A content promotion approach involving creating a markedly stronger alternative to an existing resource and conducting outreach to relevant publishers.
The Skyscraper Technique is a content promotion approach associated with Brian Dean of Backlinko. Its basic sequence is to identify a resource that has attracted links, develop a more useful alternative and contact relevant publishers who may find that alternative worth referencing.
The difficult step is establishing what better means for the intended reader. An improvement might be clearer evidence, a working tool, an important missing explanation or updated information. Adding more headings and words can make a resource harder to use if it does not resolve a genuine weakness.
Outreach remains an editorial request. A publisher may prefer its existing source, consider the new resource unsuitable or choose not to respond. The technique does not transfer another page’s links to yours, and a case study’s results do not predict what a different business will achieve.
Takeaway: Use the approach only when you can make a distinct, credible contribution. Assess whether the resource would still be useful if outreach produced no links.
Example
A packaging supplier sees that existing shipping guides omit how to measure irregular products. It could create an original illustrated explanation and offer it to relevant trade publications. Copying a familiar guide and adding a longer introduction would not solve that specific problem.
What to check
Explain the concrete improvement in a short, relevant pitch. Credit sources, avoid copying their work and leave the linking decision to the publisher. Do not promise backlinks or rankings simply because the process has a memorable name.
For more detail, see Brian Dean: Skyscraper Technique.