diff --git a/packages/eslint-plugin-next/lib/rules/no-html-link-for-pages.js b/packages/eslint-plugin-next/lib/rules/no-html-link-for-pages.js
index 77b9876d6a63e..f79d6667abac8 100644
--- a/packages/eslint-plugin-next/lib/rules/no-html-link-for-pages.js
+++ b/packages/eslint-plugin-next/lib/rules/no-html-link-for-pages.js
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 const path = require('path')
 const fs = require('fs')
 const {
-  getUrlFromPagesDirectory,
+  getUrlFromPagesDirectories,
   normalizeURL,
   execOnce,
 } = require('../utils/url')
@@ -13,6 +13,10 @@ const pagesDirWarning = execOnce((pagesDirs) => {
   )
 })
 
+// Cache for fs.existsSync lookup.
+// Prevent multiple blocking IO requests that have already been calculated.
+const fsExistsSyncCache = {}
+
 module.exports = {
   meta: {
     docs: {
@@ -21,24 +25,44 @@ module.exports = {
       recommended: true,
     },
     fixable: null, // or "code" or "whitespace"
-    schema: ['pagesDirectory'],
+    schema: [
+      {
+        oneOf: [
+          {
+            type: 'string',
+          },
+          {
+            type: 'array',
+            uniqueItems: true,
+            items: {
+              type: 'string',
+            },
+          },
+        ],
+      },
+    ],
   },
 
   create: function (context) {
     const [customPagesDirectory] = context.options
     const pagesDirs = customPagesDirectory
-      ? [customPagesDirectory]
+      ? [customPagesDirectory].flat()
       : [
           path.join(context.getCwd(), 'pages'),
           path.join(context.getCwd(), 'src', 'pages'),
         ]
-    const pagesDir = pagesDirs.find((dir) => fs.existsSync(dir))
-    if (!pagesDir) {
+    const foundPagesDirs = pagesDirs.filter((dir) => {
+      if (fsExistsSyncCache[dir] === undefined) {
+        fsExistsSyncCache[dir] = fs.existsSync(dir)
+      }
+      return fsExistsSyncCache[dir]
+    })
+    if (foundPagesDirs.length === 0) {
       pagesDirWarning(pagesDirs)
       return {}
     }
 
-    const urls = getUrlFromPagesDirectory('/', pagesDir)
+    const urls = getUrlFromPagesDirectories('/', foundPagesDirs)
     return {
       JSXOpeningElement(node) {
         if (node.name.name !== 'a') {
diff --git a/packages/eslint-plugin-next/lib/utils/url.js b/packages/eslint-plugin-next/lib/utils/url.js
index ae1163b47ff1d..838b40c4d3847 100644
--- a/packages/eslint-plugin-next/lib/utils/url.js
+++ b/packages/eslint-plugin-next/lib/utils/url.js
@@ -1,12 +1,20 @@
 const fs = require('fs')
 const path = require('path')
 
+// Cache for fs.lstatSync lookup.
+// Prevent multiple blocking IO requests that have already been calculated.
+const fsLstatSyncCache = {}
+const fsLstatSync = (source) => {
+  fsLstatSyncCache[source] = fsLstatSyncCache[source] || fs.lstatSync(source)
+  return fsLstatSyncCache[source]
+}
+
 /**
  * Checks if the source is a directory.
  * @param {string} source
  */
 function isDirectory(source) {
-  return fs.lstatSync(source).isDirectory()
+  return fsLstatSync(source).isDirectory()
 }
 
 /**
@@ -14,30 +22,43 @@ function isDirectory(source) {
  * @param {string} source
  */
 function isSymlink(source) {
-  return fs.lstatSync(source).isSymbolicLink()
+  return fsLstatSync(source).isSymbolicLink()
 }
 
 /**
  * Gets the possible URLs from a directory.
  * @param {string} urlprefix
- * @param {string} directory
+ * @param {string[]} directories
  */
-function getUrlFromPagesDirectory(urlPrefix, directory) {
-  return parseUrlForPages(urlPrefix, directory).map(
-    // Since the URLs are normalized we add `^` and `$` to the RegExp to make sure they match exactly.
-    (url) => new RegExp(`^${normalizeURL(url)}$`)
-  )
+function getUrlFromPagesDirectories(urlPrefix, directories) {
+  return Array.from(
+    // De-duplicate similar pages across multiple directories.
+    new Set(
+      directories
+        .map((directory) => parseUrlForPages(urlPrefix, directory))
+        .flat()
+        .map(
+          // Since the URLs are normalized we add `^` and `$` to the RegExp to make sure they match exactly.
+          (url) => `^${normalizeURL(url)}$`
+        )
+    )
+  ).map((urlReg) => new RegExp(urlReg))
 }
 
+// Cache for fs.readdirSync lookup.
+// Prevent multiple blocking IO requests that have already been calculated.
+const fsReadDirSyncCache = {}
+
 /**
  * Recursively parse directory for page URLs.
  * @param {string} urlprefix
  * @param {string} directory
  */
 function parseUrlForPages(urlprefix, directory) {
-  const files = fs.readdirSync(directory)
+  fsReadDirSyncCache[directory] =
+    fsReadDirSyncCache[directory] || fs.readdirSync(directory)
   const res = []
-  files.forEach((fname) => {
+  fsReadDirSyncCache[directory].forEach((fname) => {
     if (/(\.(j|t)sx?)$/.test(fname)) {
       fname = fname.replace(/\[.*\]/g, '.*')
       if (/^index(\.(j|t)sx?)$/.test(fname)) {
@@ -90,7 +111,7 @@ function execOnce(fn) {
 }
 
 module.exports = {
-  getUrlFromPagesDirectory,
+  getUrlFromPagesDirectories,
   normalizeURL,
   execOnce,
 }
diff --git a/test/eslint-plugin-next/no-html-link-for-pages.unit.test.js b/test/eslint-plugin-next/no-html-link-for-pages.unit.test.js
index 2e5e1c294bb06..6f292c9cfba28 100644
--- a/test/eslint-plugin-next/no-html-link-for-pages.unit.test.js
+++ b/test/eslint-plugin-next/no-html-link-for-pages.unit.test.js
@@ -18,6 +18,18 @@ const linterConfig = {
     },
   },
 }
+const linterConfigWithMultipleDirectories = {
+  ...linterConfig,
+  rules: {
+    'no-html-link-for-pages': [
+      2,
+      [
+        path.join(__dirname, 'custom-pages'),
+        path.join(__dirname, 'custom-pages/list'),
+      ],
+    ],
+  },
+}
 
 linter.defineRules({
   'no-html-link-for-pages': rule,
@@ -108,6 +120,17 @@ describe('no-html-link-for-pages', function () {
     assert.deepEqual(report, [])
   })
 
+  it('valid link element with multiple directories', function () {
+    const report = linter.verify(
+      validCode,
+      linterConfigWithMultipleDirectories,
+      {
+        filename: 'foo.js',
+      }
+    )
+    assert.deepEqual(report, [])
+  })
+
   it('valid anchor element', function () {
     const report = linter.verify(validAnchorCode, linterConfig, {
       filename: 'foo.js',