Ecommerce link building is the work of earning backlinks to an online store so its category and product pages rank for buying searches. The core problem is simple: people rarely link to a page whose main purpose is to sell them something. So the stores that win don't chase links to product pages directly. They earn links through their supply chain, through reviews and gift guides, and through genuinely useful content — then move that authority to their category pages with internal links.
If you only remember one thing, make it this: link to what people want to cite, and internally link to what you want to rank. A buying guide, a sizing chart or a small data study can collect dozens of editorial links. A collection page for "women's trail running shoes" will collect almost none on its own — but it can borrow strength from the pages that do.
This guide covers which store pages to target, the link sources that work specifically for retailers, how to handle gifted reviews without breaking Google's rules, how to get into gift guides, data assets a store can actually produce, and a 90-day plan you can start this week.
Why ecommerce link building is different
Definition
Ecommerce link building is the process of acquiring links from other websites to an online store's pages — homepage, category (collection) pages, product pages and supporting content — with the goal of improving organic rankings and referral sales for commercial searches.
Compared with a blog or a SaaS site, a store has four structural disadvantages:
- Commercial pages aren't citable. A writer explaining how to choose a coffee grinder will link to a guide or a study, not to a grid of grinders with prices.
- Pages churn. Products sell out, change URLs or get discontinued. A link to a product that 404s next season stops helping you.
- Duplicate content is common. Many stores sell the same products with the manufacturer's description, so there's little reason to link to one store over another.
- Many "links" are actually paid. Affiliate links, sponsored posts and influencer placements are common in retail, and Google expects them to be marked
rel="sponsored"orrel="nofollow". They can sell products, but they aren't ranking votes.
The upside: stores have assets content sites don't. You have suppliers, customers, product data, photography, packaging, physical events and expertise in a product category. Every section below turns one of those into links.
Category, product or content: which pages should get links?
Before building a single link, decide where links should land. Here's the decision table we recommend for most stores:
| Page type | What it should rank for | How linkable it is | Best link sources | Anchor guidance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Homepage | Brand name, broad store terms | High — people naturally link to brands | Press, suppliers, stockists, profiles, sponsorships | Brand name and naked URL |
| Category / collection | Core commercial terms ("trail running shoes") | Low on its own | Internal links from content; occasional editorial or partner links | Descriptive, partial match; keep exact match rare |
| Product page | Model names, long-tail product searches | Low, and the page may churn | Reviews, gift guides, manufacturer pages, roundups | Product name or brand + product |
| Buying guide / how-to | Informational searches ("how to choose…") | High | Bloggers, forums, resource pages, journalists | Page title or descriptive phrase |
| Tool, chart or data page | Reference searches ("size chart", "calculator") | Very high | Resource pages, educators, communities, press | Descriptive |
Rules of thumb for choosing targets
- Pick five to ten priority categories. Choose the collections with the most revenue potential and realistic ranking chances, and make them the internal-link destinations for everything else you build.
- Only build direct links to "evergreen" products. Hero products you'll sell for years are fair targets. Seasonal or fast-changing SKUs aren't.
- Make category pages worth linking to. A short buying guide, a comparison table or an FAQ on a collection page gives an editor a reason to cite it. Keep it helpful, not a wall of keyword text.
- Protect links you already have. When a product is discontinued, 301-redirect it to the closest replacement or its parent category instead of letting it 404. Our guide to link reclamation covers recovering links that already broke.
Where online stores actually get links
Generic link-building lists include tactics that rarely work for stores. These are the sources that consistently do, roughly ordered from easiest to hardest:
| Link source | How to get it | Difficulty | Link type to expect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brand stockist / where-to-buy pages | Ask every brand you carry to list your store | Easy | Usually followed |
| Distributors and suppliers | Ask for a mention on their retailer, partner or case study pages | Easy | Mixed |
| Retailers who stock your own brand | Supply logos, copy and a link with your wholesale onboarding | Easy–medium | Usually followed |
| Unlinked brand mentions | Find mentions of your store or products and ask for a link | Easy–medium | Followed once added |
| Industry associations and maker directories | Join relevant trade bodies and curated maker or brand directories | Medium | Mixed |
| Gift guides and seasonal roundups | Pitch editors early with images, prices and a reason to include you | Medium | Often affiliate or sponsored |
| Product reviews | Send products to relevant reviewers with no conditions on coverage | Medium | Should be sponsored or nofollow if gifted |
| Buying guides and how-tos | Publish the best guide in your category, then promote it | Medium–hard | Followed, editorial |
| Data studies and tools | Publish original data, a calculator or a reference chart | Hard | Followed, editorial, often press |
| Expert commentary | Answer journalist requests about your product category | Medium–hard | Mixed; often nofollow on big publishers |
| Broken link building | Find dead links to discontinued products or closed shops and offer your page | Medium | Followed |
| Local press and sponsorships | Sponsor local clubs or events; pitch local stories | Medium | Sponsorship links should be qualified if paid |
Most of these overlap with the broader tactics in our guide to how to get backlinks. The rest of this guide goes deep on the four that are unique to retail: supply chain links, reviews, gift guides and data assets.
Supplier, manufacturer and stockist links
Your supply chain is the most underused link source in ecommerce. These sites are relevant by definition, they already know you, and asking for a link is a normal business request rather than cold outreach.
If you resell other brands
Many manufacturers maintain a "where to buy", "stockists" or "retailers" page. Some list only big chains; many will add any authorized online retailer if you ask. Make a list of every brand you carry, check whether each has such a page, and email your account manager — not a generic support inbox.
Subject: Adding [Store name] to your stockist page
Hi [account manager's name],
We've been stocking [brand] since [month/year] and it's one of our
best-selling lines in [category] — [one concrete detail, e.g. the
[product] is our top seller in its range].
I noticed your "[where to buy / stockists]" page lists authorized
retailers. Could you add us? Details below so it's a quick edit:
Store name: [Store name]
URL: [https://yourstore.example/collections/brand-name]
Ships to: [countries]
Short line (optional): [e.g. "Full range in stock, free UK delivery"]
Happy to send a logo or anything else you need. And if you have new
product imagery or launch dates coming up, we'd love to feature them.
Thanks,
[your name]
[role], [Store name]Notice the link points to your brand-specific collection page, not your homepage. That's a highly relevant, followed link straight into a category — exactly what's hardest to earn any other way.
If you make your own products
- Make linking part of wholesale onboarding. Give every retailer a brand kit: logo, approved description and a suggested link to your brand or "about the maker" page. Many will use it without being asked twice.
- Ask your suppliers. Packaging suppliers, fabric mills, roasters and component makers sometimes showcase customers. A short case study ("how [your brand] uses our recycled mailers") is a natural link.
- Use certifications and memberships. If you hold a certification or belong to a trade association, check whether its member directory links to members' sites.
Keep it a business relationship, not a link swap
Product reviews and gifting (and why rel=sponsored matters)
Sending products to reviewers, bloggers and creators is one of the oldest retail marketing tactics. It still works — for exposure. It is not a legitimate way to buy followed links.
Google's guidance is that links given in exchange for something of value — including free products — should be marked rel="sponsored" (or rel="nofollow"). Separately, advertising rules in many countries, such as the FTC's endorsement guidance in the US, require reviewers to disclose that they received the product. A gifted review with a followed, keyword-rich link and no disclosure is a problem on two fronts.
How to run a review program properly
- 1
Choose reviewers by audience fit, not authority score
A modest blog whose readers buy exactly what you sell is worth more than a high-authority general site. Check that the reviewer has a real audience that engages. - 2
Send with no conditions on the link
Offer the product for an honest review. Don't require a followed link, a specific anchor or a positive verdict. If they link, they should qualify it. - 3
Make the review easy and accurate
Include specs, high-resolution images, a spec sheet or FAQ page they can reference, and a contact for questions. - 4
Measure traffic and sales, not link equity
Track referral visits and use a unique discount code per reviewer. That tells you which reviewers are worth working with again. - 5
Turn reviewers into long-term relationships
Reviewers who like your products often mention you later in unpaid buying guides, comparisons and forum answers. Those later links are editorial.
If you're unsure how the rel attributes differ, see dofollow vs nofollow links. And if you host sponsored content on your own store blog, the same rule applies to the links you give out — our link HTML generator builds correctly qualified tags.
Getting into gift guides and seasonal roundups
Gift guides ("gifts for coffee lovers", "best gifts under $50") are some of the most-linked commercial content on the web, and they link to products by design. Two realities to plan around:
- Timing. Print publications typically plan holiday guides months ahead, and online editors often start weeks before the season. If you pitch in December, you're usually too late.
- Monetization. Many large publishers' gift guides are built on affiliate links. You may need an affiliate program to be included, and those links will be sponsored. Smaller blogs and niche newsletters are more likely to include you editorially.
What a good gift-guide pitch includes
Gift-guide pitch checklist
0/6Build a calendar of the occasions that matter in your niche (holidays, Mother's and Father's Day, back to school, graduation, wedding season) and put pitch dates in it. You can also publish your own gift guides — a well-made guide on your blog can rank and earn links from people looking for ideas, and it gives you a natural place to link to your categories.
Data assets and linkable content for stores
The most reliable way for a store to earn editorial links at scale is to publish something people cite. Stores sit on information other sites don't have. A few formats that fit retail particularly well:
| Asset | Example (fictional coffee store) | Who links to it |
|---|---|---|
| Aggregated sales trend | Which brewing methods grew fastest in your orders this year | Industry blogs, trade press, journalists |
| Customer survey | How 500 home baristas actually store their beans | Bloggers, forums, writers looking for a stat |
| Reference chart | Grind size chart by brewing method, printable | Hobby blogs, educators, resource pages |
| Calculator | Coffee-to-water ratio calculator | Recipe sites, forums, how-to guides |
| Comparison data | Caffeine content compared across 30 bean types you tested | Health and food writers |
| Care and repair guides | How to descale any espresso machine, by brand | Forums, Q&A answers, manufacturers |
Two rules keep data assets credible: aggregate and anonymize anything drawn from customer orders, and explain exactly how you gathered the data. Writers cite numbers they can defend. For more formats and a process for building them, see our guide to linkable assets; for promoting them to journalists, see digital PR.
Passing link value to category pages
This is where ecommerce link building pays off. Links to your guides and data pages raise the authority of those pages; internal links pass a share of it to the categories you actually want to rank.
- Link from content to categories in context. In a guide to choosing an espresso grinder, link "our range of burr grinders" to the burr grinder collection, where it genuinely helps the reader.
- Use descriptive internal anchors. Internal links are where descriptive, keyword-relevant anchors are expected and safe to use.
- Keep category pages close to the homepage. Your homepage usually has the most links; priority categories should be linked from the main navigation or the homepage body.
- Don't bury categories in filters. Faceted URLs (color, size, price filters) can create thousands of near-duplicate pages. Make sure links point to the clean category URL.
Our internal linking guide covers site structure and anchors in more depth.
A 90-day ecommerce link building plan
Here's a realistic plan for a small or mid-sized store with a few hours a week to spend on links:
- 1
Weeks 1–2: Fix and claim
Redirect discontinued product URLs, pick five to ten priority categories, and claim brand, business and industry profiles. Run your top pages through an indexability check. - 2
Weeks 3–4: Mine your supply chain
Email every brand, supplier and partner you work with for stockist or partner listings. This alone often produces your first batch of relevant links. - 3
Weeks 5–8: Build one linkable asset
Publish one strong buying guide, chart or data piece tied to a priority category, with internal links into that category. - 4
Weeks 9–10: Promote the asset
Pitch it to relevant bloggers, resource pages and communities. Use the seasonal calendar to line up gift-guide pitches. - 5
Weeks 11–12: Reclaim and review
Turn unlinked brand mentions into links, check which links went live and which pages moved, and choose next quarter's asset.
Want to know what this mix might cost compared with buying guest posts or hiring an agency? Our link building cost calculator compares the options side by side.
Ecommerce link building mistakes
Do
- Point most external links at content, the homepage and a few priority categories
- 301-redirect discontinued products so their links keep working
- Mark gifted, affiliate and sponsored links correctly — on your site and theirs
- Ask brands and suppliers for stockist and partner links first
- Use branded and descriptive anchors for external links
Don't
- Build links to seasonal SKUs that will 404 next year
- Require a followed link in exchange for free products
- Buy "high DA" link packages pointed at category pages with exact-match anchors
- Copy manufacturer descriptions and expect anyone to link to your version
- Let filtered and duplicate category URLs soak up links instead of the clean URL
The most expensive mistake is the shortcut: a batch of paid links with commercial anchors aimed straight at your money pages. That's the pattern Google's link spam policies describe, and even when it escapes a manual action, the links tend to be ignored. See what really happens when you buy backlinks before you consider it.