It is now 2026, and the traditional skyscraper content writing approach no longer holds value.
Of course, I am not saying this method is useless for SEO traffic. On the contrary, it can still help you gain substantial traffic today, as covering a broad range of topics and targeting more keywords can still capture some attention.
In the past, our writing involved aggregating content from SERPs to create comprehensive, wide-ranging articles. If you had some in-depth SEO knowledge, you might add some information gain. But honestly, the final article still leaned toward breadth, and the so-called information gain rarely provided truly valuable, in-depth content.
However, AIOs and LLMs are now updated daily and can provide faster, more comprehensive answers. The skyscraper strategy is on the verge of collapse. In fact, for most of us, using the skyscraper strategy is like producing redundant content online—merely repeating what others have already said.
If your content can be perfectly replaced, or even surpassed, by LLMs, how can it continue to rank in the future? Google might even flag your content as spam.
Differentiation
Therefore, in 2026 and beyond, truly rank-worthy content should be irreplaceable. You can no longer write from a generic perspective. Remember: generic = garbage.
你需要寻找差异化. 比如写一篇如何组装一台电脑. 人人都在写常规的组装流程. 而你可以从 ‘背插’这个目前小众的主题来写. 因为‘背插’的装机流程和常规的流程不同, 更加简单更加美观,但却需要背插配件来适配. 而这就是一种差异化. 从前没人写过这个角度,而你写了,那么在‘背插’领域,你就是‘装机猿’之后的权威第二人.
Your content might not rank first for generic "how to assemble a computer" queries, but differentiated content can keep you on the first page with more stable rankings, unlike others whose positions fluctuate. Honestly, other rankings are often just poor imitations of the top result—once you see number one, you'll notice positions 2–9 merely mimic it clumsily.
The first step in finding differentiation is to analyze the SERPs in detail, either manually or with AI. Understand what others have written, identify uncovered aspects, and assess whether those aspects are sufficiently differentiated, useful to readers, or offer an alternative approach.
AI Writing Process
- Position yourself and your company: you represent the company. Are you a technician with years of workshop experience or a professional salesperson?
- Identify search intent: Understand what the customer wants to know, which will guide the direction of your article.
- Define your audience: Are you targeting beginners, procurement professionals, or engineers facing urgent problems that need solving?
- Determine the depth of content: For beginners, a simple overview may suffice. For engineers, detailed tutorials and professional terminology may be necessary.
- Seek differentiation (manually or with AI)
- Create an outline based on the above (using AI)
- Write (using AI): Nowadays, writing no longer requires perfect prompts. With a strong base model, even casual efforts yield decent results.
- Manual proofreading: Check for errors.
In step 7 above, you can also consider using AI to add internal links, though manual addition is always the most accurate.
In fact, the writing process and mindset haven't changed. What has changed is the need to think about how to provide irreplaceable content, how to offer more helpful content for customers, and how to create content that aligns with your company.