To Do Ecommerce Link Building or Not? Benefits & Strategies

Frankly, ecommerce link building is not as easy as typical link building. However, it is instrumental to visibility and sales.

CLO doubled organic traffic with link building

So, it doesn’t matter if you have a generational, one-of-a-kind product. Quality backlinks will position your eCom brand well to earn a fair share of the $1.25+ trillion evaluation of global retail sales.

Source: Statista

Now, to answer the question: yes, do ecommerce link building.

What about the difficulty of pulling off link building for ecommerce?

Don’t be put off by that. I’ll show you easy, beginner-friendly strategies to achieve success through eCom link building.

Are you ready?

Before we dive into the strategies, check the success stories of eCom brands actively building backlinks to their stores and products. 

3 Examples of Brands Doing Ecommerce Link Building — With Significant Success

Breaking into the scene in ecommerce is not a small feat. The industry is congested with unparalleled competition.

If you don’t level up, you’ll be out of business. But such stories are changing, thanks to SEO and link building.

You don’t need to have an enormous budget to compete for attention and sales.

With link building, you can strategize your content, attract organic traffic, and cart your share of the eCom cake.

Fortunately, organic SEO (link building is included) is the second-highest source of ecommerce traffic.

The best part is that link building is not a “Lala land” idea. Brands are getting results from it. You can also.

Here is a snapshot of three eCom brands building links right:

Etsy

Overstock

Lulus

Source of the summary infographics: Neil Patel

Wondering how the brands above pulled off such results?

The strategies below will provide the insights you need.

7 Easy Ecommerce Link Building Strategies You Can Start Today

Whether you’re an SEO guru or a greenie, you can replicate the tactics below and get visible results from your eCom link building campaigns.

Target Stockist Pages

Stockist pages (also “where-to-buy pages”) compile the top-notch destination for a brand’s products.

If you are a wholesaler or retailer who fancies having several products from a specific brand, get listed on their stockist pages. That’s free, easy, and quality backlinks.

So, how do you get listed on stockist pages?

• Type <[brand name] intitle: “stockists” “where to buy”> into the Google search bar.

Here is an example:

• You’ll see a page like this:

• Next, hold “ctrl F” and then type “contact us.”
• Pitch your store as a stockist to the directory.

You can use this sample pitch:

Hi,

I’m Seb from X [use your store name].

Found your stockist list for Burberry products and saw that you have only one store. Would you like to add to that?

At X, we stock only Burberry products and often offer mouthwatering discounts. I’m sure your readers will love that. 

Bottom line: We’ll be delighted to be on your list.

What is the process for getting listed?

Cheers to our love for Burberry products,

— Seb

Note: you can also get listed on more stockists by analyzing the backlink of the listed stores from the step above.

Here is how:

• Plug the store domain into Ahrefs Site Explorer
• Go to backlinks report > add a “ref.page title” filter for “stockists” or “where to buy.”

Source: Ahrefs

• Compile the backlinks into a list and pitch the contact addresses.

Explore Unlinked Mention

Like with stockist pages, this strategy is a low-effort way to build backlinks to your eCom store. IMO, it is even better than the former. Why?

Unlinked mentions mean your brand or store name was already mentioned in a post or directory. In essence, the author already knows about you.

In other words, you’ll face little to no difficulty getting a backlink from the author. But first, you must find the unlinked mentions. Here is how:

• Go to Ahrefs Content Explorer
• Type in your product or brand name into the search bar > highlight unlinked
• Type your domain > one page per domain. You’ll see a page like this:

Source: Ahrefs

• Export the results and set it to only pages with “highlighted domains.”
• Reach out to each of the contacts of the domains for a backlink.

You can use this sample pitch:

Hi [first name],

I’m Seb from X [use your store name].

Saw your post [link to the article] when you said A and B about my [product or brand]. I appreciate your kind words.

I have a suggestion: I covered a detailed version of what you discussed on my resource page [link to the page]. It’d be nice to link to the page to enrich your points.

Plus, your readers will also benefit.

What do you say?

Thanks once again, 

— Seb

Do you prefer staying ahead of your mentions to playing catch-up?

• Go to Google Alerts
• Type in your brand or product name > create an alert

Feature On Roundup Posts

If you have been around in the eCom niche for a while, you’d know the cherished content types:

• The best X products of 20**
• The best X movies in Q1 20**
• X top products in 20** reviewed

Beyond eCom folk, random internet users know about product roundups. Everyone loves them — and the big G also. That is why you need to get on these listicles.

What’s in for you?

You’ll get a high-quality backlink (and all the traffic and link juice perks that follow).

So, how can you feature in a roundup post for your product?

• Pick your best product — choose the product with the best reviews/sales.
• Type “best [product] + [brand]” into the Google search bar.

• Pick a roundup post that didn’t feature your product, then pitch.

You can use this sample pitch:

Hi [first name],

Read your list of [name of the roundup post] just now. Fantastic work.

However, my [product] that amassed $X on Amazon [link] and Y reviews on YELP is missing. 

Could the omission be because you never tried my [product], or do you prefer other brands?

If the reason is the former, I can send a sample unit (all costs covered) to let you test the product.

What do you say?

Regards,

-Seb

Similar to roundup posts: reach out to outdated guest posts. Offer to update the article. Include a link to your product in the process. This can also work on broken links.

Start An Affiliate Program

Spoiler alert: affiliate links are often marked with “nofollow” tags. So, no link juice will drip back to your site. However, the traffic and sales will come in handy.

The beauty of affiliate programs is that they are win-win situations for everyone involved. You will sell your product, and the consumer will save time and money buying a tested and proven product.

On the other hand, the affiliate marketer will earn a handsome commission.

However, you must clear up two crucial issues:

• What percentage will be the commission?
• Is there a minimum quantity requirement for affiliate marketers to qualify?

More importantly, what level of affiliate marketers do you seek? Beginners, mid-level, or the big shots?

Note: the payout will likely be high if you go for the big shots. But you’ll see more leads.

Overall, create a transparent program. Also, ensure your eCom site is conversion-optimized. Otherwise, it won’t matter if all the affiliate marketers in your city link back to your product page.

Simba is one of the brands maximizing the benefits of affiliate marketing. They use a robust network of affiliate retailers to boost their backlink profile and sales.

Partner With Influencers

This strategy is similar to affiliate marketing. However, influencers might decide to get a commission or outright payment off your product. Some might also do it for free.

What’s so special about influencers?

Influencers have large followings on social media. Their fans worship them and will buy whatever they recommend.

This is what happened when Elon Musk talked about his perfume. Within 24 hours, he made $1M.

That is the pull of influencers.

Now, you might not get Elon Musk for your products. Nonetheless, you can still partner with equally influential figures.

You can adopt the Beauty Bay strategy. They partner with a mix of top celebrities like Jade Thirlwall and small creators and influencers on Instagram. 

Interestingly, the backlinks from influencers are 100% dofollow. In essence, you’ll reap all the yields of the partnership: link juice, traffic, and sales.

Now to the burning question: how can you find these influencers?

• Type “country + niche + influencers + channel” into the Google search bar.

• Go through influencers’ content and pick the top 5 that fit your vision and mission.
• Pitch

You can use this sample pitch:

Hi [first name],

I’m Seb from X [use your store name].

I’ve gone through your content. I love your creativity and attention to detail.

I own X and am currently looking for influencers to partner with. Would you be interested?

If you’re ready, I can send a sample product to test the quality of our work at X.

What do you say?

Regards 

— Seb

Pro tip: you can engage your sales team to be the face behind your products on social media. The results will take time but will be sustainable and cost-effective.

Create A Blog

We’re moving into not-so-easy territories. But don’t fret. Creating and managing a blog is not as difficult as it seems.

Now, you’re wondering: what will you write about? How often should you update the blog?

Starting with what to write, here’s my recommendation:

• Start with roundup posts like the one you want to get featured on earlier. Since you already understand the format, this should be a breeze.
• Turn your customers’ questions, sales queries, and product guides into blog posts.
• Did you sponsor a cause with the proceeds of your product? Write about it. Also, send the news to media houses to earn PR backlinks.
• Lastly, do a competitor backlink analysis. Copy their strategies and improve on them. While at it, check to see if you can get backlinks from the sources.

How about the frequency of publishing posts?

• Link velocity aids ranking and traffic. So, I recommend publishing at least 2 posts weekly.

How will blogging add backlinks to your products? How will it convert to sales?

1. Your well-written posts will naturally include links to your products
2. When done right, your posts will rank on the top pages of search results
3. Other bloggers will link to your posts
4. Traffic will stream in
5. Prospects will click the linked product and buy them

Note: your ecommerce platform can affect your SEO. So, stick to SEO-friendly platforms such as WordPress and Shopify.

Charlotte Tilbury uses this strategy (content marketing) perfectly. They regularly publish blogs, tutorials, and FAQs. Take a cue from them.

Are you overwhelmed?

If creating a blog or choosing an SEO-friendly eCom platform is hectic, you can always outsource to an expert.

Create Interactive Media

Do beyond just text-based content. Repurpose your blog posts, product descriptions, and social media posts into videos and infographics.

Mind you, you won’t create new content from scratch. You won’t be stuck with brainstorming new ideas.

Just convert an existing piece into another form of content. E.g.

• Change your roundup post to a countdown video — a slideshow of the products.
• Adopt your product copy into a short video playing out the words
• Repurpose your how-to guides into hierarchy infographics.

Either way, your content will be more visual and more engaging. This way, the likeliness of sharing increases.

And when other marketers or blogs share your content, you’ll receive a backlink.

Furthermore, you can increase the reach of your media content with outreach. This post about infographic link building can help.

Pro tip: don’t forget to optimize the alt text of your media content. You can use them to rank on Google Images and YouTube.

Besides, linkable assets will get you backlinks for free.

Verdict: Build Links to Your Ecommerce Site

Ecommerce link building, despite the workload, has tons of promises. When done right, it will skyrocket your traffic and sales.

And aren’t those highlights the goals of eCom?

Besides, building links to your ecommerce site is not difficult if you follow the tips in this article. Get featured on stockist pages, roundups, and influencers’ issues.

Or you can create your assets and distribute them.

Summary: you have nothing to lose building  eCom links but everything to lose if you don’t.

FAQs About Ecommerce Link Building

What Is ECom Link Building?

ECom link building isn’t different from any typical link building. The only difference is that the focus here is attracting backlinks directly to your products/product pages.

What Is the Best Link Building Strategy for Ecommerce Sites?

From practical experience, there is no best strategy for any link building. I recommend combining it all to get the most results.

But if you’re wondering which strategy is the easiest, I’ll say featuring on a stockist page.

Should You Exchange Products For Backlinks?

No. That’s link spamming — a direct violation of Google’s guidelines. Instead, send a sample for testing.