The Ultimate Comprehensive Resource Page Link Building Guide

Among the most tried and true natural link building techniques that modern link builders have at their disposal, resource page link building stands out as a smart and strategic white hat link building approach for acquiring high-quality backlinks from authoritative sources. 

In this comprehensive guide, we'll delve into the intricacies of resource page link building, exploring its definition, purpose, and strategies for success. Whether you're new to link building or looking to refine your existing tactics, this guide will equip you with the knowledge and tools needed to leverage resource pages effectively in your link building campaign.

What Is Resource Page Link Building?

Resource page link building is a smart SEO method focused on getting backlinks from pages that gather and recommend useful industry resources. These resources could be articles, tools, or guides meant to benefit the target audience.

The process involves finding relevant resource pages, making sure they're a good fit, and then reaching out to suggest adding a link to your content. It's all about tapping into the natural desire of website owners to keep their pages valuable to users. 

By securing backlinks from these pages, your website gains credibility and visibility in search engine results. 

Why Does Resource Page Link Building Work So Well?

Resource page link building works because it's a win-win for both parties involved.

Website owners want to enrich their pages with quality resources, so they're open to adding links to relevant content. This approach also helps your website get relevant links from authoritative sources in your industry, boosting its reputation with search engines. 

It's a straightforward and effective way to improve your website's visibility and credibility while providing valuable resources to users. I’ve even had website owners thank me for providing them with a piece of content that they otherwise wouldn’t have known about. 

Strategies for Building Links from Resource Pages

Building links from resource pages requires a combination of standard link building tactics and some special considerations given the kind of content you’re promoting. 

Finding Relevant Resource Pages

To find relevant resource pages, you can start by leveraging Google search operators. These operators allow you to refine your search to pages specifically titled or structured as resource pages. Using keywords related to your content along with search operators like "intitle:resources" or "inurl:resources.html" can help narrow down your results to pages likely to contain curated lists of resources. 

Here’s what an “ultimate guide” to personal finance resource page search query might look like:

Here are a few more keywords that can turn up useful results: 

• Keyword inurl:resources
• Keyword “best resources”
• Keyword” useful resources”
• Keyword intitle:links
• Keyword “helpful links”

Vetting the Pages

Good backlink analysis is an important part of ensuring you're targeting quality sources for your link-building efforts. 

This process involves two main steps: filtering and eliminating using metrics, and manually reviewing the remaining pages. Initially, you can use SEO metrics like Domain Rating (DR) and Domain Search Traffic (ST) to filter out pages that may not meet your criteria for authority and relevance.

Once you've narrowed down your list, manually reviewing each page allows you to assess factors like the quality of external links, topical relevance, and overall maintenance. I tend to spend more time reviewing pages than actually collecting. Cast a wide net, but spend a lot of time making sure you’re being selective. 

combining these approaches, you can identify resource pages that offer valuable opportunities for link placement.

Filtering and Eliminating Using Metrics

In the process of filtering and eliminating using metrics, the aim is to streamline your list of potential resource pages by leveraging key SEO metrics.

By focusing on metrics like Domain Authority, Page Authority and Domain Search Traffic (ST), you can quickly assess the authority and relevance of each page. Pages with higher DA/PA (DR/PR) and ST scores are generally considered more valuable for link building purposes.

By setting thresholds for these metrics, such as a minimum DR of 10 and a minimum ST of 5000, you can efficiently filter out pages that may not meet your standards. This data-driven approach helps prioritize pages with the greatest potential impact on your link-building strategy.

Manually Reviewing the Remaining Pages

Once you've filtered out lower-quality pages using metrics, the next step is to manually review the remaining pages to ensure they align with your link-building goals. This manual review involves examining factors such as the quality of external links, topical relevance, and overall user experience. 

Making sure you’re getting relevant backlinks is an especially important part of this analysis. 

Pages that demonstrate a commitment to maintaining updated and relevant content are more likely to offer valuable opportunities for link placement. 

I also like to make sure that a website has a consistent theme or subject matter that they cover and that the articles have actual writers (ideally with expertise and authority on display). 

Monday.com’s blog is a good example of this. 

They’re a software company and they cover software. 

Reaching Out and Suggesting Your Resource

When reaching out to suggest your resource, it's essential to approach the process strategically and respectfully. Craft personalized outreach messages that highlight the value your resource brings to the recipient's audience. 

I can’t stress enough how important it is for you to be able to clearly articulate why your resource would be a valuable addition to their page and how it aligns with their content goals. People want to know what’s in it for them. 

Here’s an example of something that might really hit home for a site owner in the personal finance niche. 

By demonstrating genuine interest and providing compelling reasons for consideration, you increase the likelihood of a positive response. You may also find that websites that are not initially open to your outreach are impressed enough with how you’ve approached them to consider a collaboration of some kind in the future. 

Respecting Preferred Contact Methods

Respecting the preferred contact methods of resource page owners is crucial for fostering positive relationships and maximizing the success of your outreach efforts. 

Pay close attention to any instructions provided by the page owner regarding how they prefer to receive resource suggestions. Whether they prefer email submissions, contact forms, or direct messages via social media, honouring their preferences demonstrates professionalism and consideration for their workflow. 

You will sometimes see people say explicitly, “don’t send me a Linkedin message” or “don’t reach out on Instagram.” The easiest way to get binned right out of the gate is to ignore requests like these.

Emailing the Responsible Person

You will have a much higher success rate if you reach out to the correct person. That’s just the way this works. This is something that applies to everything in business. 

Spending that extra 10 minutes finding out who, exactly, you’re supposed to be contacting can mean the difference between a shiny new backlink and an unopened email. 

Specifying Link Placement

When suggesting your resource to a page owner, it's helpful to specify the desired link placement to streamline the editing process.

Clearly communicate where you believe your resource would be most valuable within their page's content structure. From the above personal finance for single moms example, a good way to go about this would be:

When I do something like a link insertion (which is a type of link building where you are sending traffic and link juice to a resource page), I make it so that the site owner doesn’t have to do anything. I give them the page, the copy and the anchor text. All they have to do is make a quick edit. 

Identifying Broken Links

Identifying broken links on resource pages presents an opportunity to provide additional value while suggesting your resource. 

Conduct a thorough review of the page to identify any broken or outdated links that may require attention. Use a combination of tools like Ahrefs and broken link finder plugins on Google Chrome. 

Use a Chrome extension like Broken Link Checker to find the broken links on a page: 

And the insert the URLs into Ahrefs’ Broken Link Checker:

By proactively pointing out these issues to the page owner, you demonstrate your commitment to improving the quality of their page's content, and by offering your resource as a replacement, you improve the likelihood of it being considered for inclusion. 

Avoiding Payment

Avoiding payment for link placement is essential for maintaining ethical link-building practices and adhering to search engine guidelines. 

Google considers paid links to be “link spam” because they are backlinks that are solely for the purpose of manipulating page rank:

While some may offer payment in exchange for links, this approach can lead to penalties from search engines and damage your site's reputation. 

Focus on building organic relationships with page owners and providing high-quality resources that genuinely add value to their content. Not all paid links are spam backlinks, but assume that Google will look unfavorably on anything that smacks of “pay to play.” 

By prioritizing authenticity and integrity in your link-building efforts, you establish trust and credibility within your industry while safeguarding your site's long-term SEO performance.

Enhancing Link Building Efforts

If you really want to take your resource page link building to the next level, you do need to go the extra mile to find more (and better) resource pages. 

Searching Backlink Profiles

To enhance your link building efforts, delve into backlink profiles to uncover potential opportunities for resource page placements. Explore the backlink profiles of competitors, industry leaders, and relevant websites to identify pages that link to similar resources.

I like to look for patterns or commonalities among these backlinks, such as specific domains or types of content, to streamline the process. 

By analyzing backlink profiles, you can discover hidden gems and forge connections with pages that are likely to appreciate and link to your resource.

Looking for Listicle Resource Pages

Listicle pages often feature compilations of resources, making them ideal targets for suggesting your own resource.

Look for listicle pages that cater to your target audience and align with the topics or themes covered in your resource. This is the best way to go about link building in general and the best way to maximize your link building ROI.

Identifying Pages with Resource Sections

Identify pages with dedicated resource sections to uncover potential link building opportunities that align closely with your content. Explore websites within your industry or niche that maintain resource sections, such as blogs, educational portals, or industry directories.

Here’s one from Bynder below:

These pages are likely to welcome additional resources that enhance their offerings and provide value to their audience.

Understanding the Definition and Purpose of a Resource Page

Resource pages serve as curated collections of valuable information, tools, or resources relevant to a particular topic or industry. 

Their primary purpose is to provide users with easy access to comprehensive and high-quality content, aiding them in their research or problem-solving endeavors. 

Role of Resource Pages in Customer Support and User Education

Resource pages play a pivotal role in enhancing customer support and user education efforts. They serve as centralized hubs where users can find answers to their queries, access tutorials, guides, or documentation, and stay informed about the latest developments in a specific field. 

Keep all of that in mind when approaching site masters with resource page link building requests and when putting together your own resource pages. 

Key Elements of Successful Resource Pages

Successful resource pages are characterized by several key elements that contribute to their effectiveness and appeal. These include:

• Comprehensive and up-to-date content
• Intuitive navigation
• Clear organization
• Engagement features such as interactive tools or multimedia resources. 

Moreover, incorporating visually appealing design elements, credible sources, and user-generated content can further enhance the value and credibility of resource pages.

Essential Components

When creating resource pages, certain essential components should be prioritized to ensure their relevance and usefulness. 

These components may include a descriptive title and introduction, categorized listings of resources, brief summaries or annotations for each resource, prominent search functionality, and clear calls-to-action prompting users to explore further or provide feedback. 

Additionally, incorporating social sharing buttons and subscription options can encourage user interaction and facilitate ongoing engagement. I can’t stress enough how important the content distribution and amplification part of resource link building is. 

When I was just starting out my link building career, I, like a lot of people, had unrealistic expectations regarding organic traffic to my resource pages. The fact of the matter is, the majority of pages on the web get no traffic from Google. 

Layout and UI Design Considerations

The layout and UI design of resource pages significantly influence user experience and engagement. Adopting a clean and clutter-free layout, utilizing visual hierarchy to highlight important content, and employing consistent branding elements can enhance readability and navigation. 

Furthermore, optimizing the page for mobile responsiveness, ensuring fast loading times, and implementing accessibility features contribute to a seamless user experience across different devices and user preferences. By prioritizing user-centric design principles, resource pages can effectively fulfill their intended purpose and drive meaningful interactions with the target audience.

Content Planning and Curation

I find that a lot of the resource page guides out there don’t stress enough how much planning and curation go into a successful resource page link building campaign, which is why I want to spend some time on that below. 

Planning Resource Page Content

Effective resource page content begins with thorough planning. 

This involves defining the scope and purpose of the page, identifying target audience needs and interests, and outlining the categories or topics to be covered.

By establishing clear objectives and content guidelines upfront, you can ensure that your resource page aligns closely with your link building campaign goals and delivers value to users.

Identifying and Organizing Content Types

Once the content plan is in place, it's essential to identify and organize the types of content that will be featured on the resource page. 

This may include articles, blog posts, videos, infographics, tools, templates, case studies, or other relevant resources. By categorizing content types based on themes or topics, you can create a well-structured and easily navigable resource page that caters to diverse user preferences and information needs.

Curating Valuable and Engaging Content

Curating valuable and engaging content is critical to the success of a resource page link building campaign. 

This involves selecting high-quality resources from reputable sources, ensuring accuracy and, very importantly, relevance, and providing insightful annotations or summaries to guide users' understanding. Your overarching objective with a resource page is to address common pain points, offer practical solutions, or showcase innovative ideas. 

When I’m creating a resource page, I’m thinking, “is this something that could be seen as a  trusted destination for valuable information in my niche?” I.e., is this something that exemplifies EEAT?

Designing Resource Page Layout

The layout of a resource page plays a significant role in shaping user experience and engagement. When designing the layout, consider factors such as:

• Content organization
• Visual hierarchy
• Ease of navigation
• Clear headings, subheadings, and visual cues to guide users' attention and facilitate seamless browsing. 
• Clean and uncluttered design that allows content to shine while maintaining a cohesive aesthetic that aligns with your brand identity.

Best UI Practices

Adopting best UI practices is essential for optimizing the usability and effectiveness of a resource page. 

In an effort to promote “quality” and work around the deluge of SEO-optimized content clogging up search engines, Google has increasingly focused on user experience. 

This includes designing for responsiveness across various devices, optimizing loading times to minimize user frustration, and implementing intuitive navigation features such as breadcrumbs or search functionality. 

UI would include things like: 

Pay attention to typography, color schemes, and spacing to enhance readability and visual appeal.

By prioritizing user-centric design principles, you can create a positive and engaging browsing experience that encourages users to explore and interact with your content.

Optimization for SEO and User Engagement

You should never think of SEO and user engagement as two separate concepts. That’s a receipt for a resource page that is (presumably) easy for search engines to crawl and index but created with no real thought to human readers. 

Google doesn’t want to see that. Here are some ways you can marry these two concepts and make sure algorithms and human beings are interested in your content. 

SEO Strategies for Resource Pages

Optimizing resource pages for SEO involves implementing strategies that make them more visible and relevant to search engines while also enhancing the user experience.

This includes conducting keyword research to identify relevant search terms and incorporating them naturally into titles, headings, and metadata. Page loading speed is another one of those essential ranking factors, as is using descriptive URLs, and structuring content with proper headings and schema markup can improve crawlability and indexability. 

Leveraging internal linking to connect related resources and obtaining external backlinks from reputable sources further strengthens the page's authority and visibility in search results.

Techniques for Enhancing User Engagement and Retention

Enhancing user engagement and retention on resource pages is essential for providing value to visitors and encouraging them to return. 

Additionally, incorporating multimedia content such as videos, infographics, or interactive graphics can make the page more visually appealing and engaging, as are providing clear calls-to-action, encouraging social sharing, and soliciting user feedback help foster active user engagement and build a sense of community around the resource page. 

It’s also crucial for you to remember that a resource page is never finished. It’s a living document that evolves and changes as new information becomes available, new techniques come into vogue, etc. Regularly updating and refreshing content ensures that users find fresh and relevant information, further incentivizing repeat visits and prolonged engagement.

Design and Layout Considerations

Knowing how to find resource page link building opportunities is just half the battle. If you want people to actually link to your resource, it has to be good enough to deserve a link. 

Best Resource Page Design Examples

Below I’m going to show you what I mean by high-quality resource pages. Here are three standout pages on the web that have built great resource pages for their visitors and customers. 

Example 1: Unbounce

Unbounce’s resource page stands out as a prime example of an effective hub for marketers and digital professionals. 

It starts out with a clear value proposition, emphasizing the benefits of conversion optimization, is organized into distinct, easy-to-navigate  categories, which lets you quickly find the resources you want, and they give you a range of content formats, as well as eye-catching visuals.

They’ve also done something that I can’t stress the importance of enough: They’ve stuck to clean design and consistent branding throughout and made good use of strategically placed CTAs. 

Example 2: Convertflow

The ConvertFlow Resource Page is another prime example of an exceptional hub for marketers and website owners. 

It starts with a clear value proposition, highlighting the benefits users can expect and is then organized into distinct categories, helping you find relevant content based on specific interests. It also showcases diverse content formats–articles, guides, case studies, and templates–and uses eye-catching images on its featured resources, encouraging further exploration.

Clean layout, high-quality images, and consistent branding, are also in place, just as they are with Unbounce. 

Example 3: Semrush 

Semrush's Resource Page is another standout example on the web, offering diverse content types like articles, guides, webinars, and more. 

I also really like how user-friendly it is. It would be almost impossible to misunderstand how this page works and what it’s providing you thanks to the easy navigation.

Wrapping up

Mastering resource page link building requires a multifaceted approach that combines strategic SEO techniques with a deep understanding of user engagement principles. 

By meticulously planning, curating, and designing resource pages that offer genuine value to both users and search engines, you can establish your website as a trusted authority within your industry while fostering meaningful connections with your target audience.