Link building is necessary for any online business including your e-stores. If you are not a professional marketer or SEO, the strategy may seem rather complicated to you. This is the reason why we have created this simple guide that includes basic steps of link building for eCommerce websites.
Let’s start with the basics.
Well, you have created your online store selling some innovative software. No matter how awesome your product is, you will have to outrank the competition on Google to let the customers know about it.
There is only one way to improve Google rankings. You must establish the authority of your eCommerce resource. You can accomplish this by earning links from authoritative websites, enhancing your brand, and nurturing the community around your brand to amplify your content.
Takeaway:
Inbound links, also known as backlinks or external links, are HTML hyperlinks that point from one website to another.
Side Note:
Links can be followed and nofollowed. It doesn’t matter for the user what attribute a link has, though, it’s essential for your website and Google. Nofollowed links won’t help your e-store rank higher (they don’t pass any link equity), so you should target followed links. However, a healthy backlink profile should have both types of links. So don’t get upset if some decent domain gave you a nofollowed link.
It’s impossible to give you a comprehensive guide on link building for the eCommerce niche as each project requires tailored strategies, however, the key points listed below will identify the right directions and will be more than enough for the start.
You are definitely not alone in your business. You have loyal customers and partners. Why not starting your link building campaign with something simple. For example, if your customer is running a blog, they can mention you there.
As to partners, you can ask them to put your logo or badge on the partner’s page if they have the one. Alternatively, you can write a testimonial about their product or service, which is a win-win solution.
This point includes the publications on your blog if you are running the one and guest posting.
If you have some terrific content, show it to the niche influencers via email outreach. If they like it, they will reward you with a link.
Here is a brief list of tools that will help to find emails of your targets:
If a web resource related to your niche accepts guest contributions, you can offer the topics you would like to cover. When the editor makes their pick, you will write an article that will be published soon with at least one link in the bio section.
Ideally, try to place a link to your e-shop in the body of an article. And don’t forget about the anchor text to enhance it. Use Linkio tool to get the most accurate anchor text suggestions for your link building.
Side Note:
Guest posting sounds like a surefire way to earn links and in fact, it is. But I advise keeping away from guest blogging for the sake of links only. If you get detected by Google, it will seriously harm the authority of your eCommerce project.
It’s not easy to create unique, quality resources people can refer to. If you create something share-worthy and promote it strategically, you will get a few backlinks.
Make sure that your writing evokes emotions be it joy or sadness. It should tell about something new or at least cover the point from another angle. It should be visually appealing (maybe include infographics, tables, diagrams, etc.) It’s also better to address a timely (seasonal) demand and be location-specific.
If you decide to build a resource page, use advanced Google operators to speed up your search for good links targets. For example, if you are going to do some link building for a SaaS company that develops coworking space apps, you could search for:
coworking intitle:”resources”
You can also use the hack to collect ideas for content creation. Try to guess what types of resources compilation would these pages link to.
If you promote a local eCommerce business, a community outreach may turn out to be very significant and bring you many valuable, influential links.
Here are some ways to establish a good reputation among community members:
As I have already mentioned, trustworthy resources are determined by the quality and quantity of links. Though these are not the only factors considered by search engines. Things like awareness, helpfulness, integrity, quality, continued value, voice, sentiment, and so on are also utterly important.
In fact, eCommerce brand authority is built when your online activity impacts real-world making customers happier, creating and sharing brilliant content, and earning backlinks from A-class resources.
So be cool and don’t spam! 😉
Oh, and reach out to us if you are looking for SEO professional services here.