In this guide, you’ll learn:
Here is the layout of the following article, mapped out by section for your convenience.
- What is link building and the main benefits of link building for eCommerce
- Best strategies of link building for e-commerce explained + examples
- Frequently asked questions
- Summary
Link building for E-Commerce – where to start?
Even if you have been living under a rock and you are not familiar with the term E-Commerce, you probably purchased something online.
Well, e-commerce is, from a broader perspective, any transaction done online.
It can be a purchase of a product, reservation, buying tickets, or selling your things on a marketplace.
Link-building, on the other hand, is a practice well-known in the SEO industry.
The aim of link building in general is to acquire links pointing from other websites to your own website. It is known to improve organic traffic as well as domain authority.
So why do you need link-building for e-commerce and how can it bring better results for your online store?
Link-building is crucial in SEO, so we can only apply this methodology in e-commerce.
And of course, there are many benefits of link-building for e-commerce:
- Improved rankings of your content on Google
- Faster indexing of new product pages
- Increased brand awareness of your eCommerce website
- Introduction of your products & brand to completely new audiences
- Consequently, an increased number of purchases and higher ROI
After we’ve summed up the most important benefits of link building for e-commerce, you’re probably asking yourself how can you do it for your online store.
Follow this article for simple solutions & best practices when it comes to link-building for e-commerce.
The Best Methods for E-Commerce Link-Building
Many e-commerce sites want to start acquiring quality links pointing to their e-commerce store.
However, as previously mentioned, link building for e-commerce is one of the most challenging categories if you want to build links.
Why is it so?
Well, not many websites are giving away free links to product pages, which as a result, leads to profit and conversion.
We’ve summed up some of the best practices that highly successful eCommerce brands use as a part of their link-building strategies.
If you are a website owner, you’ll want to read these and start improving the rankings of product pages and category pages ASAP. In case you have no time for that, you can always delegate building backlinks to the top link-building agency.
Here are some of the most popular eCommerce link-building methods:
1. Linking popular products on “Where to Buy” pages
Did you ever look for a product and couldn’t find it anywhere?
Well, this is exactly why “Where to Buy” pages exist. They cover popular product pages and link to relevant sites where this product can be found.
Since these pages aren’t your direct competitors, actually, quite the opposite, they will likely want to link to your product page if you ask them nicely.
The screenshot of the article ‘Best Marketing Courses: Our Top 5 Recommendations in 2022’ on litho.com
Of course, you need to choose a product page that is relevant to the “Where to Buy” page. If a “Where to Buy” page is about the best marketing courses, you cannot pitch coding lessons, duh.
How to ask for a backlink on a “Where to Buy” page:
Hey there!
I noticed your page about ___(insert category)_____. Btw. great job with the page! In our store we list similar products, so I wanted to check if would you be willing to include these links (insert product page links). It would be super helpful!
Thanks, ____(your name, website)____
2. Customer reviews of your products
When we think about backlinks, we often oversee smaller sites featuring reviews.
In the past, you’ve probably encountered blog posts featuring different products.
Well, many bloggers review products similar to what you sell.
In this case, you’ll want to offer the author a free product in exchange for a review and a link to your eCommerce store.
The example of the customer’s review on getmentioned.today
Even better, you can ask the author to visit your eCommerce site and find a suitable product.
This way, they will be more likely to give you a backlink since they are reviewing something that they like.
Example of an email you can send to a blogger, asking for a review:
Hello!
I encountered your blog and I must say, you really have a great writing style! That is why I wanted to offer you a free product from our website (insert link) and you can maybe review it on your blog. I’d really love to hear your thoughts.
Let me know if you have any questions!
Best, ____(your name)____
Of course, nothing is guaranteed with this method, but it is sure worth trying!
3. Create a FAQ Section
Your customers are humans, and they will have a lot of questions about your product.
Pages that have good FAQs covering different concerns that real-life customers had, answer and solve problems for your (potential) customers.
An FAQ page can help to bring more conversions to your eCommerce business, but it can also be a way to secure relevant links.
Good FAQ pages don’t interrupt customers’ journeys and offer content that other websites will want to link to. Your link-building efforts won’t go unnoticed.
Other than the FAQ section, you can create FAQ content on the blog.
One great example we have here is Adidas with article about How to choose running shoes.
Not only this article ranks really well and includes lots of helpful advice about choosing a running shoe, it also actively promotes Adidas products.
4. Broken Link-Building
Broken link building is a link-building strategy built around dead or broken links.
Broken or dead links occur when the page you linked to changes URL or got deleted, so it results in 404 or some other error message.
It is a good opportunity to look for articles relevant to your products that might have some broken links.
At Getmentioned, we always use broken links checker to quickly check and detect which pages are broken.
After you’ve found some broken links, you can then proceed with pitching the article author. The email can look something like this:
Hello!
I was reading your article and noticed that some of the links on your page lead to expired content. Would you be willing to update some links with more up-to-date content?
Here are some link that might be a good fit:
- List of links that you want to pitch
- Links
- Links
I’d be happy to provide more links to relevant product pages or answer any questions you might have.
5. Pitching Guest Posts
Writing and pitching guest posts is one of the oldest link-building strategies in the book.
It is the process of pitching and writing content for relevant publications and getting a backlink (or two) in return.
The same principle can be applied to an eCommerce link-building strategy.
The process should look something like this:
- Research competitors and find suitable sites
- Pitch your blog article
- Write the article around your product pages
- Include relevant links to your product pages
It might take some time to find link-building opportunities and acquire quality backlinks with this strategy, but your effort will surely pay off.
In case you have no time, just get started with our Guest Post services. Turnaround time is up to 1 month!
For most e-commerce businesses, this will be a link-building strategy that will take the most time. The process is lengthy, but the results surely pay off.
Examples and Explanations (Step-By-Step)
We listed some examples of crafting outreach emails and good examples of link building where we explained each of the strategies.
Here’s a step-by-step process for pitching a guest post for your eCommerce:
- Find a relevant website where you can pitch your content
- Pitch the author (find the example below)
- Write a good article and include relevant links from your eCommerce store
- Keep a good relationship with the editor for possible future collaborations
Hello (name)!
I’ve been reading your article for some time and I really like the content you have there. I wanted to suggest writing an article for your publication about (your product category). It would be complete original and unpublished page, and it would be a great addition to your website?
What do you say?
I hope we can work it out!
I look forward to your answer!
(Your name, your website)
FAQ
What is E-Commerce link-building?
E-commerce link building is a strategy of acquiring backlinks on relevant websites in order to improve website rankings on search engines.
Some relevant methods for gaining eCommerce backlinks are:
- Content marketing – pitching and writing original blog posts that include backlinks
- Searching for brand mentions that don’t include a link to your eCommerce brand
- Including FAQ sections eCommerce websites which will attract links
and more.
How do I acquire a link for my e-commerce website?
To acquire links on reputable sites, you’ll have to find suitable sites and start with building links.
This process included the optimization of internal links as well as content marketing strategy focused on eCommerce link building.
What are some of Google’s ranking factors?
Google ranking factors are well known for years, and although Google never lists all of the ranking factors to the audience, most SEO specialists believe they are:
- Topic authority
- Relevant, unique and up-to-date content
- Authority and age of your website
- User engagement and time spent on your website
- Relevancy and helpfulness of your content
- Number of inbound links and backlinks from relevant pages
What are the most important factors for eCommerce SEO?
As we already mentioned, SEO in a super important part of the infrastructure of your eCommerce store.
We can divide the factors into two categories, technical and content, depending on what are they referring to.
TECHNICAL
- User experience & easy shopping on mobile
- Page speed – you can check this on Google PageSpeed Insights
- Interlinking
- XML maps
CONTENT
- Useful FAQ
- Good product pages that include images, product descriptions, reviews…
- High quality links
- Brand mentions on other websites
How can eCommerce brands improve technical SEO when it comes to eCommerce link building?
Both technical and content SEO is equally important parts of SEO for eCommerce sites.
To ensure the best results, you’ll want to fill in some minimal technical SEO requirements.
These are:
- referring to your website speed,
- architecture,
- the structure of outbound links,
- user experience,
- mobile usability.
What is the number one link-building strategy for an e-commerce website?
There is no one strategy that is a top winner when it comes to link-building strategies for your eCommerce brand.
This is exactly why we listed the 5 easiest and most widespread strategies in this article. The eCommerce link building campaign that will be the best for your brand will depend on:
- Nature of your eCommerce website
- Maturity of your online business
- Link equity
- The target audience of your brand
- In-house resources you can allocate for writing blog content or guest posting efforts
Summing It Up
For most eCommerce businesses, link-building tactics aren’t the first online marketing strategy that comes to mind.
And here our link-building agency comes – we’ll happily provide your E-Commerce business in ANY niche with high-quality backlinks and guest posts.
To start with eCommerce link building, you’ll first have to do a bit of market research and decide which of the link-building strategies listed in this article is the best fit for your eCommerce site.
TL;DR
- E-Commerce link building is an important part of SEO strategy for webshops.
- To craft an effective eCommerce link building campaign, you’ll have to work on content marketing, outreach campaigns, research competitors, and search for unlinked brand mentions and broken links to find more opportunities for high-quality backlinks
- To improve search engine traffic, you will need to improve technical SEO as well as content SEO.
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