Resource Page Link Building: How to Find and Pitch Resource Pages
Resource page link building gets you listed on curated pages of useful links. The search operators to find them, how to vet them, and what to pitch.
Resource page link building means getting your content added to pages that exist purely to list useful links on a topic, such as "Hiking resources for beginners" or "Useful links for small business owners". You find the pages, check they're worth being on, and suggest your resource to the person who maintains them.
It works because these pages want to link out. The curator's whole job is collecting good resources, so a genuinely useful suggestion is a favour rather than an imposition.
What is a resource page?
A resource page is a curated list of links to helpful content on one subject. They're common on libraries, universities, local councils, charities, trade associations, clubs and niche hobby blogs.
The best ones are maintained by a real person who checks the links, removes dead ones and occasionally adds new ones. The worst are link dumps with hundreds of unrelated links and a "submit your site" form, which are closer to low-quality directories than resource pages.
How to find resource pages with search operators
Google's search operators do most of the prospecting. Combine your topic with words that resource pages tend to use in their titles and URLs.
| Search query | What it surfaces |
|---|---|
"keyword" intitle:resources |
Pages with "resources" in the title |
"keyword" inurl:resources |
Pages with "resources" in the URL |
"keyword" inurl:links |
Old-style "links" pages, common on clubs and associations |
"keyword" "useful links" |
Pages using the phrase in the body |
"keyword" "helpful resources" |
Same idea, different wording |
"keyword" intitle:"further reading" |
Reading lists, often on education sites |
"keyword" "recommended sites" |
Older, hand-curated pages |
Add site:.edu, site:.gov, site:.org or a country domain such as site:.ac.uk to target particular kinds of organisation. University and library guides are a classic source, which overlaps with the routes on the .edu backlinks page.
You can also work backwards: put a competitor's best guide into a backlink tool and filter its links for URLs containing "resources" or "links". The link building tools guide covers which tools do this.
How to tell a good resource page from a bad one
Not every page that comes up is worth a pitch. Check each one quickly before you spend time on outreach.
| Check | Good sign | Bad sign |
|---|---|---|
| Relevance | Every link fits one clear topic | Casinos next to kids' crafts |
| Number of links | Dozens, grouped sensibly | Hundreds in one long list |
| Maintenance | Recently updated, few dead links | Half the links are broken |
| Who runs it | A real organisation or named person | Anonymous site with no other content |
| How links get added | Curated by the owner | "Submit your site" form or a fee |
| The site itself | Gets real search traffic | Ranks for nothing |
Payment is the big red flag. A resource page that charges for inclusion is selling links, and a paid link that passes ranking credit without rel="sponsored" or nofollow falls under Google's spam policies (see link schemes for the detail).
What makes your content worth listing
This is where most resource page campaigns fail. Curators link to resources, not sales pages.
- Guides and how-tos that genuinely teach something, ideally better than what's already listed
- Free tools and calculators, which are among the easiest things to get onto resource lists
- Checklists, templates and printable downloads
- Original data or research that others in the field cite
- Local or niche information nobody else has pulled together
If you don't have anything like this, build it first. A product page or a thin blog post will be ignored, however good the pitch is. The skyscraper technique is one way to create a resource that's clearly better than what's already listed.
How to pitch a resource page
Keep the email short and make it about their readers.
- Find the person who maintains the page (often named at the bottom, or the author of the site)
- Mention the specific page, so they know you've actually seen it
- Explain in one or two sentences what your resource covers and why it fits their list
- Point out a dead link if you've spotted one, which makes the email useful whatever they decide
- Send one follow-up at most
Spotting a dead link and offering your page as the replacement turns this into broken link building, and the two tactics combine naturally. The outreach email templates page has example wording.
Pros and cons of resource page link building
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Curators actively want good links | Many resource pages are old and unmaintained |
| Links are editorial and on-topic | Works far better for informational content than commercial pages |
| Strong fit for education, government and non-profit sites | Volume is limited in narrow or commercial niches |
| Low cost if you already have a good resource | Needs a genuinely useful asset to pitch |
The short version
- Resource pages are curated lists of useful links, and their owners want good additions
- Find them with search operators like
intitle:resources,inurl:linksand"useful links" - Vet each page for relevance, maintenance and real ownership, and skip any that charge
- Pitch a genuinely useful guide, tool or checklist, never a sales page
- Pair it with broken link building by pointing out dead links on the page
It's one of the oldest tactics on the strategies hub, and it still works for anyone with content worth recommending.