11 Proven Strategies to Master Link Building for eCommerce Product Pages
Your eCommerce business can’t just sit on its laurels. The competition is fierce, so positioning your product pages effectively requires more than just a well-designed website and a compelling product. Nevertheless, 55% of pages have zero referring domains pointing to them.
In this guide, we’ll provide unique strategies for eCommerce pages and arm you with 11 reliable link-building tactics. This is your ticket to enhancing online visibility, driving quality traffic, and skyrocketing sales. Ready to get started?
What is Link Building for eCommerce?
Links play a crucial role in improving a website’s visibility and search rankings. A backlink is a link created when one website links to another. Link building refers to the process of acquiring backlinks from other websites to your own website.
Not all links are created equally.
- A good link is typically an editorial backlink, which is a link embedded within relevant, high-quality content.
- Furthermore, a good link in link building for eCommerce is one that’s relevant and contextual to your website’s niche or industry.
- A bonus is if this link comes from a website with high domain authority, indicating a strong backlink profile, excellent content quality, and a high potential ranking.
While good links can greatly boost your SEO, it’s vital to steer clear of building backlinks that violate Google’s link spam policies. These policies list certain behaviors and tactics that are deemed unacceptable. Violating these policies may result in your website ranking lower on Google Search, or worse, its removal. So as not to face any penalties and ensure visible search engine results, your links need to be high-quality, relevant, and from reliable sources.
What are the Specifics of Link Building for eCommerce?
Traditional websites and eCommerce platforms are different when it comes to link building for eCommerce. This is because eCommerce sites have unique goals related to sales and marketing.
To boost your site’s credibility, use ecommerce link-building strategies specifically designed for eCommerce. Each strategy aims to build a strong backlink profile that enhances your site’s search engine performance and overall brand reputation. So, let’s delve into some specific tactics that are especially useful for ecommerce link-building.
Link-Building Strategies for eCommerce Product Pages
#1. Guest blogging
Generating high-quality backlinks can be effectively done through guest blogging. You can accomplish this by creating and contributing blog posts to other websites and incorporating a backlink to your own site within each article. Start by manually searching for appropriate sites or following leading guest post authors. Look into your competitors’ backlinks and connect with their hosting websites. To snag competitor links effortlessly, don’t forget to use the Backlink Checker by SE Ranking for a detailed analysis. After analyzing main metrics, like domain and page trust, toxicity, traffic, etc., you’ll be able to create an extended list of websites to reach out to.
#2. Create an FAQ Section
People are consistently on the hunt for immediate guidance and suggestions. Making a phone call, personally visiting a store, or waiting a lengthy period for information is unacceptable for most people. They crave information that’s readily accessible, and they prefer it being delivered in their favorite FAQ format.
Indeed, a meticulously designed FAQ section on eCommerce product pages has the potential to allure links. The FAQ section acts as a trustworthy source for bloggers who are in pursuit of valuable data. Thanks to its exhaustive content and driven-by-user aspect, it becomes a piece for sharing, thereby fostering enhanced visibility and possible backlinks.
#3. Specific Product Reviews
If you’re looking to attract high-quality links to your product pages, leveraging the power of customer reviews can be an effective eCommerce link-building strategy. Here’s a three-step approach to make it work.
Encourage Customer Reviews
This can be accomplished through sending follow-up emails post-purchase or by offering customers incentives to leave a review. The goal is to make the review submission process as seamless as possible, thereby increasing the likelihood of your customers leaving a review.
Use Social Media to Boost Visibility
Motivate your followers to visit your product pages and share their experiences. This link-building for eCommerce tactic not only aids in creating more user-generated content but can also attract links from various social media platforms.
Engage with Review Websites
Find trustworthy review websites within your industry and engage with them. You can offer free samples of your products for them to review. If they find value in your product, they may share their insights and include a link to your eCommerce product page.
Remember, reviews build trust amongst your customers and provide fresh, unique content that search engines like Google love. Just make sure to mark up your reviews with the review schema for SEO benefits.
#4. Influencer Outreach
Influencer outreach is a common tactic for link building for eCommerce. Begin by pinpointing the influencers and bloggers that are directly related to your product niche. Propose an arrangement where you provide them with a free sample of your product, and hopefully, you’ll get a candid review in return. If your product impresses them and meets their standards, they’re likely to compose a thorough review and create a link that redirects to your product.
#5. Roundups
If your eCommerce store deals with beauty items, scout for roundups that feature relevant themes like “top beauty products” or “best skincare tools.” Services like search engines or BuzzSumo can come in handy for this.
Design high-grade content akin to your product that can be worth including in roundups. Experiment with blog posts, guides, tips, or even case studies. Next, touch base with the authors or curators of your identified roundups. Introduce your brand, pitch your content, and summarize why it could increase the value of their roundup.
#6. Creative Campaign for PR
Utilizing product PR in a creative manner can lead to an abundance of backlinks, traffic, and boosted sales. A prime example is the ingenious campaign by Rise at Seven PR that catapulted the fashion brand, Missguided, to Google’s #1 spot with its dog jumpers campaign:
Within an hour of the campaign launch, the post gathered 30k engagements. This led to an optimized product page and a brand-new product line development.
The Missguided team bolstered the campaign with linked blog content to drive even more traffic to the category page. Now they’ve got 60 new backlinks, thousands of social media links, massive product sales, and a substantial increase in revenue.
Look for your creative PR campaign spark from analyzing successful campaigns. Just remember, your concept should be fresh and newsworthy.
#7. Collaborate with Affiliates
Setting up an affiliate marketing program is an effective way to promote your products on external websites and generate backlinks to your product pages. Start this process by defining your aims, such as increasing sales, boosting site traffic, or enhancing brand visibility. Choose an affiliate management platform like Refersion, Tapfiliate, ShareASale, or Post Affiliate Pro, as recommended by Influencer Marketing Hub. Set a competitive commission rate and clear terms to entice affiliates. Supply them with promotional materials like banners, text links, and product images, and ensure they reflect your brand’s image.
#8. Leverage Online Directories and Business Listings
Using business directories and local citations can help your eCommerce site gain visibility. Aim for quality when choosing directories, focusing on those that match your industry and target audience.
Start your link-building strategy by identifying high-traffic, reputable directories. Create listings for your business in these spaces, providing detailed descriptions of your products and services. Make sure to include relevant keywords to boost search visibility and direct links to your product pages for potential direct purchases. This strategy helps improve your business exposure and provides valuable backlinks.
#9. Engage in Crowd Marketing
For effective crowd marketing on eCommerce product pages, join relevant forums and engage in industry blogs. Collaborate with influencers and create shareable content like blog posts and infographics. Encourage online reviews, partner with industry directories, and concentrate on building authentic relationships. Remember, the aim is to provide value while avoiding spammy behavior. This will ultimately increase product page traffic.
#10. Outsource Link-building
Finding relevant resources open to integrating backlinks within specific niches can be challenging. Furthermore, some companies may have already established relationships with various websites, including those that may have previously declined collaboration with your enterprise.
Outsourcing your link-building activities to a reputable SEO agency can significantly make this job easier. These companies specialize in link acquisition and have spent years establishing relationships with high-quality sources. By leveraging their expertise and resources, you’re not only saving time but also ensuring that your links are built the right way.
#11. Resource Pages
Another excellent link-building strategy for eCommerce product pages entails getting listed on resource pages. These are web pages created to provide value to website visitors by linking out to high-quality resources on a particular topic. For instance, a food blogger may have a resource page for “The Best Kitchen Gadgets” and include links to various eCommerce product pages.
Another popular resource page example falls under the umbrella of food niches. Take ‘Serious Eats’, a website offering countless recipes, guides, and cooking techniques. They also provide equipment reviews where they feature kitchen-related products and link back to the sellers’ websites; a great avenue for eCommerce sites selling kitchenware to get a backlink.
Additionally, in the realm of tech and gadgets, ‘CNET’ offers a resource page dedicated to reviews of the latest tech products. A strong, potential backlink can be earned here by getting your tech product reviewed and linked on their website.
Last but not least, websites like ‘Buzzfeed Shopping’ excel in compiling lists of products (based on a specific theme or event) accompanied by referral URLs to eCommerce product pages. These types of resource pages are growing in popularity and have proven to be promising platforms for creating high-quality backlinks to your product.
Summary
Effective link-building for eCommerce product pages can be achieved through various strategies.
- Guest blogging and creating informative FAQ sections can boost site visibility and foster credibility while soliciting specific product reviews and reaching out to online influencers can enhance social proof.
- Round-ups and creative PR campaigns offer opportunities for greater online community engagement, while collaborations with affiliates, enhancing your presence on business directories, crowd marketing, and outsourcing link-building can significantly expand your reach.
- Additionally, designing resource pages that serve as reliable sources of information can attract quality backlinks.
These strategies, when used judiciously, can amplify your online reputation and traffic and result in a robust eCommerce presence.