Ecommerce Link Building: How Online Stores Earn Links
Ecommerce link building explained: how online stores earn backlinks when product pages won't, and how to pass that authority to category pages.
Ecommerce link building is the work of earning links for an online store, and then getting the authority from those links to the category and product pages that make money. The second half is where most of the skill lies.
The core problem is simple. Nobody links to a category page called "Women's Running Shoes" because it's a list of products. Journalists and bloggers link to stories, data, guides and genuinely interesting products. So a store has to earn links with one type of page and rank with another.
Ecommerce is also the industry where the line between marketing and link schemes gets crossed most casually, through gifted products and affiliate deals. Getting that line right matters as much as getting the links.
Why ecommerce link building is different
| Factor | What it means for an online store |
|---|---|
| Money pages | Category pages, and to a lesser extent product pages |
| Linkability of money pages | Low, because they're lists of products |
| Site size | Hundreds or thousands of URLs competing for limited authority |
| Product churn | Products sell out and get deleted, taking their links with them |
| Natural link assets | Brand story, product launches, data, gift guides, buying guides |
| Common trap | Exact-match anchors pointed straight at category pages |
How authority reaches category pages
The approach that works for most stores: build links to the homepage and to linkable content, then use deliberate internal linking to push that authority to priority categories.
In practice that means linking from gift guides and buying guides to categories with descriptive anchors, featuring priority categories in the main navigation, and avoiding burying important categories four clicks deep. The guide to link juice explains how that flow works.
The best link sources for online stores
- Digital PR built on products or data. Price trackers, trend reports, surveys and seasonal stories. Digital PR is the most scalable source of strong links for retail.
- Gift guides and roundups. Editors compile them every year for Christmas, Mother's Day, Father's Day and Black Friday. Pitch early, usually months ahead.
- Manufacturer and brand stockist pages. If you sell other brands, ask to be listed as a stockist. If you are the brand, your retailers' pages may link back.
- Unlinked mentions. Stores get mentioned in articles all the time without a link. Link reclamation turns those into links with a polite email.
- Buying guides and useful content. Size guides, care guides and comparison content earn links from forums and blogs because they answer real questions.
- Collaborations and causes. Charity partnerships, limited editions with creators and local community work.
Gifted products, affiliates and the link spam line
This is where ecommerce trips up most often. Google's spam policies list exchanging goods or services for links as link spam, alongside paying for them. That covers a familiar arrangement: send a blogger a free product, get a review with a followed link.
| Arrangement | Is it allowed? | How to do it properly |
|---|---|---|
| Gifted product for a review | Yes, as marketing | The link should be rel="sponsored" or nofollow, and the post should disclose the gift |
| Affiliate programme links | Yes | Affiliate links should carry rel="sponsored" or nofollow |
| Paid inclusion in a gift guide | Yes, as advertising | Label it as paid and qualify the link |
| Unpaid editorial inclusion | Yes | Nothing extra needed, it's an earned link |
Disclosure is also a consumer protection issue, not just an SEO one. In the US, the FTC's Endorsement Guides require material connections such as free products or payment to be disclosed clearly. Qualified links still have value: they drive sales, and the guide to dofollow vs nofollow explains why they belong in a natural profile.
Don't lose links when products die
Stores delete products constantly, and every deleted product URL with backlinks pointing at it is lost authority.
- When a product is discontinued for good, 301 redirect it to the closest replacement or its parent category.
- For temporarily out-of-stock products, keep the page live and show alternatives.
- Run a regular check for broken pages that have backlinks (Ahrefs and Semrush both report these) and redirect them. It's the cheapest link building a store can do.
Ecommerce link building tactics compared
| Tactic | Typical target | Link quality | Effort |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data-led digital PR | Homepage, campaign page | High | High |
| Gift guide outreach | Product or category | Medium to high | Medium, seasonal |
| Stockist and brand pages | Homepage | Medium | Low |
| Link reclamation | Homepage | Medium to high | Low |
| Guest posting on niche blogs | Buying guides, categories | Varies | Medium |
| Redirecting dead product URLs | Recovers existing links | High (already earned) | Low |
The short version
- Category pages are the money pages, but they rarely earn links on their own
- Earn links to the homepage, guides, data and gift content, then pass authority on with internal links
- Gifted products and affiliate links should be qualified with sponsored or nofollow and disclosed
- Redirect discontinued product URLs so their links aren't lost
- Plan gift guide and seasonal outreach months ahead
For other sectors, the industries hub lists every guide, including SaaS, which faces a similar "money pages don't attract links" problem.