Ecommerce link building is the strategic process of acquiring high-quality links from relevant websites back to your online store. These inbound links will act like digital votes of confidence, signaling to search engines like Google that your website is trustworthy and its ranking in search results deserves a higher search engine ranking.
Another way to think about it: the more authority links you gain through other websites, the stronger the domain authority of your website. Therefore, it will offer increased visibility, higher referral traffic, and hopefully more sales. But all links are not created equally. You will want to focus on link acquisition from relevant, high-quality sites to build a solid backlink profile.
E-commerce link building is its own special world, and today we’re diving into exactly what types of backlinks will be most powerful for your online store, with some surefire strategies to help you get them.
What is Ecommerce Link Building?
Ecommerce link building refers to the art of gaining inbound links, otherwise known as backlinks, to your online store from other websites. These backlinks pose a crucial factor in search engine algorithms, determining the ranking of your website for any given search result. The more high-quality backlinks you gain, the higher your website will rank for relevant keywords, driving more organic traffic and potential customers to your store.
Second, not all backlinks are equal, which means the low-quality ones coming from spammy websites can actually harm your website’s SEO and website authority. The key to success lies in attaining backlinks from relevant, high-authority websites within your niche. These links build a powerful endorsement that increases your website’s credibility and trust in both the eyes of search engines and potential customers.
3 Types Of Ecommerce Backlinks That You Should Look For
The focus on high-quality do-follow links from relevant websites is important. You should avoid low-quality websites, nofollow links, or toxic backlinks from spammy websites since they do nothing to help your SEO and can deteriorate your website authority.
In assessing a potential backlink, please consider the following:
- Relevance: The linking page or website needs to be relevant to your niche. A link from a blog about the stock market leading to your kitchenware page would not be ideal, even if it is from a high-authority website.
- DR-Domain Rating: The higher the DR, the more influential the website. Be sure to get a backlink from sites with DR 30 and above. However, for relevance with your niche, even a less-than-optimal DR can be helpful.
- Topical Authority: Consider the overall authority of the website, even if it’s not topical to your niche. A link from a seriously authoritative generalist site such as the New York Times will serve greatly, regardless of what it covers specifically.
10 Effective Ecommerce Link Building Strategies
Building a strong backlink profile requires a strategic approach, it is better to have a link-building specialist to help you. Here are 10 effective Ecommerce link building strategies to help you achieve your goals:
1. Reach out to industry influencers and trade publications
Getting backlinks from individuals with great social media influence or trade publications can be tough since most site owners are hesitant to link directly to commercial pages. Some of these influencers may agree to include your product or business for a fee.
If your industry is trending or is considered controversial, find related blogs that publish thought-provoking articles or news items and pitch them your product or service.
2. Get product feedback on other sites
Many websites publish product round-up articles, which tend to rank well for things like “best [product type]” or “top [product type] for [specific purpose].” Locate such platforms and share your product with them, asking for your product to be included in their articles.
The practice is normally one of the two:
- Paying a fee for your product to feature or be listed.
- Allow the site to test your product and they may include if it performs well.
This is a good strategy because the endorsement by the website is like an authentic and effective sales pitch.
3. Find unlinked mentions of your brand
The easy way to get backlinks is by finding websites which are mentioning your brand, but without linking to your website. Simply contact those site owners and request a link.
Tools such as Google Alerts will let you know about new mentions. With Ahrefs Content Explorer, you will be able to find some existing unlinked mentions. To do this, search for:
- Your brand or product name in quotes.
- Use filters like “Highlight unlinked” for your domain and “One page per domain.”
- Export pages with highlighted domains.
4. Create a viral campaign
Creative campaigns can go viral for a brand. For some professional services, like lawyers, creative scholarship programs for students can be very effective. This is because universities regularly link to them to notify students of these resources, resulting in high authority links from “.edu” domain names.
5. Use HARO (Help a Reporter Out)
HARO is a platform where journalists and bloggers get connected with credible sources. You can become a part of HARO as a source and receive queries from journalists or bloggers seeking to know more about your niche.
Among the best ways to build good links is to answer such questions with a valuable answer and include a link back to your website. Remember that credibility is very important. Give insight into informative, well-researched answers to present yourself as the expert within your industry.
6. Serve your community.
Create campaigns that benefit your target audience or allow them to make guest postings. Community-based projects can attract links from charities or organizations looking to support and promote your efforts.
For instance, a pet apparel company might partner with local animal shelters to host fundraising events for rescue animals. The campaign will bring you enormous backlinks and enhance your brand awareness.
7. Create “link bait” or linkable assets.
Creating high-quality, shareable content can naturally attract backlinks and enhance your website’s credibility. Examples include:
- Infographics
- Pages with compelling statistics
- Data analyses or case studies
- Interactive tools or calculators
- Engaging video content
8. Appear on a podcast.
The podcast allows the dual benefit of promoting your product to a relevant audience while earning a link back through the show notes.
For founders who get excited about telling their stories, it is a faster way when compared to writing guest posts. Business-oriented podcasts do serve well in sharing the journeys of businesses and building brand stories.
Tip: Target podcasts that publish frequently or show growth for better results.
9. Steal competitor links.
Analyze your competitors’ backlink profiles for opportunities. Look for:
- Broken links: Inform the webmasters of broken links pointing to competitors and suggest replacing them with your content.
- Lost links: Find the links that competitors have lost recently and suggest yours.
- Active competitor links: Research which sites link to your competition and may be interested in your product or service.
Use tools like Ahrefs to filter backlinks by “link removed” or “broken redirect”. Then, reach out to site owners with recommendations for updated content featuring your links.
10. Create a blog
Writing high-quality blog posts that are informative, and keyword-optimized is an excellent way to attract backlinks. Concentrate on developing content that aligns with your content marketing strategy, such as product reviews, industry news, or data-driven insights. Quality content naturally attracts links, driving traffic generation and improving your online visibility.
Final Thought
Ecommerce link building is one of the most strong tools for increasing your online store’s digital marketing success. You can boost the authority and credibility of your website by strategically acquiring high-quality backlinks from relevant sites. Make sure to regularly create informative content, reach out to your audience, and connect with other website owners to develop a robust backlink portfolio.
You also need to spend quality time and effort on efficient link-building practices to reap a much better outcome for your e-commerce store and ensure its long-term success.
