This is how backlink building for online shops works.
Buying backlinks is evil. Not only SEOs know that now, but also shop operators. The perfidious thing about this fact is that backlinks are still important for ranking positions. Those responsible for online shops are now desperately looking for sources for meaningful backlinks and corresponding strategies for building sustainable backlinks. In this article, we want to show you how you can build sustainable backlinks for an online shop without directly suffering a penalty from search engines like Google.
From onpage optimization to offpage backlink building
As you may already know, search engine optimization can be divided into two major requirement areas: on-page optimization (meta data, internal links, server loading times, etc.) and off-page optimization (construction of backlink structures).
As the name suggests, on-page optimization takes place on your own site and not only deals with technical factors but also with content-related factors such as preparing the content and increasing the user experience.
Off-page optimization takes place outside of your own website and, in particular, takes care of links from other websites to your own online shop. In any case, these references should be thematically appropriate and should be considered by the search engine as a recommendation. For example, if your online shop receives a link from Bild.de, the search engine can assume that your online shop has a certain authority; otherwise, Bild.de would not report about you.
Dofollow or nofollow links
The quality of the link decreases and increases with the position of the link. For example, if the link is in the content, it has greater relevance. Furthermore, a distinction is made between dofollow and nofollow links when it comes to links. With these forms of linking, so-called robot control takes place. A nofollow link tells the website crawler, which checks the website for relevant factors: “Dear crawler, the next page that I recommend to my readers is worth reading for my readers, but this is of no interest to you. Better use your crawl budget to check my pages.” – Thus, the dofollow link is for SEO and also online shop operators the more interesting link, since this not only directs traffic to the site but also allows crawlers to access the online shop and index categories and articles. However, the pure hunt for DoFollow links should not start now since these look very much like unnatural links. A healthy distribution of DoFollow and NoFollow links for your online shop is important.
Generate backlinks for the online shop.
The most sustainable, but also the most difficult, way to generate backlinks is to provide the user with good and innovative content or to design campaigns with special emotional added value, which inevitably ensure that people talk about you and, even better, write about you. Then there is also the possibility that other website operators will link to you out of their own ambition, which may have a thematic affiliation with you. Content marketing deals with such strategies. You receive sustainable links that comply with Google guidelines via your own content that has been created and is searched for by the target group.
Don’t take shortcuts, even if you want to go fast.
Of course, as a shop operator, you are quickly tempted to take the shortcut and buy a certain number of links or accept the listing in portals with little topic relevance. But the quick way is often the more dangerous way. Nevertheless, there are ways to support organic backlink building with a few active links.
For example, if you are an expert on the goods you offer, you can also become active in forums and make your product expertise available to potential customers there. In addition to such editorially prepared guest contributions, you can also actively respond to customer questions in the forums and answer them. The intention that you want to set a link should not always be immediately apparent here. But where it makes sense to set a link, you should do so.
Conclusion on backlink building
Backlink building is a tricky business today. Approach the topic carefully and avoid buying direct backlinks, as success will only be short-lived. Instead, rely on sustainable methods such as the creation of first-class content and appealing advertising campaigns because Google’s algorithm is constantly learning and, at some point, it will also recognise the unnatural link structures of your online shop. So be careful!
