Ecommerce seo is essential for building a strong online business store. When implemented right, it can potentially push your business up the first pages of Google or any search engine you choose. SEO for Ecommerce websites can include off-page and on-page seo.
On-page seo is all about optimizing your content concerning the keyphrases and often gets much of the limelight. However, off-page seo is important for building a foundation, and this is where seo link-building comes into the picture.
What is backlink building for Ecommerce stores?
Link building for ecommerce is getting the link juice and traffic from other websites to your ecommerce site.
The Semrush report enunciates how backlinking continues to be among the top factors for building a site presence.
Suppose you are marketing a small and upcoming business. In that case, it is important to develop an ecommerce seo strategy (including non-paid link building in the backend) to ensure a sustainable traffic flow to your website without the heavy investment of paid ads. However, it needs to be a consistent process with weekly interventions and development.
Link building for ecommerce websites does not have to be complicated. Understanding the nature of these backlinks, their implementation, and a few key rules is enough to boost your ecommerce business on your favorite search engine and drive more traffic to the site.
Types of backlinks that form a part of Ecommerce SEO link building
It is important to note that not all backlinks are viable for businesses. When creating a backlink strategy for your ecommerce business, it is vital to check the quality of every link you may be connecting with your site.
Wrong or defunct backlinks may not drive traffic to your ecommerce website, while artificial backlinks may cause more harm than good.
You should know the types of backlinks before commencing your backlink-building strategy.
1) Dofollow backlinks
Every Ecommerce website needs dofollow backlinks. As the name suggests, these links are represented as rel=”dofollow” and allow the transfer of link juice between the pages. They are the primary prerequisites concerning seo for ecommerce websites.
2) Nofollow backlinks
These are the opposite of dofollow backlinks and are represented as hyperlinks with a rel=”nofollow” tag. Google does not crawl the nofollow links which is why they do not enable the link juice transfer and do not influence the search engine rankings.
3) Internal backlinks
An internal link is a link that connects one page to another within the website. Internal backlinking helps improve the visiting time on the website and reduces bounce rates.
4) External backlinks
External links are links that connect external pages to the main website. The anchor texts are hyperlinked to drive the link juice between the pages and improve the main site’s domain authority.
5) Natural backlinks
Natural links are organically occurring links in websites and don’t have tracking parameters. They lead to content that is more naturally relevant to the source website and is the best way to increase domain authority.
6) Artificial backlinks
These backlinks have been created artificially to link the main page to the newly created page in order to unnaturally build the site’s backlink repository. Building artificial backlinks is usually a part of Black-hat SEO and is not a sustainable way to develop Ecommerce seo strategies.
7) Contextual backlinks
Contextual backlinks are usually used when citing sources. They may be useful in building the authenticity of a site if not their domain authority (contextual links do not usually offer dofollow links).
8) Profile backlinks
As the name suggests, profile backlinks are links in the profile section of a blog, press release, and guest post. They are used to build content authority and do not often contribute to the search ranking.
9) Sitewide backlinks
These are static outbound links that can help create outbound links to other sites easily. Sitewide backlinks are placed in the header, the footer, or the navigation menu.
Understanding the different types of backlinks is crucial for building an effective ecommerce SEO strategy. If you’re looking to amplify your SEO backlink-building efforts, here’s how you can do so.
9 steps to build backlinks for your Ecommerce website
1) Finding high-quality backlink opportunities
Some websites have stronger domain authority than others. This means they are more likely to dominate the online space in their niche. Having backlinks from such websites can help in your business’ seo link-building strategy. These high-quality backlinks can help pass the link juice and amplify your ecommerce site’s domain authority.
How to find these high-quality ecommerce backlinks?
Start by connecting with high domain authority guest blogs. For instance, if you have a mother and baby ecommerce store with a flair for informative content, parent and mommy blogs are more likely to join hands with you.
MoneySavingMom is an example where you can write about how to save money with effective parenting hacks. These backlinks offer much-needed strength.
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In addition to this, which are the publications or websites your audience refers to when it comes to knowing more about the industry or products? These publications are an ideal candidate for building your SEO Ecommerce link building strategy by providing valuable content.
SEO backlinking tip: Another source of quality backlinks is closer than you think! Ask your distributors and sellers to link your store to their website and product pages. The familiarity makes it easier to make this request, and voila! you have a credible backlink.
2) Creating valuable content to attract natural backlinks
Creating value via your product is important, but displaying that value is also vital with the help of content.
For instance, your Ecommerce store sells pet nutrition for geriatric dogs and cats. You can offer no dearth of value in the form of blogs to your audience. You can even connect with a vet to give tips for geriatric pet nutrition.
Now another pet blogger talking about hip dysplasia in big dogs can connect with your content on pet nutrition and offer a dofollow backlink (hopefully). This naturally increases your Ecommerce site’s backlink prowess and ultimately builds a strong online presence.
A successful ecommerce SEO strategy involves creating topics that lie in the sweet spot of your niche and what people are looking for to create more relevance and searchability.
Waggle, a US-based pet temperature monitor brand, answered the most common questions among pet parents (and avid travelers) with the help of a blog.
Impact of heatstroke in pets and how to avoid it answers a common question while also connecting the product (the pet temperature monitor) with the subject matter.
3) Utilizing guest posting and broken link-building strategies
Broken links are the low-hanging fruit that can help build a strong backlink repository as a part of your backlink strategy for ecommerce.
You can find these links by assessing your competitor’s page and checking which links work and which don’t. Simply put, the pages these links are linked to do not exist anymore.
You can approach the business with an invitation to help fill that gap with your relevant content in exchange for a dofollow link. This guest-posting approach to filling up this gap is a win-win situation for all stakeholders.
The process for finding broken ecommerce backlinks for your website include a few extra steps like:
- Looking for niche players and examining their links
- Connecting with the right authority with the perfect pitch to plug in the link
- Brainstorm the content topics and outlines
- Creating the guest post
- Receiving the link upon guest-post approval
Fixing these broken links will help the site owner avoid their 404 error, offer you the opportunity to get quality backlinks, and establish your position as a subject matter expert.
For instance, US-based Poshmark, a lifestyle marketplace, has a great traffic flow and DA but not without its fair share of broken links!
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Ecommerce stores in similar space can leverage this broken gap by offering to create content on similar topics and gain the link juice in return.
For example, the topic Bohemian Style: The Ultimate 2022 Guide and History can be refreshed for 2023 and given a new spin.
4) Use social media to promote your website and attract backlinks
Social media is among content consumers and creators’ most highly used platforms. It, therefore, makes sense to promote your website link on them to strengthen SEO link building.
You can start with the basics – add the website link to your social media profile.
This is an important step since most of your traffic will likely click on the link in your bio to learn more about the product. These profiles can be the business profile, the business owner’s personal profile, the community page, and more.
For instance, Fenty by Rihanna has pulled some serious weight in the social media ecosystem and is one of the biggest traffic drivers. The brand has a website link in its Instagram profile, making it easier for followers to land on the website.
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Even the owner, Rihanna, drives her followers to the Ecommerce site by adding the ecommerce link to her Twitter bio.
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SEO backlink building tip: If you want to showcase multiple links, use a link service like Linktree where you present users with a list of clickable buttons.
5) Engage with forums and discussion boards
Community is a great way to connect with your target audience and stay up to date with the latest trends in the sector. One of the biggest examples of forum-based marketing is Reddit which can be vital for your ecommerce seo.
With approximately 1.7 billion visits, Reddit is the holy grail for ecommerce sites looking to build a community of like-minded people and even get backlinks.
You can start your backlink-building strategy on forums by joining relevant communities on Reddit and different platforms and scouring for content and questions about their industry. Being the industry experts, you can start answering these questions and giving valuable input to the community.
Steadily, you can add links to your business with your answers so that your responses do not seem salesy. This way, you can add relevant and high-quality backlinks from a high DA website like Reddit and amp your ecommerce seo strategy.
If you have the bandwidth, you can also promote your store on Reddit and increase the traffic to your site.
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6) Collaborate with niche-specific influencers and bloggers
Influencer marketing is all in the rage for the right reasons! Influencers drive awareness which further drives traffic to the website. The social commerce features launched by different social media platforms enable users to check out the post and immediately click on the product or the website link.
If influencer marketing is a part of your marketing strategy, consider integrating your website links with the influencer shoutouts as a part of your link building strategies for ecommerce.
For instance, authentic health and fitness influencers help health brands build credible proof and drive traffic to their website. These influencers can also tag your Ecommerce brand in their YouTube videos and blogs, thus creating a strong backlink that can help the Ecommerce site.
BetterMe is a case-in-point that leverages influencers to drive traffic to its social media page and, ultimately, website to boost sales.
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SEO link building tip: Although you cannot share clickable links in normal Instagram posts, you can share short Bitly links or clear instructions to the live link in the post.
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7) Inter-link the pages of your website
If your Ecommerce site has a high bounce rate or you want to entice your traffic to stay longer, interlinking is the way to go. Interlinks are the hyperlinks that you may use to connect one page of your Ecommerce site to another, allowing visitors to visit different elements of your store easily.
Gift store Uncommon Goods does this best by placing its bestsellers, gender-based gift categories, and everything in between in one place.
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The benefits of interlinking web pages include:
- Increases your online traffic,
- Builds your site’s strength, and
- Increases the chance of upselling.
Ecommerce SEO tip: There are different types of internal links: sidebar, footer, navigational, and contextual links. Think of internal links as a good way to tell Google which pages on the website are important.
8) Spring clean your old and defunct backlinks
Broken links add to the clutter of your Ecommerce website. These links can harm your SEO ranking, reduce your loading time, increase the bounce rate, and must be fixed immediately.
Moreover, removing broken links, repairing a content refresher, and updating the elements at the backend is a more cost-efficient option to improve SEO for ecommerce websites than creating new content altogether. This is not to say that you shouldn’t create fresh content, but a little spring cleaning can help improve your site’s overall health.
9) Leverage visual media to attract backlinks
One of the best examples of gaining backlinks via a visual medium is Pinterest. With over 450 million monthly active users, this platform allows brands to showcase their products that are visually appealing as well as informative. Since they can be linked to the main site, they add tremendous value to the link building strategies for ecommerce sites and help direct the traffic to the website.
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Ecommerce SEO tip: When tagged right, product images on the Ecommerce website also act as backlinks. When consumers search for specific images, these tags help the search engines give relevant results, which drives traffic to the specific Ecommerce stores.
For instance, if users search for ‘dark red dress,’ Ecommerce stores with accurately tagged images will top the search results and drive traffic.
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Continue reading: Must Know Ecommerce Image Optimization Tips (SEO + Performance)
Why should you not buy backlinks?
With Ecommerce businesses managing a million things at once, buying these backlinks and checking an item off their list may be tempting.
However, this technique of SEO link building for ecommerce backlinks may do more harm than good.
Here are a few reasons why your seo strategy for ecommerce should not include buying backlinks.
1) Google frowns upon it: According to Google, engaging in ‘link schemes’, (getting links in exchange for money) can negatively impact the site’s search ranking results. Considering Google still holds most of the market share, link buying is not a good idea.
2) No sustainable results: Low-quality backlinks are unreliable to offer long-term organic results and can be money down the drain.
3) Spammy content: Spammy content reduces the quality of your overall Ecommerce website, eventually driving the traffic away. The objective of buying the links will be rendered useless.
Back your ecommerce seo with backlinks
Ecommerce seo tips are incomplete without the conversation around backlinks. These backlinks, unless artificially built, help build your Ecommerce website’s domain authority, divert traffic, build reliability and customer loyalty, and ultimately, drive sales. SEO backlink building should be a consistent effort that takes time to display results.
