Skyscraper Technique Proven Ways to Earn Backlinks in 2026
Brian Dean introduced the skyscraper technique at Backlinko back in 2015 and it worked brilliantly. Find top-ranking content, build something better, reach out to sites linking to the original. Simple, repeatable, effective.
The problem is that everyone knows about it now. Publishers receive skyscraper pitches constantly. “I noticed you linked to X, we created something better” lands in editorial inboxes dozens of times a week. The classic approach still works, but only if you’ve genuinely updated it for how content competition and link building actually operate in 2026.
This guide covers exactly that. You’ll learn how to apply the skyscraper technique with original research, data visualisation, and content formats that actually earn links today. We’ve also updated the outreach side so your pitches stand out instead of blending into the noise. Whether you’re building links for your own site or running campaigns for agency clients, this is the version of the technique that delivers results now.
What Is the Skyscraper Technique?
The skyscraper technique is a content-driven link building strategy built on a straightforward premise. You find content in your niche that has already earned significant backlinks, create a substantially better version of that content, then contact the sites linking to the original and suggest they link to yours instead.
The logic is sound. If a piece of content has earned 80 backlinks, it’s clearly a topic that publishers in your space consider worth referencing. Creating something definitively better gives you a compelling reason to approach those same publishers with a relevant, timely pitch.
Brian Dean’s original case studies showed conversion rates of around 11 percent on outreach, which is strong by any outreach benchmark. The technique earned its reputation.
Why the Classic Approach Falls Short in 2026
Three things have changed significantly since 2015.
First, content volume has exploded. There are now significantly more pieces competing for links in almost every niche. Simply being longer or more comprehensive than the top result isn’t enough differentiation when 20 other sites are attempting the same thing.
Second, publishers have become savvy to skyscraper pitches. The “I noticed you linked to X and we made something better” template is immediately recognisable and increasingly ignored because it prioritises the sender’s agenda over the recipient’s actual needs.
Third, Google’s quality signals have matured. Content that’s better primarily in terms of length or visual polish earns fewer links than content that’s better in terms of genuine originality, unique data, or demonstrably superior usefulness to the target audience.
The skyscraper technique still works. It just requires a more sophisticated approach to what “better” actually means and how you communicate that value to potential linking sites.
How the Skyscraper Technique Works in 2026
The updated skyscraper technique starts with the same first step: find content that has already earned substantial backlinks. But the definition of “better” and the execution of the outreach step have both evolved considerably.
1: Find High-Performing Linkable Content
Use Ahrefs Content Explorer to search your primary topic and filter by referring domains. Sort by referring domains in descending order and focus on pages with 50 or more linking domains. These are your targets.
You’re looking for content that is genuinely outdated, based on limited data, missing key angles, or structured in a way that makes it difficult to extract value quickly. Those gaps are your opportunity.
2: Define What Genuinely Better Means
This is where the 2026 version diverges from the classic approach. “Better” in 2026 means at least one of the following:
- Contains original data that didn’t exist before you published it
- Answers questions the original ignores that readers actually have
- Presents information in a significantly more useful format for the target audience
- Is more current and references developments the original predates
- Includes interactive elements, tools, or visualisations that make the data more accessible
Adding 500 words and updating a few statistics doesn’t qualify. Publishers can tell the difference, and so can Google.
3: Build the Content With Links in Mind
Before you write a single word, identify the specific sites you want to earn links from and study what they’ve linked to before. What angles do they cover? What data do they cite? What content formats appear most frequently in their outbound links?
Build your content to answer the questions those sites and their audiences genuinely care about. This shifts the skyscraper technique from a content-first to an audience-first strategy, which is what earns links in competitive niches.
4: Execute Personalised Outreach
More on this in the outreach section below. The key shift is moving from “we made something better” to “here’s specific value your readers will get from this that they’re not getting from what you currently link to.”
Original Research: The Most Powerful Linkable Asset
If there’s one upgrade that consistently separates effective skyscraper technique campaigns from mediocre ones in 2026, it’s original research.
When you create a piece built on data that nobody else has, you become a primary source. Journalists, bloggers, and industry publications need primary sources to cite. That need drives links organically, without you having to convince anyone that your content is better than someone else’s.
How to Create Original Research Without a Large Budget
Run a survey: Survey 300 to 500 people in your target industry using Typeform or SurveyMonkey. Even a focused 10-question survey on a specific pain point can generate publishable findings. The data is yours, the insights are unique, and the link potential is significant.
Analyse publicly available data: Government datasets, Companies House filings, industry reports, and publicly accessible databases all contain raw data that nobody has translated into accessible findings for your specific audience. Doing that translation creates an original, citable asset.
Compile proprietary platform data: If you run an agency, your collective client data across campaigns is a dataset nobody else has access to. Anonymised aggregate findings from real campaigns carry enormous credibility with publishers because they reflect genuine market activity.
Run experiments and publish the results: Test something that your audience cares about and publish a detailed methodology and outcome. SEO case studies with real campaign data are among the most consistently linked-to content formats in the digital marketing space.
According to Ahrefs’ content marketing research, original research and data studies are among the top content formats for earning backlinks at scale. The reason is simple: data needs a source, and if you’re the source, you earn the link.
Data Visualisation and Infographics That Attract Links
Raw data earns links. Visualised data earns more of them, and from a broader range of publications.
Most publishers don’t have the design resources or data analysis capabilities to create high-quality visualisations in-house. When you produce a compelling chart, interactive graphic, or well-designed infographic that makes complex information immediately understandable, you give those publishers something genuinely useful they can embed with attribution.
What Makes a Linkable Visual Asset
Not all infographics earn links. The ones that do share several characteristics:
The data must be genuinely interesting and non-obvious. A chart showing that larger companies spend more on marketing earns no links because it surprises nobody. A chart showing which marketing channels deliver the highest ROI by company size, drawn from original survey data, earns links because it’s specific and actionable.
The design must be clear and professional. Poor design undermines credibility regardless of how good the underlying data is. If your budget is limited, a clean, well-labelled chart built in Datawrapper or Flourish outperforms a complex but poorly executed custom infographic.
The format must suit the data. Timelines work for historical trends. Maps work for geographic data. Flow charts work for processes. Using the wrong visual format for your data type makes the asset harder to use and less likely to be embedded by publishers.
Interactive Visualisations as Linkable Assets
Static infographics have become common enough that interactive data tools now earn disproportionate links because they’re rarer and more genuinely useful. A calculator, an interactive benchmark tool, or a filterable data explorer gives users something to engage with rather than just look at. Publishers love linking to tools because they offer ongoing value to their readers.
Tools like Flourish, Datawrapper, and Observable make interactive data visualisation accessible without requiring a full development team. If you’re serious about the skyscraper technique as a long-term link acquisition strategy, interactive assets are worth investing in.
Content Formats That Consistently Earn Backlinks
Beyond original research and visualisations, certain content formats consistently outperform standard blog posts for link acquisition. Understanding which formats attract links in your specific niche shapes both your content creation and your skyscraper technique targeting.
Ultimate guides and reference resources: Comprehensive, deeply researched guides that cover a topic more thoroughly than anything else available. These earn links because content creators reference them repeatedly when they need to point readers to authoritative information. The key is genuine depth, not just length.
Free tools and calculators: Interactive tools that solve a real problem earn passive links over time without ongoing outreach effort. An SEO agency might build a free keyword difficulty estimator or a link building ROI calculator. Once published, these tools earn citations from bloggers and publications looking for useful resources to recommend.
Annual industry reports: Publishing a well-researched annual report on trends in your industry creates a recurring link asset. Publications reference it year after year, and your outreach in year two is significantly easier because the asset already has an established reputation.
Benchmark studies: Telling people what good looks like in a specific area gives them a reference point they’ll cite whenever they write about performance in that area. Email open rate benchmarks by industry. Conversion rate benchmarks by channel. These assets earn links consistently because the benchmark question comes up constantly in related content.
Expert roundups and original interviews: Gathering insights from multiple recognised experts creates an asset those experts are incentivised to share and link to. The network effect amplifies your reach considerably beyond what a single-author piece achieves.
For a deeper understanding of which content types attract the strongest links, our link building services page covers how we approach content-driven backlink acquisition for agency clients.
How to Find the Right Content to Outperform
Choosing the wrong target piece is where many skyscraper technique campaigns fail before they start. Picking content that’s marginally weaker than yours, or that’s already well-maintained by an active publisher, limits your returns significantly.
Using Ahrefs to Find Weak High-Link Content
In Ahrefs Content Explorer, filter your topic search by referring domains (minimum 40), then sort by date published and look specifically for pieces published three or more years ago. Older content in fast-moving industries becomes outdated quickly. If the original publisher hasn’t updated it, the content may be earning links based on its historical authority rather than current quality.
Cross-reference the referring domain count against the page’s organic traffic. A page with 80 referring domains but declining traffic is a strong skyscraper target because it’s clearly losing relevance with searchers even as it maintains a link-worthy topic.
Checking Content Quality Gaps
Once you’ve identified a target piece, read it carefully and note specifically what it’s missing. Ask these questions:
What questions does this content leave unanswered that a reader searching this topic would genuinely have? What data does it cite that has been superseded by more recent research? What examples does it use that are now outdated? What format limitations make it harder to extract value from than it should be?
Your answers become your content brief. Build your piece to specifically address every gap you’ve identified. That specificity is what makes your outreach pitch compelling rather than generic.
Outreach Strategies That Actually Get Responses
The outreach step is where the skyscraper technique most commonly breaks down. Most practitioners send variations of the same template, which editors now recognise and dismiss on sight.
Effective outreach in 2026 requires genuine personalisation built around the recipient’s specific content and audience needs, not your content’s features.
The Value-First Pitch Framework
Your opening should reference something specific about the publication or the journalist’s recent work. Not a generic compliment, but a specific observation that demonstrates you’ve actually read their content and understand their audience.
Your core pitch should frame your content in terms of what their readers gain, not what your content contains. “This study reveals that 67 percent of SMEs in your sector are underinvesting in X, which I think would resonate with your audience given your recent piece on Y” is a fundamentally different pitch from “we wrote a comprehensive guide that covers everything in the piece you linked to and more.”
Keep the entire pitch under 150 words. Editors are pressed for time and long pitches signal poor judgement about their constraints.
Timing Your Outreach Correctly
Pitch on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday mornings. Monday inboxes are overwhelmed and Friday pitches get buried over the weekend. Mid-week morning pitches reach editors when they’re actively planning content and most receptive to external suggestions.
Follow up once, after five to seven business days, with a brief one or two sentence check-in. Don’t resend the original email in full. A simple “wanted to make sure this didn’t get buried, happy to share the full data if useful” is enough.
Building Relationships Before You Pitch
The highest-converting outreach happens when you’re not a stranger. Follow target editors and journalists on LinkedIn and engage meaningfully with their content for four to six weeks before pitching. Share their work, comment with genuine insights, respond to their questions. When your pitch arrives, you’re a familiar face rather than a cold contact.
This relationship-first approach is particularly valuable for publications you want to earn links from repeatedly. A single skyscraper win from a strong publication is valuable. An ongoing editorial relationship with that publication is far more so.
For more on building the kind of content that earns sustained editorial attention, our digital PR and link building guide covers the full campaign approach we use with white label clients.
Skyscraper Technique Mistakes to Avoid
Targeting content that’s already excellent: If the original piece is current, well-maintained, and genuinely comprehensive, you’ll struggle to create something meaningfully better. Choose targets with clear, addressable weaknesses.
Defining better as longer: Word count is not a quality signal. A 5,000-word piece that repeats itself is worse than a 2,000-word piece that answers every relevant question concisely. Focus on depth and originality, not length.
Sending the same template to everyone: Editors talk to each other and they certainly recognise templates. Genuine personalisation takes more time but delivers dramatically better conversion rates on high-value targets.
Skipping the content quality check before outreach: Pitching your piece before it’s truly ready damages your credibility with publications you might want to approach again. Make sure the content is genuinely excellent before a single outreach email goes out.
Only targeting sites that already link to the original: The skyscraper technique outreach list should extend beyond sites linking to your target piece. Use Ahrefs to identify all sites covering your topic, not just those with existing links to the specific piece you’re outperforming.
Giving up after one round of outreach: Most successful link building campaigns require ongoing outreach over weeks and months. A piece that earns 5 links in its first week of promotion can earn 50 links over six months with consistent, targeted outreach effort.
To understand how link velocity and consistent acquisition affects your overall ranking performance, our how many backlinks do you need to rank guide provides the data-driven context you need.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the skyscraper technique in SEO?
The skyscraper technique is a link building strategy that involves finding content in your niche that has earned significant backlinks, creating a substantially better version of that content, and then reaching out to sites linking to the original to suggest they link to yours instead. Developed by Brian Dean at Backlinko, it works because it targets topics already proven to attract links and gives publishers a clear reason to update their references.
Does the skyscraper technique still work in 2026?
Yes, but it requires a more sophisticated approach than the original 2015 version. Simply making content longer or more visually polished is no longer enough differentiation in most niches. The updated approach focuses on original research, unique data, interactive assets, and genuinely personalised outreach that frames your content around the recipient’s audience needs rather than your content’s features.
What makes a good skyscraper content target?
The best targets are pieces that have earned substantial backlinks (40 or more referring domains) but show clear weaknesses: outdated information, missing angles, limited original data, or a format that makes the content hard to use. Pieces published three or more years ago in fast-moving industries are particularly good targets because they’re likely to have content gaps that have opened up since publication.
How long does a skyscraper campaign typically take?
Building the content asset properly takes two to six weeks depending on whether you’re running original research. Initial outreach results typically appear within two to four weeks. Most campaigns continue to earn links over several months with consistent follow-up outreach. Plan for a three to six month window to see the full impact of a well-executed skyscraper campaign on your link profile and rankings.
What is a linkable asset in content marketing?
A linkable asset is any piece of content specifically designed to attract backlinks from other websites. Common formats include original research studies, free tools and calculators, comprehensive reference guides, annual industry reports, data visualisations, and expert interviews. The defining characteristic is that the content gives other publishers something genuinely useful to reference, cite, or share with their own audiences.
How many sites should I contact in a skyscraper outreach campaign?
Start with the sites already linking to your target piece, typically 30 to 100 prospects depending on the piece. Expand your list to include all sites covering your topic area that haven’t linked to the original, which can add another 50 to 200 prospects. Prioritise by Domain Rating and topical relevance. A focused list of 50 highly relevant, personalised outreach emails will consistently outperform a mass campaign of 500 generic ones.
What tools do I need to run the skyscraper technique effectively?
Ahrefs is the primary tool for finding high-link content targets, analysing referring domains, and building your outreach prospect list. SEMrush provides complementary data and keyword context. BuzzSumo helps identify content that’s earned significant social sharing alongside backlinks. For outreach management, Pitchbox or Mailshake help you track contacts, follow-ups, and responses at scale without losing the personalisation that makes outreach effective.
How do I make my skyscraper content better than the original?
Focus on one or more of these specific improvements: add original data through surveys or experiments, update all statistics and references to current sources, address questions the original ignores, create interactive or visual elements that make the content more accessible, improve the structural organisation so readers can extract value faster, or add genuine expert perspectives that the original lacks. At least one of these improvements should be substantial, not incremental.
Key Takeaways
The skyscraper technique remains one of the most reliable frameworks for earning backlinks at scale, but only when you apply the 2026 version, not the 2015 one.
Here’s what to take forward:
- Original research is the strongest differentiator: Content built on data nobody else has becomes a primary source that earns links naturally and consistently
- Better means genuinely more useful, not just longer or more visually polished. Publishers and their audiences can tell the difference
- Personalised outreach converts significantly better than templates. Frame every pitch around what the recipient’s readers gain, not what your content contains
- Data visualisations and interactive assets extend your reach to publishers who wouldn’t link to standard blog content
- Consistency matters: The best skyscraper campaigns earn links over months, not just in the first week of outreach
Your first practical step today is to open Ahrefs Content Explorer, search your primary topic, filter by 40 or more referring domains, and sort by date to find your first outreach target. Study it, identify its specific weaknesses, and build your content brief around closing every gap you find.
If you want 7thClub to run a full skyscraper content and outreach campaign for your agency clients through our white label link building service, get in touch with our team to discuss what’s possible.
