Shopify Link Building Services That Earn Links Your Store Can Keep
Most Shopify stores do not lose rankings on product quality. They lose because a competitor's collection pages have years of editorial links behind them and theirs have almost none. Our Shopify link building services close that gap with links a real editor chose to give: supplier and manufacturer pages, stockist lists, gift guides, resource pages and articles that cite something useful you published.
This page is for store owners and ecommerce managers who have a sound store, decent content and rankings that have stalled on page two. Link acquisition runs as one workstream inside our monthly Shopify SEO work, with outreach you approve and every live link logged where you can see it.
What link building means for a Shopify store
Link building is the work of getting other websites to link to pages on your store. For a Shopify brand, that means earning links to collections, key products and guides from sites that are relevant to what you sell and that real people read. Search engines treat each of those links as a signal of trust when they decide which store deserves a competitive query.
This page covers execution: finding prospects, creating reasons to link, and doing the outreach. The wider picture of how your brand is seen off-site, including review platforms, unlinked brand mentions and toxic link review, sits with our off-page authority work.
Why Shopify stores find links hard to earn
Commercial pages rarely attract links on their own. Nobody writes an article and links to a collection of running shoes just because it exists. Shopify stores also face a few platform-specific problems that waste the links they do earn:
- Links to collection-aware product URLs. Shopify serves products at /collections/x/products/y as well as /products/y, and the canonical tag points to /products/. Links still count, but we ask for the canonical URL so equity lands where Google indexes it.
- Links to deleted products. When a product is archived or its handle changes, any link pointing at it can end in a 404 unless a URL redirect exists in Shopify Admin. Across a seasonal catalogue this quietly throws away links every year.
- Marketplaces and big retailers. They hold enormous domain authority, so a brand store needs relevant, topical links rather than volume to compete for its own product terms.
- Nothing worth citing. A store with only product and collection pages gives journalists and bloggers little to reference. Linkable assets fix that.
If an audit shows old URLs returning errors or redirect chains, we pass those to our crawl and redirect fixes first, because new links pointing at broken URLs are wasted effort.
What is included
| Deliverable | What you get |
|---|---|
| Link gap analysis | Referring domains to your store compared with the stores that outrank you, split by the pages those links point to |
| Target page map | The collections, products and guides that most need authority, ranked by revenue potential |
| Prospect lists | Qualified sites for each link type, with the reason each one is relevant to your store |
| Outreach | Personalised emails sent on your behalf, using templates you approve before anything goes out |
| Linkable assets | Guides, tools or data pieces planned and built to attract links naturally |
| Link reclamation | Recovery of existing links that point at dead or redirected URLs |
| Monthly link log | Every live link with the source, target page, anchor and date, shared in your client portal |
Link sources we pursue for Shopify brands
Different catalogues earn links from different places. A furniture brand with a small range and long buying cycles will get more from interior design resource pages and trade directories than from gift guides. A beauty or apparel brand with frequent launches has more to gain from seasonal roundups and product features. The mix is chosen after the audit, not before.
Supplier, manufacturer and stockist links
If you stock branded goods, the brands you carry often list authorised retailers. If you manufacture, your wholesale stockists often link back to you. These are some of the most relevant links a store can earn and they are frequently missing simply because nobody asked.
Gift guides and product roundups
Editors build gift guides and "best of" lists months ahead of seasonal peaks. We pitch products that fit the angle, with images, pricing and a clear reason to include them, early enough to make the edit.
Resource pages and curated directories
Many niches have curated lists: sustainable brand directories, local maker lists, hobby resource pages, sizing or care guides. We only pursue lists that are edited by a person and read by an audience, not open directories that accept anyone.
Broken link building
We find pages in your niche that link to products, guides or brands that no longer exist, then offer your equivalent page as a replacement. This works well for categories where manufacturers discontinue lines often, such as electronics and outdoor gear.
Link reclamation
Many stores have links pointing at pages from an old platform, a previous domain, an http address or a deleted product. We find them, fix the redirect or ask the site owner to update the URL, and recover authority you already earned. Unlinked brand mentions are a related opportunity handled within off-page SEO.
Linkable assets
Some links need a reason to exist. We plan assets such as buying guides, size and fit tools, material comparisons or original survey data, then promote them. The writing is produced by our SEO content writers or published through your Shopify blog programme, and each asset links internally to the collections it supports.
Where your links should point
The question store owners ask most is whether to build links to collections or to the blog. The answer depends on the page and the query.
| Target page | When it makes sense | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Homepage | Brand searches, supplier and stockist links, press coverage | Authority spreads widely but slowly to deeper pages |
| Collection pages | Competitive category terms that drive most revenue | Hardest to earn directly; often best fed through a guide |
| Product pages | Hero products, gift guide features, reviews | Value is lost if the product is later deleted without a redirect |
| Buying guides and blog articles | Informational queries, resource pages, broken link replacements | Needs strong internal links to pass value to collections |
| Linkable assets | Data, tools and reference content | Takes more upfront work, and earns links for longer |
For most stores the answer is a mix: earn links to guides and assets, then pass that value to collections with deliberate internal links. The topics that deserve an asset come from a content plan mapped to your collections, so link work and content work point at the same revenue pages.
How we judge a link before we pursue it
Every prospect is checked against the same criteria before outreach:
- Relevance. The site covers your category, your customers or your industry.
- Real audience. The site has organic traffic and readers, not just a domain score.
- Editorial placement. The link sits in the body of a page a person wrote, not in a footer, sidebar or sitewide block.
- Indexable page. The linking page is crawlable and indexed.
- Natural anchor text. Most anchors are your brand name, the product name or a natural phrase. We never ask for keyword-stuffed anchors.
What we do not do: private blog networks, paid link schemes, link farms, "guest post" menus sold by the link, automated comment or forum spam, or link exchanges at scale. Google's spam policies treat links bought to manipulate rankings as a violation. A penalty or a devalued link profile costs far more than the links were ever worth.
Problems link work solves
| Problem | Usual cause | What we do | Metric it moves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Collections stuck on page two despite good copy | Fewer relevant referring domains than the stores above you | Earn links to a supporting guide and to the collection, then tighten internal links | Rankings and organic sessions for target collections |
| New brand with little authority | No history of press, suppliers or stockist links | Start with supplier, stockist and launch coverage | Referring domains to the site |
| Authority lost after replatforming | Old URLs now return 404s | Reclamation plus redirects in Shopify Admin | Recovered links and crawl errors |
| Links concentrated on the homepage | Press links go to the brand, not categories | Guides and assets that link deeper into the catalogue | Referring domains to non-home pages |
| Link profile built on paid placements | Earlier vendor bought guest posts | Stop the pattern and shift to editorial sources; toxic review sits with off-page | Share of links that are editorial |
How a link building engagement runs
- Audit and baseline. We pull your backlink profile from a third-party index and the Search Console links report, compare referring domains with the stores that outrank you, find inbound links hitting dead URLs, and note which pages already hold authority. You get the findings and baseline numbers in writing.
- Strategy and scope. We pick target pages by revenue potential and link gap, choose the link sources that fit your catalogue, and agree a fixed monthly scope: the number of assets, the outreach volume and the page priorities.
- Build and fix. Assets are built on a duplicated theme or in draft, and you review each one on a preview link. Outreach templates and pitch angles are approved by you before we send. Redirects needed for reclamation are prepared and checked before going live.
- Launch and track. Assets are published after sign-off and outreach begins. Every live link is logged in your client portal with its source and target page, and a monthly call decides where to focus next.
If you want to see where your store stands before committing, request a free Shopify link profile review and we will start with step one.
Tools we use
Typical tools include Google Search Console for the links report and indexing checks, a commercial backlink index such as Ahrefs or Semrush for competitor gaps, a site crawler for broken link discovery, and a shared outreach tracker so you can see every prospect, pitch and reply.
Outcomes to track
Link building influences these measures. We report on them and do not promise numbers:
- Relevant referring domains to target collections, products and guides
- Rankings for the category terms those pages target
- Organic sessions and revenue to linked pages and the collections they support
- Share of new links that are editorial and in-content
- Links recovered through reclamation
Links take time. A new link has to be crawled, the linking page has to be indexed, and the effect on rankings usually shows over weeks to months, depending on competition and how many links the gap requires.
When link building is the right investment
Link work pays off when the rest of your SEO is in order and authority is the missing piece. It suits established stores with solid templates and copy, brands with suppliers or stockists who could link to them, and stores entering competitive categories dominated by larger retailers. High-volume and multi-market stores get link work planned alongside SEO for Shopify Plus stores, so links are assigned to the right market and subfolder.
It is the wrong place to start if your key pages are not indexed, your collections have no copy, or products return errors. Fix those first, or links will simply point at pages that cannot rank.
Why work with us on links
We work only on Shopify and Shopify Plus stores, so we know how handles, redirects and canonical URLs affect where links should point. We do not buy links. You approve pitches before they go out, you see every link we earn, and link work is tied to the same target pages as the rest of your SEO.
Pricing
There is no price per link. Link building runs as part of a monthly SEO retainer, scoped to your catalogue size and starting condition after the free audit. The scope sets the number of assets and the outreach effort each month. See how our pricing works for the model across services.
Frequently asked questions
The cost depends on how competitive your category is and how many assets are needed. Link building is priced inside a monthly SEO retainer scoped after the free audit, not per link. Any vendor selling a fixed number of links for a fixed fee is usually selling placements, which carry risk.
We do not promise a fixed number, because editorial links depend on editors saying yes. The scope sets the effort: assets produced, prospects contacted and pitches sent. Every link earned is logged and reported.
No. We do not use PBNs, paid placements, link farms or link exchanges. These break Google's spam policies and can devalue your whole link profile.
Usually both, in a planned mix. Collections target the highest-revenue terms but are hard to earn links to directly, so we often earn links to guides and assets and pass that value to collections through internal links.
Expect weeks to months rather than days. New links need to be crawled and counted, and the time to move a collection depends on how large the gap is compared with the stores above you.
Link building is the execution of earning links: prospecting, assets and outreach. Off-page SEO is the broader authority strategy, covering reviews, brand mentions, digital PR angles and toxic link review.
Yes, but start with the easiest relevant links: suppliers, stockists, launch coverage and niche directories. Competitive outreach makes more sense once your key pages are indexed and have useful content.
Related services
- Off-page SEO for Shopify brandsthe authority strategy, brand signals and link risk review that link execution feeds into.
- Collection copy and buying guidesthe rankable pages and linkable assets that give outreach something to point at.
- Shopify blog writingarticles that earn resource and broken-link placements and route value to products.
- Content strategy for Shopifydecides which topics justify an asset and which collections they support.
- Technical SEO for Shopifyredirects and canonical fixes that stop earned links from going to waste.
Start with your backlink gap
We will compare your link profile with the stores outranking you and show which pages need authority first. The audit is free and you receive the findings in writing. Get a free Shopify backlink gap audit.