How to acquire valuable links for an online store?

Wondering how to increase the visibility of your online store effectively? Link building may be the key. In this article, we examine why you should invest in building a strong link profile and how to avoid common pitfalls. I strongly encourage you to read on, which will help you acquire valuable links and turn them into real benefits for your online business.

Is it worth doing link-building?

Effective link-building is one of the key aspects of optimizing a website for search engines. The process of building links to a site not only increases its visibility in search results but also positively influences its authority and trust among users. Therefore, it is worth investing in effective link-building strategies to improve a site’s position and increase its traffic, which ultimately translates into better business results.

How to start the link-building process well?

Before you start buying links or adding lots of them from blogs and forum comments, do STOP! Here are some tips to help you prepare for the process in the best possible way and, most importantly, – achieve the best results.

Do an audit of your link profile

For effective acquisition of strong links, be sure to go through these steps:

Gather a complete link profile

Use tools such as Ahrefs, SEMrush, Majestic, or Google Search Console to gather a complete list of backlinks to your site. These tools will allow you to see where links are coming from and what pages are linking back to your site.

Assess link quality

When evaluating links, pay attention to:

• Domain and site authority: links from highly rated sites have more value.
• Relevancy: links from sites with similar themes are more valuable.
• Link placement: links in the body of the page are better rated than those placed in the footer or sidebars.
• Anchor text: the variety and relevance of anchor texts can affect link ratings.
• Nofollow vs. Dofollow: links “nofollow” do not convey SEO value but can generate traffic to the site.

Identify and remove harmful links

Search for links that may be harming your site, such as:

• Links from domains with low reputation.
• Spam links from off-topic sites.
• Paid links that violate Google guidelines.
• Links from low-quality affiliate networks.

You can ask site owners to remove such links or use Google’s link rejection tool (Google Disavow Tool) to let Google know that you do not want these links considered when evaluating your site.

anchor text analysis

Examine the variety and naturalness of anchor texts in your link profile. Too much SEO-optimized anchor text can look suspicious and result in Google penalization.

Monitor your link profile regularly

Regular monitoring of your link profile is key to identifying and responding to potentially harmful links on an ongoing basis and building a linking strategy that supports your SEO goals.

Check your competitors’ links

We will use Ahrefs as an example to show what to look for when checking your competitor’s link strategy.

1. Gather competitive information

• Determine your competitors. You can do this by typing key phrases related to your industry into Google and seeing which sites appear in the top positions.

2. Competitor link profile analysis

• Use Site Explorer in Ahrefs by typing in the URL of a competing site to access comprehensive data on its link profile.
• Check the Overview to see the total number of backlinks, referring domains, and metrics like Domain Rating (DR) and URL Rating (UR).

3. Explore backlinks

• Go to the Backlinks tab in Site Explorer. Here you will see all the backlinks leading to your competitor’s site. Analyzing these links will help you understand where they gain valuable backlinks.
• Note the link type (dofollow/nofollow), anchor text and context of the link on the source site.

4. Analyze reference domains

• In the Referring Domains tab, you will see the domains from which the backlinks originate. This will allow you to identify valuable sites with which you can partner.
• Evaluate the quality of these domains by checking their Domain Rating (DR) and subject profile.

5. Check the most valuable sites

• In Ahrefs, the Best by Links tab will show which competitor sites have the most backlinks, which can suggest which content is the most engaging and valuable for linking.

6. Examine patterns in anchor texts

• By analyzing Anchors in Ahrefs, you can see what anchor texts are most commonly used. This gives you an indication of which phrases your competitors are most frequently linking to.

7. Monitor new and lost links

• Regularly check the New and Lost Backlinks tabs to track what new links your competitors are gaining and what links they are losing. This will allow you to adjust your own strategies in real-time.

8. Check frequency and quantity

• To create link building for your site that will help you gain better rankings than your competitors, you need to evaluate how many links per month others are gaining. Is it 4 sponsored articles, 20 links from forum comments or 10 from product manufacturers?
• If you know the amount and domains where your competitors are linking – it’s time to have a solid plan and start covering the competition through you!

What links to a site don’t get in the link-building process?

If you want to acquire links to your site, it’s essential to remember that it’s the quality that counts, not the quantity! Here are a few places where you shouldn’t take links from – even if your competitors do 😉

Linking in comments and online forums such as blogger–whisper marketing

Automatically generated comments on blogs and forums with links to your site are considered spam. Not only do they rarely bring value in the form of traffic, but they can also damage your site’s reputation.

Here’s an example of a link in a comment. Whisper marketing is still practised by many companies, but it’s not a game worth the candle.

Link farms

Avoid links from sites considered spammy, with viruses or malware, and from so-called “link farms” (link exchange systems). These are sites or networks of sites created to generate a large number of backlinks designed to artificially increase a site’s position in search results. Using such methods is considered a Black Hat SEO technique and is highly risky, as it can result in penalization from Google and other search engines.

Packets of links from Allegro or other portals

Buying link packs from Allegro and other sites focuses on quickly increasing the number of backlinks but carries serious risks, including penalties from search engines for poor quality and unrelated sources of these links, which can often come from spammy sources. In addition, these links can quickly disappear, further undermining their value. This practice can negatively affect a brand’s reputation and goes against the principles of effective link building, which requires building valuable, sustainable links through natural methods rather than relying on the number of purchased links.

Links from off-topic sites

Search engines may consider links from sites irrelevant to your site’s subject matter, which, at best, will provide no value and, at worst, could hurt your ranking.

Example: You run a company that provides cosmetic services, and the links leading to your site are on a website about gardening, automotive or industry.

The links to your site are not relevant.

How to get valuable inbound links to your storefront site?

We already know the actions that are absolutely forbidden if you care about link quality and do not burn your budget. Now learn our list of methods for acquiring good links that convey link juice

Sponsored articles

Write guest posts articles for industry blogs or websites. This is a great way to gain valuable backlinks and reach a new audience. Make sure the content is of high quality and fits the profile of the site where it is to be published.

You can easily outsource this publication type through a backlink acquisition platform such as WhitePress or Linkhouse. There you will find a long list of sites with relevant metrics as to their quality. You can choose what form you want the link to take – EML, url, etc.

Links to your site from the manufacturer  products sub-site

Gaining strong links from product manufacturer subsites is a key strategy in SEO for websites, including online stores. Such links are a valuable asset because they can significantly improve your site’s visibility in search results, increasing trust and traffic. This is especially important for online stores and distributors. For Google’s algorithm, acquiring links for your store from authoritative manufacturer sites is a strong signal of your site’s positive reputation and authority.

Create expert content

Publishing high-quality, unique content, such as tutorials, case studies, product reviews, infographics, or original research and analysis, generates natural interest that results in link acquisition (building a natural link profile). Users highly value expert content that solves problems, answers questions, or provides valuable information for your target audience.

Because of their high value, others are eager to use them as sources in their publications, which translates into strong and valuable backlinks to your site, strengthening its position in search results.

External links from event, conference, and trade show pages

Another link acquisition method includes dofollow links from the pages of conferences, webinars or other events in which our company has participated. If you want to acquire such natural links, write to the organizers requesting to add a link to your company.

Take advantage of partnerships and collaborations

Enter partnerships with other companies, influencers or bloggers in your industry. This could include joint projects, content exchanges, product collaborations or joint contests and promotional campaigns on social media. This is another field where you can work on link building. During such cooperation, you can mutually post links to a particular site, increasing the number of valuable external links (such as your competitors can dream of.)

Broken link-building technique

Using this technique, you can expand your link-building strategy. Find links that don’t work on sites related to your industry and offer to contact the site owner to replace the outdated link with your relevant material. It’s a win-win technique, as you help improve another site while gaining good links directing to your services.

Gain valuable links to your site with Up&More!

Doing effective link-building on your own is a risky task that, without proper knowledge and experience, can result in more problems than benefits. On the one hand, there is the risk of unknowingly linking to unrelated or spammy sources, which can bring more problems than benefits. On the other hand, acquiring strong links that will actually boost your site’s position in search results requires not only time but also a deep knowledge of search engine algorithms and the industry. The process of building a link profile and increasing the number of links leading to your site are activities that are best entrusted to experts. That’s why it’s worth trusting an SEO specialist who not only has experience in finding domains of value to your business but also knows the strategies that will bring you the most benefit. Up&More offers just such support – our team of SEO experts will provide your site with strong links from relevant and authoritative sources, helping you effectively stand out on the Internet.