What are linkable assets? In Ahrefs’ guide to linkable assets, Joshua Hardwick defines one as “a piece of content purposely crafted with the intention of attracting links—usually from other websites in your niche.” The key word is purposely. Most pages on a commercial site are built to convert visitors, and visitors rarely link. A linkable asset is built for a different reader: the blogger, journalist or editor who needs something to cite.
That distinction explains why so many “link-worthy content” projects fail. Teams write a longer version of their sales page, call it an asset, and wait. Nobody writing about the topic needed it, so nobody links to it.
What are linkable assets for? Earning links your money pages cannot
The pages you most want to rank, product and category pages, are the hardest to earn links to directly. Nobody cites a pricing table in an article. A linkable asset solves that by earning links to a page people will reference, which you then connect to your commercial pages through internal links.
This is the quiet logic behind most of the methods in our guide to how to get backlinks. Outreach, broken link building and digital PR all work better when you have something worth pointing at. Without an asset, you are asking for a favour. With one, you are offering a source.
The six types of linkable asset
Hardwick’s guide groups linkable assets into six types. They are not equally suited to every niche, and the table below adds what each one asks of you, which is where most of the choice is made.
| Asset type | What it is | What it asks of you |
|---|---|---|
| Infographics (and GIF or map-o-graphics) | Information presented visually | Design work and a dataset worth visualising |
| Online tools and calculators | Something people use, not just read | Development and ongoing maintenance |
| Awards and rankings | A list that names and ranks others | Defensible criteria, repeated over time |
| Studies and research | Original data or analysis | Access to data and a sound method |
| “Definitive” guides and tutorials | The fullest treatment of a topic | Real expertise and regular updates |
| Coined terms | A name for something people already discuss | An idea sharp enough that others adopt the label |
Read the right-hand column before the middle one. A calculator that breaks after a year stops earning links and starts losing them. A ranking published once is a one-off; a ranking repeated annually becomes a reference people expect. The format you can sustain beats the format that sounds most impressive.
Tools, studies and rankings
These three share one trait: they give writers something they cannot easily produce themselves. A journalist can paraphrase a guide, but cannot paraphrase a dataset or a working calculator. They have to cite it. That is why data and utility tend to hold their value as link magnets longer than prose does.
Guides, infographics and coined terms
These are easier to make and easier to copy. A “definitive” guide is only definitive until someone writes a better one, which is the whole premise of the skyscraper technique. Infographics can be redrawn. Coined terms are the long shot: when a name sticks, every article using it has a reason to credit the source, but most coinages never catch on.
How to create linkable assets your niche will actually cite
Do not start with the format. Start with evidence of what already earns links on your topic. Hardwick’s method is to search a content index for your topic plus a format word, such as “study” or “infographic”, and sort the results by referring domains. Any tool with a searchable content index and link counts will do.
- Search your topic with each format word in turn: study, calculator, statistics, guide.
- Sort by referring domains and note which formats sit at the top.
- Open the most-linked pages and look at who links to them, and why.
- Ask what those linkers would need next that does not yet exist.
- Build that, in the format the evidence favours.
The fourth step is the one most people skip. Copying the most-linked page gives you a second version of something already cited. Finding the gap, an outdated dataset, a calculator missing a variable, a guide that ignores a newer method, gives linkers a reason to switch.
It also helps to treat the linking pages as your brief. If the people citing a study are trade journalists, they want a clear headline number and a method they can summarise in a sentence. If they are bloggers writing tutorials, they want something embeddable or easy to quote. Build for the person who will cite you, not for an imagined general reader.
Linkable assets still need promotion
The most common mistake with linkable assets is assuming the asset does the work. It rarely does on day one. A page with no links does not rank, so the people who would cite it never find it. You have to put it in front of them.
That is where link building outreach comes in, and where the asset changes the conversation. You are no longer asking a stranger to link to your homepage. You are pointing a writer who covers the topic at a resource that makes their article better. Broken link building pairs well here too: when an older resource on your topic has gone offline, a fresh asset is the natural replacement to suggest.
Once an asset ranks, it can start earning links passively, because writers searching for a source find it and cite it. That is the payoff. But the passive phase starts only after the active one has worked.
Where the linkable asset approach falls short
The limitation is in the research method itself. Sorting pages by referring domains shows you which formats have earned links in the past. It does not show you why, and it cannot separate an asset that earned links on merit from one that had a large promotion budget, an existing audience or an early lead in a quiet niche. Treat the pattern as a strong hint about what your niche values, not a guarantee that the same format will work for you.
It is also worth being honest about cost. Tools and studies are the formats most likely to be cited, and they are the formats most likely to overrun. If you cannot maintain a calculator or refresh a dataset, a smaller asset you keep current will outlast a larger one you abandon. Pick the format your niche cites and that you can sustain, find the gap the existing assets leave, and plan the promotion before you publish rather than after.
Frequently asked questions
What are linkable assets?
Content made on purpose to attract links, usually from other websites in your niche. Tools, studies, rankings and definitive guides are common examples.
What is the best type of linkable asset?
The one your niche already links to. Search your topic with format words such as “study” or “calculator” and sort the results by referring domains to see which formats win.
Do linkable assets earn links on their own?
Rarely at first. An unlinked page does not rank, so writers do not find it. Outreach gets the first links; passive links tend to follow once it ranks.
How do linkable assets help commercial pages rank?
They earn links that commercial pages struggle to attract, and internal links from the asset can pass some of that value on to the pages you want to rank.
The takeaway Build for the people who cite, not the people who buy. Check which formats already earn links on your topic, fill the gap they leave, and promote it.
