Building backlinks for an online store needs its own specific strategies, since you’re not an informational website/blog that naturally attracts links…

This makes the e-com link building task a bit more challenging – but you can view it like tending a delicate garden where each quality link represents a plant that strengthens your ecosystem.

Through the years, I’ve seen ecom stores struggle with backlink strategies that barely move the needle, while others rocket past competitors through smart off-page tactics.

The Backlink Battlefield As It Stands Today

The game’s changed. Google’s gotten smarter, shoppers more discerning. Building links isn’t about quantity anymore—never really was, if we’re being honest. Five years back, you could pump out mediocre guest posts and see results. Try that approach today? You’re wasting resources.

What works now? Think relationship-based link acquisition with a focus on relevance, authority, and genuine value exchange. Some might disagree, but I’ve found that 15 stellar, contextually-relevant backlinks typically outperform 100 generic directory submissions.

The stakes are higher too. With more stores fighting for digital shelf space, the quality bar keeps rising. I’ve watched countless store owners chase “easy wins” only to see zero movement in rankings. Meanwhile, their savvier competitors invest in fewer, better links and leave them in the dust.

Strategic Product Review Partnerships

Ever noticed how certain online stores seem to pop up everywhere in product roundups? That’s no accident.

Take this scenario: A mid-sized kitchenware store was struggling to compete with larger retailers. Instead of blasting generic emails to hundreds of bloggers, they picked out 50 cooking blogs that matched their product niche.

The approach? They shipped free samples of their best-selling silicone spatulas to carefully selected influencers—not asking for links, but for honest feedback. The results? About 40% featured the products naturally in their content, generating 20 high-quality backlinks over three months.

What could’ve improved this campaign? Segmenting outreach based on blogger cooking specialties would’ve increased relevance even further. Pairing products with seasonal recipe suggestions might have boosted inclusion rates closer to 60%.

Don’t overlook micro-influencers in this equation. Sometimes bloggers with smaller but hyper-engaged audiences drive more qualified traffic than major publications. A smart kitchen store owner I worked with found that backlinks from niche blogs specializing in specific cuisines converted at 3x the rate of links from general food sites with much larger audiences.

Guest Posting That Actually Works

“Guest posting is dead!” How many times have we heard that one? Truth is, it’s evolved, not expired.

Guest posts work when they’re genuine contributions to the conversation. Nobody wants your thinly-veiled product pitch disguised as an article.

A home decor e-commerce store I consulted with tried something different. Instead of pitching product-focused content, they created data-driven industry reports analyzing interior design trends based on their own customer purchase patterns. Publications ate it up—resulting in placements on design blogs that previously ignored their outreach.

The before/after metrics? Their domain authority jumped by 15 points over six months.

The missed opportunity? They could’ve created interactive versions of the data for better shareability and additional links.

Look at your business through a journalist’s eyes. What data do you have access to that nobody else sees? Purchase trends by region, seasonal buying patterns, demographic insights—these are goldmines for guest content that naturally earns links. Just don’t make the rookie mistake of overloading these pieces with self-promotion. Let the value of your insights do the selling.

Digital PR: Beyond the Press Release

PR isn’t just for crisis management or product launches. Smart e-commerce brands leverage newsworthy angles to earn backlinks from publications that would otherwise ignore them.

What’s newsworthy about selling products online? More than you’d think:

• Industry data and trend analysis
• Unique customer stories
• Environmental initiatives
• Manufacturing innovations
• Founder journeys

One beauty products retailer analyzed purchasing patterns during the pandemic and identified surprising shifts in consumer behavior. Their report on “Pandemic Beauty Trends” secured coverage in 30 lifestyle publications, each with a link back to their research page.

Want an insider tip? They could’ve tripled their link acquisition by breaking the report into vertical-specific mini-reports tailored to different publication types.

Something many stores miss: timing publicity around seasonal trends or news cycles. A client in the outdoor gear space launched a sustainability report just as a major climate conference hit the news. The timing wasn’t accidental—they’d planned the release to ride the wave of environmental coverage, resulting in backlinks from publications that were already primed to discuss the topic. Smart move.

Resource Link Building: Creating Link Magnets

Creating resources people actually want to link to—isn’t that what this is all about?

Consider a hypothetical outdoor equipment store. Rather than just selling tents and sleeping bags, they could create the ultimate interactive camping checklist tool, broken down by:

• Season
• Location type
• Experience level
• Trip duration
• Group size

Would outdoor blogs link to that? You bet they would.

There’s something satisfying about watching a well-crafted resource page accumulate links month after month without additional outreach. The initial investment might seem steep, but the ongoing returns make resource creation one of the most cost-effective link building strategies in e-commerce.

Just don’t fall into the “build it and they will come” trap. Even the best resources need initial promotion. A cycling equipment store created an incredible bike maintenance guide that sat virtually unloved until they implemented a targeted outreach campaign to cycling clubs and forums. After that push, the links started flowing organically. Six months later, that single page was driving 23% of their organic traffic.

Competitor Backlink Analysis: Mining for Gold

Why reinvent the wheel when your competitors have already done the hard work of finding link opportunities?

The process is straightforward but underutilized:

1. Identify your top 3-5 competitors
2. Analyze their backlink profiles
3. Look for patterns and opportunities
4. Create superior content or outreach strategies
5. Target the same linking domains

A fashion e-commerce site discovered that their main competitor had earned dozens of links from style guides and seasonal outfit roundups. Instead of creating similar content, they developed interactive “mix and match” lookbooks that visualized outfit combinations. When they approached the same publications, many were happy to feature the upgraded content format, resulting in a 70% conversion rate on their outreach.

Where they went wrong? Not categorizing competitor links by type before prioritizing their approach. They wasted time pursuing low-value opportunities before focusing on the winners.

I’m constantly surprised how few e-commerce owners actually know their backlink competitors. Your SEO competitors aren’t always your business competitors. Sometimes a complementary product category or even a content site occupies your desired search positions. Analyzing these unexpected competitors often reveals fascinating link patterns you’d never discover by examining only direct business rivals.

Broken Link Building for E-com Niches

This tactic feels a bit like digital archaeology—digging through the internet’s broken links to find opportunities.

Picture this: An electronics accessory store identified tech blogs with broken links pointing to product roundups and buying guides. After finding these dead ends, they created superior versions of the missing content, then reached out to webmasters: “Hey, noticed this link on your smartphone accessories page is broken. We’ve got a comprehensive guide that would be perfect as a replacement.”

One store implemented this approach and reclaimed approximately 25 high-quality links in a single quarter.

The technique that really amped up their results? Creating custom landing pages that perfectly matched the context of the broken link, rather than sending traffic to generic category pages.

This approach works especially well for product categories that experience rapid change. Consumer electronics, fashion trends, and software tools all have high turnover rates, meaning many roundup articles contain dead links to products that no longer exist. Stepping in with current alternatives makes the webmaster’s job easier while securing valuable links for your store.

Building Relationships, Not Just Links

Here’s where I might ruffle some feathers: cold outreach is increasingly ineffective. Establishing genuine relationships before asking for links yields dramatically better results.

Does this take longer? Absolutely. Is it worth it? Without question.

Smart e-commerce brands engage with their industry ecosystem long before making link requests:

• Commenting thoughtfully on industry blogs
• Sharing content without expectation
• Connecting on social platforms
• Attending industry events
• Offering genuine value first

A specialty food online retailer spent six months engaging with food bloggers before ever asking for links. When they finally launched their backlink campaign, their conversion rate was nearly 3x the industry average.

Think about it—would you rather get a link request from a stranger or someone you’ve had positive interactions with for months?

The relationship-first approach counters the increasing fatigue among site owners who receive dozens of generic outreach emails daily. When a blogger recognizes your name from previous interactions, you’ve already cleared the biggest hurdle to successful link building.