Dissecting Backlinko’s SEO Strategy

Introduction to Backlinko

From a nutritionist to a PhD scholar, then a wannabe author, then a freelancer, website business, and finally an SEO expert… Brain Dean came a long way before starting his most successful venture, Backlinko.

 A number of failed ventures before taking off with a successful one is a common story for all entrepreneurs. Brain Dean’s ‘Backlinko’ journey begins particularly during his website developer phase. Dean launched several websites in the lifestyle domain, and things were going well until Google Panda came into the picture. Panda took away traffic from numerous websites on the charge of low-quality or thin content farms, and Dean’s website is among those. All these are happening in 2010.

Brian Dean took the next two years to analyze the reasons behind the failures of his websites and started his own agency, Backlinko. He focused on sharing knowledge about efficient SEO techniques to beat Google’s ranking algorithm.

Brian Dean’s popular Backlinko has experienced tremendous growth since its launch in 2010 to become an invaluable resource for digital marketers looking to improve their SEO and content marketing skills. By dedicating himself to publishing in-depth, insightful articles full of actionable tips, Dean has organically built an audience of nearly 700,000 monthly visitors. And finally, in 2022, the once bootstrapped Backlinko was sold to leading SaaS platform Semrush for a whopping $4 million.

Dean puts all of his attention on providing his readers with the knowledge that will enable them to succeed, rather than trying to establish himself as an authority. According to him, modern digital marketers must become experts at content promotion, user experience optimization, and link development. Dean centers the Backlinko blog on offering this important instruction.  

His careful, comprehensive approach to explaining important marketing ideas, such as link-building tactics, sets Backlinko apart from the competitive SEO market. Dean takes the initiative to provide relevant information and practical advice that is appropriate for various skill levels. Readers respect his emphasis on quality rather than quantity, which is demonstrated by his detailed case studies and well-researched list posts.

Anyone who follows Brian Dean’s blogs would be aware of the “Skyscraper technique“. According to the founder, this link-building tactic enabled Backlinko to grow to its greatest extent. It will not be overdone to say that Skyscraper is a major factor in Backlinko’s success. 

We have decoded Backlinko’s Skyscraper Technique step by step in this case study. 

What is the Skyscraper Technique in SEO?

Skyscraper Technique is a smart link-building strategy where you find competitive content other sites are linking to, create better content and then convince the sites to link to your better content instead.

In 2015, Brian Dean introduced the revolutionary Skyscraper Technique, which completely changed the way most link-building strategies were done. The technique’s basic idea is simple but brilliant: find popular content that has outlived its usefulness or grown old, then purposefully create something significantly more extensive and valuable to replace it. It’s basically building a ‘skyscraper’ content with more useful information and analysis that dwarfs the existing content. 

When Dean used Backlinko to test the Skyscraper Technique for a blog, the results were astounding—in just two weeks, he increased organic traffic to the blog by 110%. More significantly, though, it demonstrated the enormous impact of concentrating all efforts on creating grade-A content that draws backlinks by virtue of its superior quality and reader value.

Instead of forcing connections artificially, Dean contributed to the discussion and showed the benefits of intelligently meeting audience demands with excellent content that actually adds value. His revolutionary approach is still used as a benchmark by contemporary link builders.

Let’s examine the process. 

How to Implement SEO Skyscraper Technique?

1. Find Content

The objective at this point is to thoroughly research the existing content on the subject of your choice and pinpoint particular sites and resources that have high-quality backlinks. You want to find content that, rather than having long-term value, may unjustly garner links based just on its initial popularity. 

The best results come from finding pages that were once useful but have subsequently become antiquated but still retain referential links – these offer the most potential.

2. Improve the Content 

Do research to find out what concerns and queries readers still have that the current content isn’t able to address. Find out what people wish they could learn, or what they are struggling with. Create a fresh piece of content based on your understanding that more effectively meets the needs of the reader than the current stuff. Make it far more thorough and lengthy. This contains applicable templates, extra advice, step-by-step instructions, convenient checklists, and other helpful resources that readers can truly utilize and benefit from. 

Additionally, you want to focus on making the content easier to read. Divide the content into sections that make sense and include headers and highlights. To improve skim ability and engagement, explain jargon, use simple language, and add more visuals and graphics. Enhance the reading experience by fine-tuning the styling to make content more palatable and memorable. This can be achieved by using eye-catching images, infographics, videos, and other media.

3. Look up for Prospects

The primary objective is to persuade website owners who now link to content that is similar to yours to move those links to your improved, new content. To do this, locate already-existing, excellent websites that perform well for keywords associated with your new content topic using SEO tools. List any websites that have links pointing to those pages. Make that list more curated by eliminating low-quality websites like forums or article directories. To obtain the email address of the webmaster or content manager of every website on your tidied-up list, use email lookup tools.

Once that is done start sending polite emails to each site owner asking them to consider switching the link they have pointing to the old webpage to instead link to your new, more useful content. 

4. Make the Swap

Once you have identified the best prospects, start sending polite emails to each site owner asking them to consider switching the link they have pointing to the old webpage to instead link to your new, more useful content. 

This should not be tough. Remember, all site owners want to provide the best and latest information to their audience. Be clear in how your content will provide more value to their users and you’ll be surprised how easy it is to get your better content swapped for the older original link.

Reasons Behind Skyscraper’s Success

The secret to Brian Dean’s Skyscraper Technique’s genius is how well it balances organic incentives. Instead of trying to forcefully overturn existing dynamics, the technique works by comprehending and operating within them.

Fundamentally, the skyscraper method just acknowledges the potential of providing readers with meaningful content in situations when there is clear interest but unfulfilled demand. Instead of battling uphill to manually create connections, it finds audiences where they are already interested and then purposefully provides them with an improvement over what they were previously receiving.

The method is effective because it gives people what they desire instead of chasing after what you want. It fulfills this purpose by producing something so beneficial that connections emerge organically rather than via arduous effort. Because skyscraper content provides more of what people already want, it attracts attention and links.

While overtly innovative ideas often require convincing people of unseen utility, skyscrapers get built by meeting people where they already are. The technique succeeds by aligning to existing incentives, not attempting to shift them through blunt force. Providing real reader value drives referrals organically. And sustainably meeting demand begets engaged traffic of its own momentum.

Conclusion

The key takeaway from this case study for startups is that they should focus on solving readers’ problems by delivering exceptionally useful content that goes far beyond expectations, rather than aggressive self-promotion. Identify where there is existing demand and find ways to contribute at a higher level to that conversation. 

Let the value you provide speak for itself and build trust organically over time, rather than hard selling. If you create truly best-in-class assets that address audience needs better than anything else out there, influencer links and referrals will come automatically based on the merit and word-of-mouth around your content.