Resource Page Link Building: How to Find, Vet and Pitch Pages That Link Out by Design

Resource page link building is the practice of finding pages that curate helpful links on a topic, such as “useful links for new beekeepers” or “resources for first-time home buyers,” and asking the person who maintains the page to add a page of yours that belongs on the list. You find the pages with search operators, check that each one is worth a link, and send a short, specific pitch.

It's one of the few link-building methods where the site owner is already in the habit of linking out. A curator who keeps a resource list wants it to be complete and current, so a relevant suggestion is help, not a favor. The catch is that your page has to be a genuine resource. A guide, free tool, checklist or reference page gets added. A sales page almost never does.

This guide gives you the operators to find resource pages in any niche, a scorecard for vetting them in about two minutes, pitch templates for three situations, a follow-up schedule and a worked example. If you've found a resource page with a dead link on it, our guide to broken link building covers that angle in depth; here we focus on getting added on merit.

What is resource page link building?

Resource pages show up under lots of names. You'll recognize them by their structure rather than their title:

• Topic lists. “Beekeeping resources,” “Helpful links,” “Further reading.” Usually grouped by subtopic, often with a sentence describing each link.
• Audience lists. “Resources for parents,” “Tools for teachers,” “Guides for small business owners.” The audience is the organizing idea, not the topic.
• Institutional pages. Libraries, universities, nonprofits, professional associations and local councils keep link lists for members, students or residents. These are often the best-maintained and most trusted.
• Curated blog posts. “The 40 best free tools for X” or “Everything I wish I'd known before Y.” Technically articles, but they behave like resource pages: they link out by design and get updated.

Why it works is simple. The page's whole job is to point readers to useful things elsewhere. When you find a page that covers your topic, the question isn't “will they link out?” but “is my page good enough to be one of the links?” That's a much easier conversation than asking someone to add a link to an article that was never meant to have one, which is closer to a niche edit.

What kind of page gets added

Before you search for a single prospect, decide what you're going to pitch. The best resource page campaigns start with one strong page and find every list it belongs on, not the other way round. Ask yourself: if the curator read this page cold, would they think their readers need it?

If you don't have a page that fits yet, build one. Our guide to linkable assets covers how to choose a format that the people in your niche actually cite. One good resource can be pitched to dozens of lists over the following years.

Search operators for finding resource pages

Search operators narrow Google (or Bing, which supports most of the same syntax) to pages whose titles or URLs look like resource pages. Replace [topic] with your subject and its synonyms. Run each search with several variations of your topic: “beekeeping,” “honey bees,” “apiary” and “backyard bees” will each surface different lists.

[topic] intitle:resources
[topic] intitle:"useful resources"
[topic] intitle:"helpful resources"
[topic] intitle:"recommended resources"
[topic] intitle:links
[topic] intitle:"useful links"
[topic] intitle:"helpful links"
[topic] inurl:resources
[topic] inurl:links
[topic] inurl:resources.html
[topic] inurl:links.html
[topic] "further reading"
[topic] "additional resources"
[topic] "more resources"
[topic] "other resources"
[topic] "recommended reading"
[topic] "recommended sites"
[topic] "websites we like"

Those find lists organized by topic. The next set finds lists organized by audience, which often have less competition because fewer people search for them:

[topic] intitle:"resources for parents"
[topic] intitle:"resources for teachers"
[topic] intitle:"resources for students"
[topic] intitle:"resources for beginners"
[topic] intitle:"resources for seniors"
[topic] intitle:"resources for small business"
[topic] "resources for" inurl:resources
[topic] intitle:"free tools"
[topic] intitle:"tools and resources"
[topic] intitle:"best websites"
[topic] intitle:"reading list"
[topic] intitle:"toolkit"
[topic] intitle:"starter kit" OR intitle:"getting started"

Institutional and local lists are worth their own searches, because they tend to be trusted and maintained:

[topic] inurl:resources site:.edu
[topic] intitle:resources site:.org
[topic] intitle:resources site:.gov
[topic] "library guide" OR "libguides"
[topic] inurl:libguides
[topic] "community resources" [city]
[topic] intitle:resources [city] OR [county]
[topic] "local resources" [region]
[topic] intitle:resources "chamber of commerce"

Finally, strip out the noise that clogs these searches:

-inurl:tag -inurl:category -inurl:author
-inurl:pdf -filetype:pdf
-"submit your site" -"add your link" -"sponsored listing"
-site:pinterest.com -site:reddit.com -site:youtube.com

• Combine one core operator with one exclusion set at a time. Stacking ten operators usually returns nothing.
• Go past page one. The best prospects are often on pages three to five, because well-optimized resource pages rank first and get pitched the most.
• Use the date filter for freshness. Restricting results to the past year surfaces lists that someone is actively maintaining.
• Save every result to a sheet as you go. Copying URLs into a tracker straight away saves you re-running searches later.

For local businesses, the city and region searches above overlap with tactics in our local link building guide. And if you're wondering whether a .edu result is worth the extra effort, our guide to .edu backlinks explains what those links are and aren't worth.

Other ways to find resource pages

Operators are the starting point, not the only source. Three other methods tend to find pages operators miss:

1. 1

   Mine competitors' backlinks

   Pull the backlinks of two or three sites that publish similar resources, then filter the linking URLs for words like “resources,” “links,” “tools” or “reading.” Any list that includes a competitor's guide is a list that might include yours. Our guide to competitor backlink analysis walks through the export.
2. 2

   Follow the curators

   Once you find a good resource page, look at what else the site publishes. Associations, libraries and hobby clubs often keep several lists, one per subtopic. A single curator can be the contact for three or four pages.
3. 3

   Check the lists your own linkers keep

   Sites that already link to you may also keep resource pages you aren't on yet. They already know and trust your work, which makes them the warmest prospects you have.

How to vet a resource page

Most of the pages your searches return aren't worth a pitch. Some are abandoned, some are noindexed, some are thinly disguised link farms. A two-minute check before you write anything saves you emails you'd regret sending and links that wouldn't help.

Authority still matters, but treat it as a tiebreaker, not a filter. A well-kept list on a small club's site that your exact audience reads can be worth more than a stale page on a big domain. If you want to sort a long list quickly, our website authority checker scores domains in bulk.

Resource page pitch templates

A good resource page pitch fits on a phone screen and answers three questions: which page, where your link fits, and why their readers would use it. Everything else is noise. Write to the person who maintains the list by name whenever you can find one.

Subject: Suggestion for your [topic] resources page

Hi [Name],

I came across your [page title] page ([page URL]) while looking
for [topic] resources for [audience]. The [section name] section
is especially well put together.

We publish [your resource title], a free [guide/tool/checklist]
that [what it does in one line]:
[your URL]

I think it would fit under [section name], next to [an existing
entry], because it [the one thing it adds that the list doesn't
have yet].

Either way, thanks for keeping the list up to date.

[Your name]
[Role], [Site]

Institutional curators, such as librarians, teachers and association staff, care about accuracy and audience fit more than anything. Give them what they need to judge it quickly:

Subject: A free [topic] resource for your [audience] guide

Hello [Name],

Your [page title] guide ([page URL]) is one of the most useful
[topic] lists I've found for [audience].

I'd like to suggest [your resource title] for it:
[your URL]

A quick summary so you can judge whether it fits:
- What it covers: [one line]
- Who it's for: [audience, reading level if relevant]
- Who wrote it: [author and relevant experience]
- Cost: free, no sign-up needed
- Last updated: [month year]

Happy to answer any questions.

[Your name]
[Role], [Site]

If you spot a dead link while vetting the page, mention it first. Pointing out a problem is useful whether or not they add you, and it gives the curator a natural reason to edit the page today:

Subject: Dead link on your [topic] resources page

Hi [Name],

Quick heads-up: on your [page title] page ([page URL]), the link
to [what it was] under [section] now goes to an error page.

If you're looking for something to replace it, or just to add,
our [your resource title] covers [the same need]:
[your URL]

Thanks for maintaining such a useful list.

[Your name]

A few rules that apply to every version:

• Name an existing section and entry. It proves you read the page and makes the edit a thirty-second job.
• Don't ask for an anchor. Resource lists usually link a page's title or the organization's name, which is exactly the natural, descriptive anchor you want. See our anchor text guide for why that's a good outcome.
• Don't offer anything in return. A payment or a reciprocal link turns an editorial inclusion into an exchange, which changes how the link should be marked and how it's likely to be treated.
• Skip attachments and tracking-heavy links. Plain text with one link to your page reads as personal and lands in inboxes more reliably.

If you'd rather not write each variation from scratch, our outreach email generator produces a resource page pitch and follow-ups from a few fields. For subject lines, personalization and deliverability across every tactic, see the full link building outreach guide.

Follow-up schedule and template

Curators are often volunteers or staff with resource pages low on their to-do list, so silence usually means “not yet,” not “no.” One or two short follow-ups are reasonable. As a rule of thumb:

Subject: Re: Suggestion for your [topic] resources page

Hi [Name],

Just bringing this back to the top of your inbox in case it's
useful for [page title]. The resource is here: [your URL]

No worries at all if it's not a fit.

[Your name]

When a link goes live, check it rather than assuming. Confirm it points to the right URL, whether it's followed, and that the resource page is indexable. Our backlink checker does all three in one pass. Then log it, along with the curator's name, so you can thank them and pitch future resources to someone who already knows you.

Worked example: a fictional beekeeping site

Here's how a campaign might play out for a hypothetical site, Hollow Oak Apiary (hollowoakapiary.com), a small blog for backyard beekeepers. The details are illustrative, not results.

1. 1

   Pick the asset

   Hollow Oak already has a printable first-year hive inspection checklist with photos of what healthy brood, queen cells and common pests look like. It's free, practical and easy to describe in one line, which makes it a strong resource page candidate.
2. 2

   Search with operators

   Searches like beekeeping intitle:resources, “resources for new beekeepers” and beekeeping inurl:libguides turn up regional beekeeping association pages, a few county extension office lists, two library guides and a handful of hobby blogs with “helpful links” pages.
3. 3

   Vet the list

   Several association pages haven't been touched in years and are full of dead links, so they're set aside. One hobby blog's links page lists hundreds of unrelated sites and is dropped. That leaves a shortlist of maintained, indexed pages with a “getting started” or “inspections” section.
4. 4

   Pitch with the right template

   Association and library curators get Template 2, with author experience and the last-updated date up front. Hobby bloggers get Template 1, naming the section and the neighboring entry. Two pages with dead links get Template 3.
5. 5

   Follow up and verify

   Each prospect gets one follow-up about a week later. Links that go live are checked for the right URL and followed status, and logged with the curator's name.
6. 6

   Reuse the relationships

   When Hollow Oak publishes a swarm-catching guide the following spring, the curators who added the checklist are the first people it goes to.

Notice what the example doesn't include: a reply rate. That varies so widely by niche, list quality and the strength of the resource that any number would mislead you. Track your own: prospects found, pitches sent, replies, links. After the first thirty or so pitches you'll know whether to improve the asset or the targeting.

Mistakes that get pitches ignored

Resource page link building is slow and selective, which is the point: each link is a curator's choice, on a page built to send readers elsewhere. It pairs naturally with the other earned tactics in our guide on how to get backlinks.