Skyscraper technique
A content-driven link-building tactic where you find a popular, heavily linked piece, build something demonstrably better, then ask the sites linking to the original to link to yours instead.
Coined by Brian Dean, the skyscraper technique has three steps: find content in your niche that already attracts links, create a more comprehensive or up-to-date version (the taller skyscraper), and then do targeted outreach to people who linked to the original. The logic is that prospects have already proven they will link to this topic, so the pitch is warmer than cold outreach.
It works best in spaces where the existing top resources are genuinely thin, outdated, or ugly. If the incumbent is already excellent, simply being longer rarely earns the swap. The real leverage is in the outreach: a relevant, personalized note explaining the concrete improvement converts far better than a mass mail-merge.
The honest caveat is that the technique is now widely known and overused, so reply rates have fallen and many recipients ignore generic skyscraper pitches. Treat it as one input rather than a guaranteed system, and pair it with content that has a real reason to be cited (original data, a tool, a fresh angle) rather than just a higher word count.