Link Building – Create Resource Links Articles

One of the most common things people will tell you is to create resource links. These articles contain a list of tools or resources for something specific, such as SEO or Social Media. There’s nothing wrong with this tactic, and it does work very well, but there are some essential factors you need to know about before doing this.

What Are Resource Links Articles?

Resource links are different from link roundups, which we’ll cover in a future post. Resource links are excellent because they provide helpful information while adding you to the resource list of other sites and increasing your number of outbound links while simultaneously not pointing directly at any one page on your site. Because they provide so much value, these types of articles will often get linked to others, which can help you gain valuable links.

How To Create Resource Links Articles?

Firstly, note that you shouldn’t just create a resource article and stick a list of links in it; you need to add value to the post. The last thing you want is for Google to detect that your resource articles are purely about gaining an anchor text link from each one, so make sure there’s some value-added. The best thing to do with your resource articles is to link out to the most relevant tools without being too obvious about why you’re linking out; there are several ways to do this:

1. Acknowledge that you’ve included some links because they may be helpful for readers – it’s easier not to get penalized for this because it’s coming from the readers’ point of view rather than yours.
2. Mix up your link types – include a video at the end of the article, but direct people to watch it on Youtube (and add annotations).
3. Write an introduction about how to choose tools and resources that will fit your business, instead of giving a list (this lets you mention the tools)
4. Link out to somebody else’s post that tells people about which tools or resources they should be using – if it’s written by somebody else, there’s no risk involved.

Do it contextually if you want to link your website from your resource articles. It means adding a sentence that tells people to go and check out your tools for their own business, rather than just giving the link without any additional information.

What Not To Do With Resource Articles?

It’s essential not to use resource articles as anchor text links, so you need to be careful about doing this. If you want to link back to your website, don’t just give a list of links and repeat the same keyword over and over – this is the quickest way to get yourself penalized. You should also be careful about linking out to your other articles as resource links – if your other pieces are too similar, they might look like spam to Google, so it’s essential to have a range of topics. You should try and only link out from your resource articles once every 100 words – if you’re linking out too often, people may think that your website is just a list of links that all point at the same place! There’s one more thing that you should be careful about when linking out to other sites – make sure they don’t usually use affiliate links. If you link out to somebody who uses their affiliate links, Google might think you’re spamming them and penalizing your site.

Closing Thoughts

Resource articles are an excellent tool for link building because they let you direct people, to tools and resources that will help them out without directly pointing at your website. It’s important not to abuse these types of links, though – if you’re providing helpful information to readers, then there’s no problem. Make sure that the bulk of your resource article is about your readers and not about you!

Tags: Link Building, Link Building 101, Resource Article, Resource Links