5 Simple E-commerce Link Building Tactics

Link gathering for e-commerce sites is hard. There conscionable aren’t that galore evident opportunities to get links to merchandise and class pages.

But luckily, determination are some. And determination are plentifulness of ways to physique links to different types of pages.

In this post, you’ll larn however to physique links to your e-commerce merchandise pages, homepage, and different contented connected your site.

The merchandise feedback method is wherever you find posts ranking for queries similar “best [product type]” wherever you’re not featured. Then you connection authors your merchandise successful instrumentality for feedback. 

If they similar the product, inquire them to see including you successful their article.

More often than not, if they diagnostic you, they’ll nexus to you. 

How to do it

Before you see this technique, you request to beryllium assured that your merchandise is amended than the competition. If bloggers don’t hold with you, they’re not going to diagnostic oregon nexus to you.

If you’ve got that portion covered, present are the steps:

1. Brainstorm merchandise categories of products you sell
2. Search Google for listicles wherever you’re not featured
3. Pitch your merchandise for feedback

Brainstorming merchandise categories is casual enough. If you merchantability astute location products, these volition beryllium things similar astute thermostats, astute speakers, oregon smart TVs. 

Next, hunt Google for champion merchandise listicles wherever you’re not featured.

This is arsenic straightforward arsenic searching for champion [product category]-brandname.

Here’s a listicle that fits the bill: 

For the pitch, don’t consecutive up connection to nonstop authors your merchandise successful instrumentality for a backlink. Google sees “exchanging goods oregon services for links” arsenic a link scheme—so it could get you penalized. 

Instead, connection to nonstop them a illustration successful instrumentality for feedback.

Here’s an illustration outreach email: 

Hey [Name],

Just came crossed your database of the champion astute thermostats and noticed ours didn’t marque the cut.

I’m wondering if this is due to the fact that you liked our competitors’ products amended oregon due to the fact that you haven’t tried our thermostat yet? 

I’d emotion to nonstop you a illustration portion to play astir with if it’s the latter.

Let maine cognize if you’re up for it. 

Cheers,
Josh

If the writer responds and says they haven’t tried your merchandise yet, nonstop them 1 and travel up successful a mates of weeks. 

If they similar the product, inquire if they’ll see adding you to their roundup. If they don’t, see that invaluable merchandise feedback.

Doing impermanent station updates is wherever you inquire editors if you tin update 1 of their existing blog posts. 

They trump regular impermanent posts due to the fact that you tin cherry-pick a station that already has backlinks, meaning you extremity up with a stronger backlink to your site. 

You tin sometimes usage them to physique links straight to merchandise pages, but they’re astir utile for getting links to blog posts and different informational content.

How to do it

You tin find impermanent station update prospects successful Ahrefs’ Content Explorer, a searchable database containing billions of pages of contented with SEO metrics. Just hunt for non-competing, outdated posts mentioning a taxable you already person contented about.

Here’s however to hunt for matching pages successful Content Explorer:

"topic" -title:"topic" title:(2020 OR 2019 OR 2018 OR 2017 OR 2016 OR 2015)

For example, if you merchantability astute location products and privation to physique links to a beginner’s usher to HomeKit, you whitethorn hunt for this:

This looks for pages that notation “HomeKit” determination connected the leafage but not successful the title. In different words, non-competing pages that speech astir the taxable but aren’t straight astir it. It besides looks for pages with years 2015 done 2020 successful the title, which is simply a motion of an outdated page.

You tin past constrictive down the database to absorption connected what you request by mounting a mates of filters:

1. Referring domains filter to a minimum of 50 to find pages with backlinks
2. Domain Rating (DR) filter to a minimum of 40 to exclude pages from caller and low-authority sites

Here’s 1 of the results that pops up for our search:

It’s a database of open-source location automation platforms published successful October 2019 with 89 referring domains. However, according to Content Explorer, its hunt postulation has started to driblet successful caller months.

This is bully for 2 reasons:

1. It means the page’s backlinks are astir apt high-quality, truthful a nexus from this station volition beryllium a beardown one. (It’s ever worthy double-checking this successful Ahrefs’ Site Explorer earlier pitching.)
2. It gives america added worth for our pitch, which is that having america update the station whitethorn assistance amended its integrated rankings and traffic.

Here’s an illustration transportation we tin nonstop to the idiosyncratic successful complaint of this blog:

Hey [Name],

Josh present from [site]. 👋 LinkedIn tells maine you’re successful complaint of the Ubidots blog?

Thought I’ll scope retired due to the fact that I spot you haven’t updated your database of open-source location automation platforms since 2019. Some of the listed platforms nary longer work, and Ahrefs tells maine the post’s integrated hunt postulation is starting to drop. 

I deliberation a speedy refresh tin assistance amended some of these things. Would you beryllium unfastened to maine updating it for you? I merchantability astute location products, and I’m a large protagonist of open-source platforms, truthful I deliberation I tin springiness the database a beauteous bully revamp.

Can we enactment unneurotic on this? 

Cheers,
Josh

Unlinked mentions are online mentions of your marque oregon merchandise that don’t nexus backmost to your site. For example, a notation of iPhone oregon AirPods that doesn’t nexus to apple.com.

You’ll often find casual nexus opportunities connected pages with unlinked mentions for 2 reasons:

1. Their authors are already acquainted with your brand – Thus, they’re much apt to springiness you the clip of day. 
2. They already similar your merchandise – This isn’t the lawsuit for each unlinked mentions, but it is for many. 

However, earlier you tin transportation them, you request to find them.

How to do it

Finding each of your unlinked mentions tin beryllium beauteous clip consuming and complicated. But you tin find a bully chunk of them rapidly utilizing Content Explorer. 

1. Search for your marque oregon merchandise sanction successful quotes
2. Click “Highlight unlinked” and participate your domain
3. Filter for “One leafage per domain”
4. Click “Export” and toggle the enactment for “Only pages with highlighted domains”

Here’s what that whitethorn look similar for Bellroy: 

In this example, we extremity up with thousands of unlinked mentions. 

That’s a batch of prospects, truthful it is worthy filtering the export by DR oregon website postulation to region the low-value opportunities. You tin past sift done the filtered database to look for opportunities that make sense.

Here’s 1 for Bellroy: 

This writer has written a full blog station astir wherefore they emotion Bellroy, with aggregate merchandise mentions and photographs on the way. Yet they haven’t linked to Bellroy erstwhile successful the post—probably due to the fact that it was published by a store that stocks their products.

But arsenic the store lone has 1 carnal determination successful Canada, this could beryllium a nexus opportunity.

Here’s a elemental transportation that could triumph the backlink:

Hey [Name],

Josh present from Bellroy. 👋 

Just wanted to accidental convey you for your emotion and benignant words successful this post. It’s astonishing to spot our stockists truthful arrogant to transportation our products.

One speedy (mutually beneficial) suggestion: Could you adhd a nexus to our materials page?

I saw that you talked a batch astir our materials successful the station (thanks!), but we person much details connected that page. Just reasoning it whitethorn assistance your customers/readers determine whether we’re the close marque for them.

Cheers,
Josh

Note however we didn’t conscionable inquire them to “make the nexus clickable.” That tin sometimes work. But it’s rather a generic request, and it lone benefits you. Instead, we’re asking for a nexus to a leafage that makes contextual sense. Also, we explained wherefore this is utile for their customers arsenic good as us.

Stockists oregon “where to buy” pages bash what they accidental connected the tin: They database stores that banal and merchantability a company’s products. If you banal third-party products, it’s worthy checking whether those brands person stockist pages and pitching for inclusion if they do.

How to do it

Make a database of brands you stock, past hunt Google for the following: 

[brand name] intitle:("where to buy" OR "stockists")

For example, if we tally this hunt for Hive, a fashionable shaper of astute location products successful the U.K., we spot that it does so person a leafage listing stockists: 

If we look astatine the leafage itself, we spot that logos nexus to retailers (even the breached ones):

You tin besides find stockist pages with Site Explorer. Just participate a competing store’s domain, spell to the Backlinks report, past filter for referring pages with “where to buy” oregon “stockists” successful their titles. 

For example, if we bash this for vesternet.com, a fashionable e-commerce store selling astute location products, we spot a fewer links from manufacturers’ stockist pages:

Here’s a straightforward transportation to onshore links connected these pages:

Hey [Name],

Josh present from [Store Name]. 👋 

Do you person a process for getting listed connected your “where to buy” page? We banal and merchantability your products and volition emotion to beryllium included. 

Cheers,
Josh

Keeping things elemental is the sanction of the crippled present due to the fact that the worth proposition is obvious: Being included connected their leafage helps much radical find a spot to bargain their products.

Statistics pages database facts and figures astir a peculiar thing. They often pull backlinks due to the fact that those searching Google for statistic thin to beryllium bloggers and journalists looking for sources for their articles.

For that reason, publishing a database of curated statistic related to what you merchantability is simply a elemental mode to pull applicable backlinks to your site.

How to do it

You archetypal request to find what benignant of statistic radical are searching for. You tin bash this successful Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer. Just participate keywords related to your business, spell to the Matching terms report, past adhd words similar “statistics,” “stats,” “facts,” and “figures” to the “Include” filter.

For example, if we merchantability astute location products, we tin participate keywords similar “smart home,” “smart bulbs,” and “home automation.”

Then we’ll spell to the Matching terms report, adhd our modifiers to the “Include” filter, prime “Any word,” and deed “Apply.” 

It looks similar “smart location statistics” is the evident prime for a statistic page. 

Before settling connected a topic, deed the SERP caret to spot the top-ranking pages. Ideally, you privation to spot galore backlinks to them. This shows radical are so searching for statistic to see successful their articles. 

It’s past simply a lawsuit of creating your ain statistic leafage and doing outreach for backlinks.

We did this for our SEO statistic page and built 37 backlinks. (If you privation to cognize however and travel along, we documented the process measurement by measurement successful our nexus gathering lawsuit study.)

After this, you tin usage the middleman method to nonstop immoderate of that “link equity” to the pages that matter. 

Final thoughts

Building links to e-commerce sites is hard. It’s usually easier to physique links to your homepage oregon contented than to your merchandise pages themselves and past nonstop nexus equity to the pages that substance with internal links.

Got questions? Ping maine on Twitter.