How Link Generating Guides Can Help Your Search Engine Rankings

Link building is no easy feat. At Resolve, our goal is to make it easier. Whether it’s through customized outreach or link-worthy content, we have a variety of strategies to help your website perform better. One way we can help your website perform leagues above others is through building links with resource pages. These pages aim to assist audiences with helpful links, so offering a valuable link in return is essential.

In our experience, we’ve found links with the most value appear as Link Generating Guides (LGGs). This piece of content can make resource link building all the easier, so you can attract authoritative resource pages, build links, and watch your website grow. In this guide, you’ll learn more about what LGGs are, their role in resource link building, and how we at Resolve make them.

What Is an LGG?

A Link Generating Guide (LGG) is precisely what it sounds like. As an organization, we design them to generate links from sites that want extra authoritative resources for backlinks. To make them more valuable, we prioritize linkability. This term refers to what people would want to click on: informative sources that are trustworthy, authoritative, informative, evergreen, and helpful that they could find organically on the web. 

When a page shares these qualities, it can attract authoritative and helpful sites, thus intertwining your website with a healthy link neighborhood. Being involved in a healthy link neighborhood means sharing the authority, trust, and traffic from the websites that link to your website. The only key is to find and reach out to these pages and create content they might like, which is why LGGs are a treasure trove for resource link builders. 

The Role of LGGs in Resource Link Building

Resource link building is the process of reaching out to resource pages — authoritative sites that list links for readers facing a specific problem — and asking if they’d be interested in listing your link on the page. Because resource link building involves outreaching these specific sites, you must first understand what they want. Often, they want more authoritative and informative links to help their audience. If you reach out to these page owners with a product or service page — especially if it isn’t an authoritative or relevant link — the page owner is more likely to decline or simply ignore you. However, if you offer an LGG specifically catered to the page with information that can help readers, they’re more likely to agree to your offer. 

While resource web page owners are more picky with what links they include on the page, they most likely want many resources to help their audience. The more helpful links they include on the page, the more likely search engines will flag the page as helpful and suggest it to searchers in the future. The more people that visit this page, the more likely they will click on your link and visit your website. This will naturally boost your website’s performance, such as your domain authority, traffic, and more. 

Features of an LGG

There’s a reason why we call LGGs link-magnets. It’s because they share these qualities — qualities that readers and resource page owners will appreciate. Below, we’ll discuss some of the most common elements of how we think about and develop LGGs.

Evergreen

When we craft LGGs, we want them to stay as relevant as long as possible. We want resource page owners to still gravitate toward them, even if it’s been years since the original publication date. The best way we can do that is by discussing systematic or significant problems that have remained relevant for years and will likely continue for years to come. For example, an LGG that includes discussions of mental health awareness will likely stay relevant as more people seek treatment, making the subject evergreen.

Informative

In comparison to some of our other content offerings, LGGs are longer. Typically, they’re at least 3,000 words. With these longer pieces, we can include more information. To be as valuable as possible, we want to include as much helpful information for readers as possible while remaining relevant. The more informative it is, the more likely resource web page owners will see it as an asset they must include.

Audience-Focused

While we aim to create every piece of content with users in mind, LGGs are even more audience-focused. While we prioritize attracting keyword signals when writing other pieces of content, LGGs have a different goal: to gain resource links. Since resource pages primarily focus on helping people solve a specific problem or help a specific audience, we craft LGGs to help this same audience or solve this specific problem.

As such, your LGG may reach outside of your typical audience. For example, if you offer workout equipment to gyms, you may create an LGG about the lack of health education among low-income communities. While this is a problem that gym owners may not necessarily experience, it is a problem that many resource pages may be interested in. Plus, it’s a relevant subject in your industry. The key is to find the balance in picking a relevant subject in your industry while keeping the audience of resource pages in mind.

Backlink Diversity Over Keyword Rankings

While we prioritize attracting keyword signals when writing other pieces of content, LGGs have a different goal: to gain resource links. These resource links are high-quality and hyper-relevant. Even though the piece may still rank for specific keywords, the piece’s value lies in its backlink diversity. The more authoritative and relevant backlinks you earn from an LGG, the better your website will perform. 

In an LGG, we focus on creating a helpful guide that resource page owners and their readers will appreciate — both of whom likely don’t notice the keywords included. From here, the traffic from the resource page will boost your website’s performance, enhance your site’s overall authority, and build connections that support your long-term SEO strategy.

Helpful and Authoritative Resources

Another way we can make LGGs valuable is by utilizing authoritative sources to help inform the writing process. While we prioritize this in all the content we create at Resolve, LGGs have even more authoritative sources. This helps inform audiences further and leads them to find help for their particular problem. As a result, readers and resource pages are more likely to trust the link, as primary and authoritative sources support the subject.

Steps in LGG Creation and Resource Link Building

Now that you know what an LGG looks like, it’s time to step behind the curtain and see what the LGG creation process entails and how we attract the resource pages that may want it.

Research Prospective Audiences

Before Resolve writers even think of LGG ideas, they must conduct research. This research primarily involves researching resource pages, their audience, and the relevant subjects to these audiences. To find these resource pages, our writers use advanced search methods with relevant keywords in your industry.

Ideate Topics

Once Resolve writers have resource pages in mind, they can dig into topics that these pages would find valuable. This involves researching more about your industry, the specific audience featured in resource pages, what topics are cycling through the news, what current studies say about the subject, and other relevant information.

Create an Outline

Once you’ve approved the topic behind the LGG, our writers will create an outline that maps out the entire structure of the piece. Writers create this outline with user readability standards in mind, making headers that allow readers to skim through the piece to find the necessary information and resources. These outlines also rely on internal links from your website and external sources to help support the subject matter.

Frequently Asked Questions About LGGs and Resource Link Building?

What Is an LGG?

A link-generating guide is content that Resolve writes to attract resource page owners. Once listed on these pages, you’ll spread brand awareness and drive traffic to your website. These guides often cover evergreen and newsworthy topics relevant to your industry.

Why Is an LGG Great for Link Building?

LGGs are great for link building because we design them to amplify resource link building efforts. They attract authoritative resource pages more than average pieces of content, which can amplify your efforts, boost your website traffic, and help you stand out from your competition.

Should an LGG Be Keyword Focused?

While an LGG may include keywords relevant to your industry, our primary goal in LGGs is linkability. As such, we prioritize picking topics that niche audiences would be interested in or will likely stay relevant for years.

Can I Use Any Piece of Content for Resource Link Building?

Since resource link building has a lower conversion rate (0-5%), it’s best to use linkable content that you know will attract resource pages the most. It’s best to pick informative, authoritative, and relevant content. Often, LGGs are the best choice because they share all these qualities, and we design them with specific resource pages in mind.

How Does Resolve Choose Topics for LGGs?

Resolve chooses topics by researching various resource pages with advanced search methods. We also research common pain points in your industry and specific audiences that may experience these pain points.

What Makes an LGG Different than Other Content

LGGs are more informative, longer, and offer more resources for readers to access. Because of these qualities, readers find them more helpful than the average piece of content you would typically write online.

How Does Resolve Build Links to LGGs?

We build links to LGGs by contacting resource page owners, offering LGGs as a helpful resource to list on the page, and continuously following up. We also look for broken links as a natural way to reach resource page owners.