Question
Resource Page Link Building: Getting Listed on Curated Pages
Short answer
A resource page is a curated list of links on one topic, such as a library's guide to small-business resources or an association's page of tools for its members. Getting listed means having a page that belongs on that list and asking the person who maintains it to consider it. The links are editorial: someone chose each one for their readers. That's what makes them worth having, and it's why the way in is a resource that clearly deserves a place, offered without pressure or anything in exchange.
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What Makes a Resource Page Worth Pursuing
| Question | Worth pursuing | Not worth it |
|---|---|---|
| Is it maintained? | Recently updated, links work, a named owner | Many dead links, no sign anyone edits it |
| Is it curated? | A focused list with a clear purpose and audience | Hundreds of unrelated links, or "submit your link" with no review |
| Does your resource fit? | It serves the same readers and purpose as the other entries | It's a sales page among guides, or off-topic |
| Do people use it? | Linked from the site's navigation or other pages, signs of readers | Orphaned on the site, no visible audience |
| What does it ask for? | Nothing beyond a suggestion | A fee, a reciprocal link, or a badge on your site |
Choose by relevance and readership, not by domain extension. A university or government page that isn’t about your resource’s subject gives its readers no reason to click, and a request to be added there doesn’t fit the page’s purpose.
Finding Resource Pages
- Searches combining your topic with phrases such as “useful resources,” “helpful links,” “resources for” your audience, or
intitle:resources. - Organizations in your field: professional associations, chambers of commerce, libraries, universities and nonprofits that keep resource lists for their members or the public.
- Pages that list similar resources: a backlink tool can show curated pages that link to comparable guides or tools; see competitor backlink analysis.
Read each page before you contact anyone: what it’s for, who it serves and what’s already listed.
The Resource You Offer
Curated lists exist to point readers to guides, tools, templates, data and references; a sales page doesn’t fit that purpose. Before you pitch, check that your page:
- Serves the list’s readers at least as well as the entries already there.
- Is free to use, without a sign-up wall for the main content.
- Is accurate and current, with a visible update date where it matters.
- Stands on its own: a reader who arrives from the list gets what the title promises.
If you don’t have a page like that, build one first. Original reference material is covered in original research.
Outreach
- Write to the person who maintains the page, if one is named.
- Show you’ve read it: mention the page and the section your resource would fit.
- Describe the resource in one or two sentences, and say plainly that it’s yours.
- Mention any dead links you found on the page; that’s useful whether or not they add yours. Replacing dead links is covered in broken link building.
- Ask once, politely, and accept no for an answer.
Don’t offer payment, products or a link back in exchange. Google’s spam policies list “Buying or selling links for ranking purposes” and “Excessive link exchanges (‘Link to me and I’ll link to you’) or partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking” as link spam. If a listing requires payment, it’s an advertisement and the link should carry rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow".
Building Your Own Resource Page
A well-maintained resource page on your site can serve your readers and earn links from others who find it useful:
- Pick a topic your audience needs help with, and list the best resources for it, including other people’s.
- Explain why each one is there in a sentence.
- Check links on a schedule, and remove or replace dead ones.
- Date the page and say how often it’s reviewed.
Don’t build it as a trade, adding sites in return for links to yours. That’s the partner-page pattern the spam policies describe.
Measuring Resource Page Placements
- Listings gained, with the page and date, from the Links report in Search Console and your backlink tool.
- Referral visits from each listing, in GA4.
- Your own reply and listing rates from your first batches, before planning volume; rates vary by field and by how well resources fit, so others’ figures aren’t a planning basis.
Resource page work is one approach among several in link building fundamentals.
Resource Page Outreach Mistakes
- Pitching sales or service pages to lists of guides and tools.
- Targeting pages for their domain extension rather than their subject.
- Paying, trading links or promising a badge in return.
- Mass-sending the same message to every page that mentions “resources.”
- Ignoring dead links on a page you’re asking to join.
- Following up repeatedly after no reply.
Before writing to a page’s owner, check the page’s own upkeep: if many of its links are dead and nothing shows anyone has edited it in a long time, there may be no one to read your request, so spend the time on lists that are maintained.