Ecommerce Link Building: A Practical Guide

The short answer

Ecommerce link building is earning links from other websites to an online store's pages, so those pages rank higher in search. The tactics that work are useful content such as buying guides and comparisons, digital PR around original data, and genuine relationships with suppliers and publications. Product pages rarely earn links directly.

Key takeaways

Product pages rarely earn links directly — guides, comparisons and tools do the earning, then pass authority to products.
Digital PR with original data is the strongest ecommerce link tactic, because journalists need numbers to quote.
Supplier, manufacturer and stockist pages are legitimate link sources most stores ignore.
Bought links and link schemes breach Google's spam policies and risk rankings.
Measure referring domains and rankings for category pages, not total link counts.

What ecommerce link building means

Ecommerce link building is earning links from other websites to an online store's pages, so those pages rank higher in search. A backlink is a link from another site to yours, and search engines treat it as a vote of confidence. The problem for stores is that product pages are commercial pages. Other sites rarely link to a page that sells something, because their readers gain nothing from it.

The solution is indirect. The links point to useful pages — buying guides, comparisons, original research, free tools — and those pages link inward to the product and category pages that need to rank. A guide on how to choose a mattress earns links; it then links to the store's mattress category page. The category page rises because the guide passes it authority through internal links. That two-step pattern is the core of ecommerce link building, and every tactic below follows it.

Tactics that work for stores

Buying guides and comparisons

A buying guide answers the questions a shopper asks before buying: which size, which material, which features matter, what it costs. It earns links because other writers reference it when they write about the same purchase. A comparison page does the same for shoppers choosing between two products. Both need to be genuinely useful — real prices, real differences, real drawbacks — or nobody will reference them.

Digital PR with original data

Journalists and bloggers need numbers to quote. A store that surveys its customers, analyses its own sales data, or tests products can publish findings nobody else has. A survey of 500 customers about what they look for in a mattress, or a test of ten products' durability, gives journalists a reason to link. Digital PR takes effort and has no guaranteed result, but one link from a publication your buyers read is worth more than fifty from directories.

Supplier and manufacturer links

Manufacturers and brands often list stockists on a "where to buy" page. A link from that page is relevant, trusted and hard for competitors to copy. Ask every supplier for a stockist listing when you start carrying a brand, and check once a year that the listing is still live. Trade associations and certification bodies also link to members, and those links carry the same quality.

Resource pages and broken links

Some sites keep lists of useful resources for a topic. If your buying guide is better than the pages they list, a short email asking for inclusion can work. The same applies to broken links: find a resource page linking to a dead guide in your category, publish a better replacement, and tell the site owner their link is broken. Both tactics work because you are solving the other site's problem, not only yours.

Unlinked brand mentions

Search for your brand or product names on the web. Where a site mentions you without linking, a polite email asking for a link often succeeds, because the writer already decided you were worth mentioning. This is the easiest link tactic for an established store, and it needs no new content.

A worked example: one quarter for a furniture store

Take a fictional example. An online furniture store wants its sofa category page to rank. The store publishes a buying guide — "How to choose a sofa that lasts ten years" — with real prices, fabric comparisons and a size calculator. The guide is promoted to home and interiors sites that link to weaker versions, and to two suppliers for stockist listings.

Activity	Links earned	What they point to
Buying guide published and promoted	6 from interiors blogs	The guide
Supplier stockist listings	2 from manufacturers	The homepage
Unlinked mentions found and converted	3 from press and blogs	The guide and category page

Eleven new referring domains in a quarter is a realistic result for a small store. The guide earns the links, and internal links from the guide to the sofa category page pass the benefit inward. The team checks the category page's ranking monthly, and after two quarters it moves from page three to the bottom of page one for its main keyword. The numbers are illustrative, and the pattern is the point: content earns, internal links distribute, and the category page rises.

What to measure

Referring domains, not total links. Ten links from one site count as one referring domain.
Rankings for category pages, checked monthly for the keywords that matter.
Organic traffic to category pages, from Search Console and Analytics.
Revenue from organic search, because rankings that do not sell are a vanity metric.
Links per guide, so you learn which content types earn and which do not.

Review monthly. A guide that earns no links in two quarters needs a better angle or better promotion, not more guides like it.

Mistakes to avoid with ecommerce link building

Buying links. Google's spam policies treat buying or selling links that pass ranking credit as link spam. It risks rankings for the page and the site.
Pointing links at product pages. Product pages rarely earn links. Build the guide, earn the link, and pass authority inward.
Chasing link counts. Fifty links from directories are worth less than five from publications in your field.
Ignoring internal links. A guide that earns links but does not link to your category pages wastes the authority it earned.
Forgetting suppliers. Stockist listings are the easiest relevant links a store can get, and most stores never ask.
Publishing thin guides. A buying guide with no real prices, no real differences and no drawbacks earns nothing, however well it is promoted.

Five ecommerce link building terms worth knowing

Backlink: a link from another website to one of your pages.
Referring domain: a distinct website that links to you, counted once however many links it sends.
Digital PR: earning press coverage and links by giving journalists data or stories worth publishing.
Linkable asset: a page built to earn links, such as a buying guide, original research or a free tool.
Link spam: buying, selling or exchanging links to manipulate rankings, against Google's spam policies.

For the basics, read the best backlink analysis software comparison and the how to build backlinks guide. The link building outreach guide covers the wider plan, and Adziq's SEO service page covers outreach work if you want it run for you.

Common questions

Why is ecommerce link building hard?

Because product pages are commercial and rarely worth linking to. Other sites link to useful content — buying guides, comparisons, original research — not to a page selling a product. The work is therefore building content worth linking to, then linking it to the products.

How do ecommerce sites get links to category pages?

By publishing the best buying guide or comparison for that category and promoting it to sites that already link to weaker versions. Category pages themselves earn links when they are genuinely the most useful page on the topic, with filters, real product detail and helpful content.

Do supplier links help an ecommerce store?

Yes. Manufacturers and brands often list stockists, and a link from a manufacturer's 'where to buy' page is relevant and hard to fake. Ask suppliers for a stockist listing when you start carrying a brand.

Should an ecommerce store buy backlinks?

No. Google's spam policies treat buying or selling links that pass ranking credit as link spam, and it can lead to pages or the whole site losing rankings. Earned links from real references are the safe route.

How long does ecommerce link building take to show results?

Months. A new guide needs time to be found, linked and ranked, and the links it earns need time to affect the pages they point to. Expect the first ranking movement in one to three months for low-competition categories, longer for competitive ones.

Sources

Adziq sells marketing services and does not accept payment for placement in its articles. See our editorial policy.

Ecommerce Link Building: A Practical Guide With Examples