliable content strategy? Contact us for your content marketing service needs. Remember to follow the above steps.

 

Jay

I've worked for WooRank, SEOptimer, and working on a cool SEO audit tool called SiteGuru.co. Now I have build Linkilo and SEO RANK SERP WordPress theme. I've been in the SEO industry for more than 5 years, learning from the ground up. I've worked on many startups, but also have my own affiliate sites.

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