What is Link Building?
Link building is the process of obtaining links (or sometimes referred to as backlinks) to your website from other high-quality websites.
Links are important because they help your website rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs) by signaling to the search engines that your website is trustworthy.
The idea is that other people would not link to your website if it did not provide valuable content. The more backlinks you have, the more authoritative your website appears to the search engines.
There are many different link building strategies you can use to achieve SEO success. Some popular methods include creating valuable content, guest posting, and participating in online forums and communities.
The SEO landscape has shifted over the years, with many new methods and strategies being introduced to help online marketers achieve better link placement.
In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the most effective link building tips for e-commerce businesses.
6 Link Building Strategies for E-commerce Websites
1. Creating useful and valuable content
One effective link building strategy is to create content that is useful to other site owners so that they make reference to it in their content.
This can be done by writing articles that discuss relevant topics or by creating helpful guides or tutorials that others may find useful. You can also publish an original study by surveying people on social media, and then publishing the results on your website. Surveys often get more backlinks than regular articles.
2. Contextual internal link building
Internal link building is the process of developing links within your own e-commerce website or blog. It’s a way to improve the authority of your e-commerce site and make it easier for users to find your products.
When building links, it’s important to consider both the target page and the link’s relevance to the page/product.
3. Participating in online forums and communities
Another great way to build links is to participate in online forums and communities that are relevant to your niche. This will give you the chance to interact with other site owners and learn about the latest trends in your industry.
You can also offer your insights on the topics that are being discussed in the forums, and then add a link to a post on your website where you addressed the topic in greater detail.
4. Guest blogging
Guest blogging involves submitting a guest article to another website, which will then promote it to its audience and provide a link back to your site. It’s one of the most effective ways of building backlinks to an e-commerce website.
Here’s some advice on guest blogging:
First, be sure to submit your articles only on quality websites. Stay away from low domain authority or spammy blogs as they will only do more harm than good.
The value of the link juice you get from a backlink is equal to the quality of the website you’re obtaining it from. High-quality sites will give off high-quality backlinks which will then enhance your authority. The vice versa is also true.
Second, make sure you provide valuable information to the readers. If the blog you are guest blogging for is focused on fashion, for example, don’t write about finance tips.
Finally, be sure to include a link back to your e-commerce website in the article’s body as well as your author byline (so that readers can learn more about it).
5. Sponsored posts
This is probably the easiest way to build backlinks to an e-commerce website, although it comes at a cost. If your budget allows, you can buy sponsored posts from various niche blogs and then add a link back to your website. The advantage of this strategy is that you’re almost guaranteed a link placement since you’re paying for it.
6. Conducting contests and giveaways
Contests are a great way to boost engagement and interest in your site. By hosting contests, you can attract attention from potential customers who may not have otherwise engaged with your content or site.
Participants are likely to share your content to their network which can create a boost for your backlink profile. For instance, you can create a contest whereby the first 100 people to order something from your e-commerce store get a gift voucher. This will naturally increase your website visits and shares during the duration of the giveaway.
What Makes These Tips Effective for E-commerce Sites?
There are a few reasons why these link building strategies work so well for e-commerce sites. First, off-page SEO is one of the most influential signals in ranking websites. The number of incoming links from different domains can influence rankings significantly–both for Google and for Bing.
Links are just one part of the ranking algorithm, but they’re still an important part. A SEMrush study revealed that websites ranked first in Google use more backlinks from unique domains than those that rank lower. So, having links is crucial if you want to rank higher in search engines.
But it’s not enough to just focus on getting links; you also have to optimize your homepage and product pages for SEO. The website structure, category page SEO, and content are all still important factors that contribute to your overall ranking. You can’t neglect any aspect of your site if you want to see better results on search engine results pages.
How Can I Measure the Results of My Linking Building Strategies?
One of the main benefits of link building is that it’s a long-term strategy. Unlike other short-term methods, such as PPC, backlinking takes time to produce results. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t measure the effectiveness of your campaign. In fact, there are a few different ways you can track your progress:
- Monitor your website’s position in search engine results pages (SERPs). If you’re seeing an increase in traffic from organic search, then it’s likely that your backlinks are helping improve your ranking.
- Use web analytics tools like Google Analytics to measure how much traffic is coming from referring websites. This will help you identify which sites are sending the most visitors to your site.
- Analyze the anchor text used on referring websites. If you see that a lot of them are using keywords that you’re targeting, then it’s likely that they’re helping with your SEO efforts.
Final Thoughts on Link Building for Ecommerce Businesses
It’s important to remember that not all link building strategies are effective for all e-commerce businesses. Some strategies may work better for sites that sell high-value products or services, while others may produce better results for sites that specialize in a certain market sector or region.
So, your best bet is to test out the various strategies and find out which ones work for your e-commerce business.
