SEO100
SEO method 81 of 100

Resource Page Link Building: Find Lists That Link Out to Sites Like Yours

Beginner Medium impact A few hours Links, PR and brand

Updated · First published

Short answerA resource page is a curated list of useful links on one topic, run by a university, nonprofit, blogger or association. Find them with Google search operators such as intitle:resources, pick the ones that fit, and ask the owner to add one page of yours that truly belongs on the list. Quality of fit matters far more than how many pages you email.

Resource page link building means getting your page listed on a curated page of links about one topic, such as “Free tools for new landlords” or “Grants for women founders”. The owner built the list to send readers to good material, so a fitting suggestion is welcome, and the link sits on a page that exists only to link out.

What is a resource page?

It is a page titled “Resources”, “Useful links” or “Further reading”, that collects links under headings. Universities, libraries, nonprofits, trade associations, government pages and long-running blogs keep them. The links are editorial: someone chose each one for readers.

Say you built a free funding-readiness checklist for founders. A university’s “Entrepreneurship resources” page is a natural place for it.

Why does it matter for SEO?

A link from a page about your topic, on an established site, tells Google your page belongs in that subject. The link is also seen by people who are looking for exactly what you made, so it sends relevant visitors.

Pages on .edu and .org sites tend to be maintained by people who care about accuracy, so one good suggestion can stay listed for years. It works only when the page really fits the list. Google’s link spam policy names low-quality directory links, excessive link exchanges and paid links without rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow" as violations. A free, editorial suggestion on a relevant page is none of those.

What does a good pitch look like?

Here is the shape that gets replies:

Subject: Suggestion for your "[List title]" page

Hi [Name],

I use your list of [topic] resources with my own clients. One thing I'd add under "[heading]":
[Page title], a free [type of page] that covers [one line]. It is current as of [month] and needs no signup.

[URL]

Thanks for keeping the list up to date.
[Your name]

The email names the heading, says what the page covers and why it fits, and asks for nothing else.

How do you find resource pages, step by step?

  1. Have a page worth listing. It should be free, useful, current and open without a signup. A linkable asset such as a tool, template or guide qualifies. A product page doesn’t.
  2. Search with operators. Replace keyword with your topic:
    • keyword intitle:resources
    • keyword intitle:"useful links"
    • keyword inurl:resources
    • keyword "recommended reading"
    • keyword inurl:links -inurl:backlinks Add site:.edu or site:.org to narrow to universities and nonprofits.
  3. Copy competitors’ links. In Ahrefs or Semrush, look up the backlinks of three similar pages and keep those from resource lists (see competitor backlinks).
  4. Check each page. Is it updated in the last two years? Does it list real, relevant sites? Does yours fit the heading? Drop pages stuffed with unrelated links, which look like link farms.
  5. Find the contact. Use the page author, the webmaster or the department contact. Hunter helps find the address.
  6. Write a short pitch. Say you found their list, name one thing you like about it, describe your page in one line and say which heading it fits under. Link the page. Keep it under five sentences.
  7. Offer to help. If the list has dead links, tell them and suggest your page as one replacement (see broken link building).
  8. Follow up once after a week, then move on and track the result.
  9. Keep a record. Log the URL, contact, date, reply and the link status, then revisit in six months.

How do you measure the result?

  • Links won per email sent. Expect a low reply rate, because most lists are not updated. Judge it by the quality of each link.
  • Referring domains and anchor text in Search Console’s Links report or your backlink tool.
  • Referral visits from those pages in GA4.
  • Rankings for the topic of the linked page, in your rank tracking tool.

Check wins with backlink monitoring: lists get redesigned and links vanish.

What mistakes should you avoid?

  • Pitching a page that doesn’t belong. A sales page on an educational list gets deleted and remembered.
  • Offering money or a reciprocal link. Paid links need rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow", and swaps for links are on Google’s list of link spam (see link exchanges).
  • Mass emailing 500 sites. Send 20 well-matched pitches instead.
  • Chasing junk lists. Pages with hundreds of unrelated outbound links add nothing.
  • Skipping the follow-up check. A link that was added and later removed needs a polite note.
  • Asking for a specific anchor text. Let them write the line.

Where can you learn more?

The free digital marketing module of the Fe/male Switch startup school helps you plan outreach for your first pages. Next steps on SEO100: list your company in the right places with startup directories, and find local lists in local link building.

Earlier versions of this directory listed this as: Resource Page Link Building.

Learn SEO as part of building a startup

Fe/male Switch is a startup school and game where you build a real company step by step. Its free digital marketing module covers SEO, and the free startup tools help with the rest.