Over 26 million e-commerce websites in the world compete for the top spots in search engine results. Yet, only a few will appear on Google’s first page, and only one can claim the coveted number 1 position. Why does this matter? The top 10 search results get the most traffic, as only a few users scroll past this point. Interestingly, all the sites with high rankings have impressive backlink profiles.
The #1 site on Google for any query has more than twice the number of backlinks compared to other pages in the top ten results. As a result, this webpage gets up to 28% more clicks than all the rest. So, e-commerce link building is essential for any online business that wants to boost its traffic and domain authority (DA). But it can get challenging. That’s why today we’ll define actionable tips to help you build a successful link-building strategy.
What Makes Link Building for E-Commerce Websites Special?
Knowing how the algorithm works is essential to fully capture what makes link building for e-commerce sites important. All search engines have metrics used to determine what pages appear in results and how they are ranked. One of the most influential factors on the list is links. And it doesn’t only work that way for online stores. Media, bloggers, best finance websites, and almost anyone on the internet has submitted guest posts at least once in their life. Why? Because, apart from traffic and brand awareness, they give backlinks.
The more links an e-commerce site has from different sources, the higher its credibility and domain ratings. As a result, it gets easier for more people to find your site online. And since 58% of consumers shop weekly on the internet, you can tap into this increased web visibility to increase your traffic and revenue.
E-Commerce Link Building: Dos and Don’ts
The effectiveness of your e-commerce link-building efforts depends on how well you understand the dos and don’ts. This will enable you to create a competitive strategy for your business. So what are the best and the worst things you can do for your e-commerce link-building?
Dos for E-Commerce Link Building
Some of the dos for e-commerce linkbuilding include:
- Invest in Quality Content. Quality content is vital for establishing credibility and authority, making more blogs want to link back to you. Take the time to craft content that serves the needs of your visitors consistently. Do keyword research and use the insights gathered to plan your posts. You can try project management tools like Kanban boards to track your content creation process and ensure everything happens on schedule.
- Utilize Linkable Assets. E-commerce link building requires creativity, and using linkable assets is one way to attract backlinks. Images, case studies, statistics, or how-to guides are prime link material. Consider the number of times you have come across infographics on social media. People love to share helpful knowledge, and this type of content taps into that desire. Include it in your strategy to boost audience engagement and reach.
- Diverse Natural Anchor Texts. An anchor text that is descriptive and relevant will both improve your ranking and attract more clicks. Some should contain keywords and match the title of the landing pages, while others should not. Carve out the time to learn the difference and distribution ratio for different anchor texts (branded, exact-match, partial-match, and generic). This will influence how the search engine understands the relevance and context of the links you are using.
Don’ts for E-Commerce Link Building
Some link-building techniques can potentially increase your revenue generation. Still, others can wreck your search rankings. Here are a few practices to avoid.
- Soliciting Links From Spammy Sites: This may seem like an easy way to boost traffic, but the results could be disastrous. A sudden spike in your web traffic is a dead giveaway that something is afoot. The algorithm can blacklist your page if it appears like you are manipulating links.
- Don’t Wait for Immediate Results. Sometimes, you may need to create a buzz around an upcoming event, webinar, and so on. Natural link building may take months to deliver the desired results. In this scenario, a helpful course of action would be considering SEM (paid ads), which can give you faster results. SmallBizClub says it is one of the best tactics for small businesses.
- Shun Black-Hat Methods. There are many articles with techniques and tips promising to boost your links profile quickly. You are free to try as many hacks as possible. But it is also necessary to weed out any suggestion that encourages black-hat practices like using a link farm or a private blog network. Also, some businesses use a link-building service which can be a good option based on your needs. If you choose this route, only use an agency that strictly applies white-hat link-building tactics. Choices like this can impact your company’s Google rankings.
Best E-Commerce Link-Building Strategies
What are the best e-commerce link-building strategies that anyone can safely implement? There are many good ones, but you should start with the following:
Well-Planned and Strategic Blogging
Blogging is one of the tried and proven e-commerce link-building strategies out there. Of course, this depends on the quality of your content and the consistency of your effort. But there is a right and a wrong way to do this. Some e-commerce websites focus on heavy brand-centric or product-centered posts, which rarely work. It is just too easy to see right through the motive behind such articles.
Instead, create diverse content types covering a wide range of topics. For example, you can use educational content like FAQs and How-to articles to attract people searching for answers on products you stock. If they feel like your blogs answered their queries, they are also more likely to buy the product from you. Besides, great content has the potential to entice more website owners to link back to you.
Find Creative Collaborative Approaches
Link building is basically a team effort. There are several ways to collaborate with people within and outside your niche to help you broaden your audience reach. You could try guest posting to relevant sites in your industry with a respected domain authority. Think about asking influencers to review your products. Another option that works is creating or joining an affiliate marketing program.
Combining two or more of these techniques can significantly increase your site traffic. But the truth is that they all require an intense amount of commitment and time. If you need help doing this, you could outsource it to a white-hat link-building agency.
Monitor Your Competitor’s Backlinks Profile
Much of the SEO strategy, including link building, calls for you to keep an eye on what your competitors are doing. Use SEO tools like Google Search Console (GSC) and others to assess their domain authority and what keywords you can target to outrank them. This helps you gain insights into what you must do to beat them at their own game.
Backlinks analysis, such as this one, also makes it easier to discover where they get their links. You could reach out to the same site or find similar ones. Doing this helps you recognize or identify unique ways to finetune your own link-building strategy.
Conclusion
E-commerce link building is a time-consuming process, but it is not impossible. Much of your results will be based on what efforts you are willing to make and how patient you choose to be. Try the steps and tips in this post to develop your link profile and strengthen your networking ability. With consistency, you should see a massive boost in your organic traffic.
Author Bio: Thomas Lore is a 27-year old writer. As a creative and diligent freelance blogger, he is always seeking new ways to improve himself.
