Building links is an integral part of most SEO strategies. However, the focus has shifted from any links at any cost to building high-quality links that Google actually values. This is where resource page link building comes in. Resource pages are dedicated to providing lists, roundups, and recommendations for the best content around a specific topic. Having your own content featured on relevant resource pages can score valuable backlinks from authoritative sites.
Resource page link building refers to obtaining backlinks from pages on other websites that curate helpful resources related to a topic. These resource pages serve as content hubs providing the best, most useful materials on a certain subject.
By having your content included as one of those featured resources, you can gain valuable backlinks pointing to your site. For example, a website may create a post called “The Best Meal Planning Resources” aiming to feature the top guides, tools, apps, and blog posts on meal plans and prep. If the site owner agrees to include one of your articles in this list, you’ve now gained an editorial link from that page pointing to your content.
Resource pages can come in multiple formats – list posts/articles featuring links out to other sites, ultimate guides showcasing external recommendations, dedicated hub “resource library” pages, and more. As long as the page aims to recommend top resources on a topic, it can be a beneficial link building target.
Read: Link Reclamation – Restoring Lost Backlinks
Why is Resource Page Link Building Important?
Linking to resource pages allows you to tap into the existing authority and domain rating of established sites. Resource pages tend to rank well in search engines because users find them genuinely useful, so gaining backlinks helps pass on some of that ranking power and trust to your own site. This can boost rankings, traffic, brand awareness, and authority over time.
Additionally, visitors who find your content through a relevant resource page are already interested and engaged in that topic area. For example, someone who lands on “The Best Meal Planning Resources” already cares about meal plans. If you’ve earned a spot linking out from that page, those visitors are more likely to click through, convert, or otherwise engage with your content since it’s a precise audience match. The leads driven by resource pages converts better than general search traffic.
Simply put, resource pages attract an audience highly relevant to the content they feature. Gaining such laser targeted backlinks and visitors through resource pages is extremely valuable.
How Resource Page Link Building Works?
The basic mechanism for resource link building is:
- Find resource pages covering topics relevant to your niche and content. These tend to be list posts, ultimate guides, or dedicated resource hubs pulling together the most useful off-site materials on a subject.
- Analyze those resource pages and identify any gaps or areas your own content might enhance the page.
- Reach out to the website owner pitching your content as a valuable addition to the resource page. Provide some background on why visitors would find it useful along with the content itself or a link.
- If the website owner agrees, they will update their resource page to include a link pointing to your content.
- After a period of time you’ve successfully obtained a topically relevant, editorial backlink from a (hopefully) reputable and authoritative site. This can gradually boost your own rankings and authority.
Benefits of Resource Pages
Besides search visibility and traffic, resource page backlinks offer additional benefits:
- Topically-relevant audience: As mentioned earlier, visitors to these pages are already engaged around that concept so convert better.
- High retention links: Resource pages aim for longevity, only linking out to continually useful evergreen content. Backlinks are less susceptible to future removal compared to news or trending pages.
- Brand lift: Having your content featured alongside major influencers and resources implicitly boosts brand credibility and authority.
Steps to Build Links From Resource Pages
Building links from industry resource pages takes some research and outreach, but follows a simple 5 step process you can implement for your own content.
Step 1: Resource Link Building With Search Strings
Start out by brainstorming seed keywords and long-tail keyphrases related to your topics and content. Next, plug these into Google appending search queries like “best”, “top”, “ultimate guide”, “resources”, “list”, “links”, “posts” etc.
For example, if you created helpful tutorials around meal prepping, some search strings could be:
- meal prep resources
- top meal prep guides
- best meal prep tips
- meal prep posts
- meal planning resources
Analyze the top ranking pages for these searches hunting for potential resource sites and pages to pitch your content to.
Step 2: Scrutinize Your Information
Once you’ve identified relevant resource pages, put on your analytical hat examining:
- Page authority metrics like domain and backlink counts
- Current page content
- Gaps your content might fill
- Broken links as opportunities to suggest your content
- Overall opportunity to enhance the page for visitors
Choose the pages offering maximum value to supplement with your link worthy content assets.
Step 3: Perform Resource Link Building Using SEO Tools
You can streamline finding and vetting the best resource pages by using SEO tools:
1. Use Backlink Analysis Tools
Backlink checkers help surface top pages linking out to the same websites. These suggest additional opportunities those site owners may be open to new link-worthy content.
2. Use Keyword Research Tools
Keyword research reveals top ranking pages for your target subjects. Filtering by long tail variants with “resource”, “list” etc uncovers directly relevant result pages.
3. Use Outreach Tools
Outreach platforms compile contact information allowing you to directly pitch site owners at scale. Helpful when executing an outbound resource link building campaign.
4. Use Social Media Tools
Monitor social channels related to your niche with social listening tools. Often resource pages and roundups will be heavily shared on social media.
5. Use Content Creation Tools
If you notice resource pages failing to cover certain subtopics, use content creation tools to develop complementary content assets that fill those gaps. Pitch your new content to enhance the existing resource hubs.
Step 4: Craft a Persuasive Pitch and Outreach
With strong target pages identified, develop personalized outreach emails pitching your content as a valuable addition for their visitors. Follow up politely if needed but don’t overly pester busy site owners.
Step 5: Analyze Progress and Results
Use link tracking software to monitor new backlinks pointing to your site, especially from targeted resource pages. Measure impact on organic traffic, rankings, and conversions over time. Expand outreach efforts to build additional relevant resource page links.
Check Out: On-Page vs. Off-Page SEO
How To Analyse A Resource Page
Vetting and selecting the best resource pages to pitch involves inspecting:
1. Look for Relevancy
This includes page topic, focus keywords, and themes covered in the surrounding content. You want maximum topical relevance to your own assets.
2. Look for Quality
Higher quality pages tend to have more domain authority, engaged visitors, and be better maintained over time. Prioritize securing links from quality over quantity sites.
3. Look for the Website’s Authority
Consider domain and page authority metrics like backlink profiles and organic traffic estimates. Landing links from authoritative, trusted sites transfers more ranking power.
4. Look for the Outbound Links
Numerous high quality outbound links signals a resource page aligned with your link building goals. If they freely link out to other useful pages, they may be open to suggestions.
5. Look for the Type of Resource
Some resource pages just scrape or syndicate content from around the web. But others put effort into creating true ultimate guides or curated lists. Focus efforts on the latter group more motivated to keep their content useful over time.
Wrapping It All Up
Resource page link building should absolutely be part of your overall acquisition strategy. These authoritative pages serve as influencer hubs directing visitors to the very best content around key topics. Just one relevant backlink from a strong domain resource page can boost conversions and organic visibility for months to come.
Be selective in identifying genuinely valuable resource sites in your industry. Analyze gaps where your existing assets may supplement. Craft personalized pitches explaining exactly why your content deserves a feature spot. With some targeted outreach and relationship building, you can tap into resource pages’ domain authority while positioning your brand as an industry leader.
