Link building for Shopify: How to build a strong backlink profile for your store

Link building holds the potential to greatly improve your Shopify store’s performance. To unlock it, you need a solid backlink profile.

Shopify lets you build an almost perfect online shop. Why almost perfect? Because for your shop to attract visitors and generate sales, it needs effective promotion and visibility. And that’s the area where link building shines.

Need proof? In this post, we’ll provide the benefits of link building for Shopify stores and explore some of the most effective strategies for building a strong backlink profile. A quick read with practical tips you can apply today. Let’s get right to it.

Why a strong backlink profile matters for Shopify stores

Shopify is a well-known, powerful platform for creating your own online store. Its pros usually outweigh cons, but one serious drawback remains — in the market visibility domain, shop owners have to rely entirely on themselves.

With big marketplaces like eBay and Amazon, it's different — your brand and its products can piggyback on the platform’s built-in traffic and visibility capabilities. Link-building is still necessary, but it only strengthens the visibility and authority that’s already there.

With Shopify, however, you need to build visibility from scratch, from ground zero. That’s where a strong backlink profile and all the strategies involved in building one matter.

Here is what Shopify backlinks can do to your Shopify store:

• Improve search engine rankings – Backlinks are proven trust signals for Google. With high-quality backlinks on your side, it will boost your products in the search results pages.
• Increase organic traffic – Backlinks help acquire organic traffic and your potential customers.
• Build brand authority – Links from high-authority websites increase the authority of your pages (online store).
• Enhance product visibility – Since backlinks drive traffic and improve your Google rankings, they also increase product visibility.
• Strengthen customer trust – Being featured or linked by reputable sources acts as social proof.

What is a strong backlink profile, though? Why is everyone chasing a strong backlink profile, not just a few high-quality links? Surely, there must be something attractive and, at the same time, achievable.

Indeed, there are several distinct factors that define a strong backlink profile:

• Relevance: links from sites in your industry and niche.
• Authority: earned from reputable, high-authority resources.
• Domain diversity: a healthy mix of links from varied sources; not just one domain.
• Depth: links to product and category pages, not only the homepage or landing page.
• Context: in-content, editorial placements within relevant paragraphs.
• Natural mix: majority dofollow with some nofollow/UGC for realism.
• Freshness: steady growth over time from active, crawled pages.

A strong backlink profile is one that endures business changes, market fluctuations, and even volatile audience preferences. It’s a system that keeps your Shopify store’s authority and credibility growing in times of crisis, and when competitors breathe down your neck.

Effective link building strategies for Shopify stores

Link-building prospers with good communication skills and approaches. If you are active socially and know how to establish lasting relationships with people, you are most likely to succeed at building a strong link profile for your business.

However, not only do communication skills matter, but also technical and creative ones. In particular, local SEO and content creation. More about both types of skills in the few sections that follow.

Guest posting for e-commerce niches

Links don’t exist in a vacuum. They need a medium to act and to prosper, just like sound waves need air to travel across space.

Content is the perfect medium for links. Especially if it’s worthy content, enticing people to like and share. That’s where your links will show their full SEO potential: drive high-value traffic, build authority, and increase the credibility of your Shopify store.

The content, however, needs to be actively disseminated and placed on relevant (usually, industry-related) resources. This process is called guest posting, and it's done via outreach.

The key benefits of guest posting

🎯 Pro tip: The process of submitting fresh content for other sites can be simplified with the help of a guest posting service. Such a service takes care of all your outreach tasks, helping you create high-impact content, select publishing targets with the highest Domain Authority (DA), and secure quality backlinks for your Shopify store.

Here is an effective guest-posting flow you can repeat:

1. Pick 5–10 sites that your buyers usually read. Remember about the diversity principle, i.e., ideally your mix should contain commercial and non-commercial sites, top industry forums, high-trust news portals, fresh (dated 2024-2025) social media pages, directories, etc.
2. Follow the guidelines. Editors usually publish their requirements for guest articles, which you should respect and follow — this becomes even more important when pitching advanced publications in your industry.
3. Pitch one clear idea, not three. Your outreach email should be concise and offer real value, like contributing to the existing hot topic, answering a burning question, introducing something novel, etc.
4. Write to teach, not to sell. Similar to the outreach email, your content must fulfill the promise and be valuable to their target audience (which you need to research carefully).
5. Follow up once, politely. A positive response requires a professional (down-to-the-point, using business language) response. However, even a negative one needs a polite follow-up — often, it changes the odds in your favor.

Over time, you’ll accumulate experience and build your own base of editor contacts. Nurture and develop that community, as they are your best friends in building a strong backlink profile, helping to acquire leads, increase conversions, and drive sales for your Shopify business.

Competitor backlink analysis

If you sell online, your best links often come from people who already write for your audience. Competitor backlink analysis helps you find those people fast. It shows which topics and formats win replies.

Ecommerce teams are busy, so the process must be light. Your competitor's backlink analysis can be done in short, weekly sessions. The key is a continuous process, not a once-in-a-lifetime undertaking, no matter how successful.

Each week, scan new links to the top-ranking stores in your space. Pick two sources that look sane and relevant. Then plan one small pitch that fits one source.

To keep you on track, take this tiny weekly routine that always works:

• Monday: scan new links to two rivals.
• Tuesday: pick one source worth pitching.
• Wednesday: draft a three-bullet outline.
• Thursday: send a short, clear email.
• Friday: log replies and adjust the plan.

Remember, editors want useful, honest work. If they like checklists, bring a clear checklist. If they publish small studies, bring simple data with a chart. The goal is to meet and exceed their expectations.

Small, steady steps are easier to keep. You’ll build a list of friendly editors and sites that like your style. In time, this becomes a simple path to steady backlinks for ecommerce without long campaigns.

Leveraging influencer partnerships

In business, they say that the more strategic partnerships you have, the more resilient and strong your business becomes. It is also true for your online Shopify store, but here you have virtual partnerships that guarantee a steady flow of link-building opportunities.

The world’s influencer market size is huge, and it keeps growing. Not surprisingly, the leading industry is ecommerce.

Influencer marketing market size in 2020-2025

Think of influencer partners as friendly guides who already talk to your buyers. When they vouch for your product, you borrow trust and reach people you can actually help.

Ecommerce brands often start small here. A few honest mentions from the right creators can support your link building strategies and send qualified visitors to your store.

Here’s a simple way to work with influencers:

• List creators your customers already follow (5-10 will do).
• Check their past posts for tone and values.
• Offer a clear brief and one sample written by your best copywriters.
• Agree on links, tracking, and timing.
• Share results and say thanks.

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” — Helen Keller

Creators can do more than show a product. They can explain when to use it, who it’s for, and why it’s better than what your close rivals can offer. Advice from partners comes more naturally and is usually trusted more than what you can publish on behalf of your brand.

🎯 Pro tip: Once the post is live, answer questions in the comments. Helpful replies make the link more valuable for everyone.

Shopify's ecommerce wins here come from steady, helpful content, not flash. Tie each collab to one of your ecommerce link building strategies — for example, sending readers to a comparison page or a how-to. In every collaboration, there must be a clear goal and KPI to measure.

PR and digital outreach

Public Relations (PR) is similar to influencer partnerships in its ability to bring added value, but it has a much broader reach.

PR acts more like a bridge. You bring a useful story; the outlet brings trust and reach. Together, your idea travels farther than it would on its own.

Building Shopify visibility through PR usually involves strategies like cold email outreach to relevant publications. Such emails are less personalized, but addressing your prospect by name and pain points is still a must.

Target publications in adjacent industries and niches. If you pitch them small, helpful stories tied to real questions buyers ask, and respect their time, you’re guaranteed to get more replies.

Keep records in a basic sheet. Note who replied, what they liked, and what fell flat. Patterns will show up faster than you expect. Editors are busy, and short emails get read. If they pass, thank them anyway; you can pitch a better fit next month.

Local SEO and backlinks

Local SEO is a subcategory of SEO that targets local markets. In any business, there inevitably comes the time and need to sell to a specific market with its specific, geographically defined audience.

Local SEO and backlinks amplify each other: locally relevant links signal proximity and authority, lifting both map and organic rankings. Backlinks make local SEO perform as if on steroids, so to speak.

Consider these practical ways to build local signals and a stronger link profile:

• Set up a Google Business Profile and keep open and closed hours accurate.
• Create a “City + Neighborhood” page with Google Maps directions.
• Join your chamber of commerce and industry directories.
• Sponsor a nearby event and ask for a link on the recap page.
• Fix old citations so your name, address, phone, and link match.
• Claim unlinked mentions and ask for a quick ad.

🎯 Pro tip: For deeper insights into micro-community targeting, consider this OWDT article on hyperlocal optimization. Among other things, it will walk you through Google’s Business profile optimization, explain how to build hyperlocal authority, and teach you to use advanced tactics like hyperlocal paid search.

Using WordPress blogs to support Shopify link building

Running your main store on Shopify and your blog on WordPress can be a smart pairing. Shopify handles sales and checkout, while WordPress gives you an easy space to publish helpful articles and guides.

A perfect synergy that needs continuous efforts to keep going.

Use the blog to answer real questions from buyers, then point readers to the right product or collection. Done well, this supports link building for Shopify because useful posts earn mentions and give you natural places to link back to your store.

We’ve cherry-picked these WordPress tips that always pay off for Shopify stores:

• Start each WordPress post with the buyer problem, not the product.
• Use subheads so scanning for Google crawlers and indexing is easy.
• Add one real example or mini case in each post.
• Place contextual links to product or category pages.
• Offer a downloadable checklist where it makes sense.
• Invite questions and answer them in the post later.

Always make your WordPress posts relevant and helpful. For example, if you sell skincare, show a routine; if you sell tools, show a quick fix. Point to the store only when it’s helpful, not every other sentence.

Similarly, if you test a product, show the result. If you compare options, say who each option is for.

Tellingly, ecommerce content ages quickly, so refresh key posts each season. Small edits keep them useful and more likely to earn links again.

The key takeaways

Link-building is a powerful marketing tool that can effectively improve search engine rankings, increase organic traffic, build brand authority, and enhance product visibility.

However, link building for Shopify is not a one-time undertaking. It's a system of deliberate actions that keeps your backlink profile strong and vibrant, generating more linking opportunities than any website or market crisis can take away.

Since Shopify lacks marketplace traffic, visibility must be built intentionally, through a number of impactful strategies:

• Strategic guest posting
• Ongoing backlink analysis
• Leveraging influencer partnerships
• PR and digital outreach
• Local SEO

WordPress functionality simplifies and amplifies your guest posting and outreach efforts. Use it to host evergreen guides, FAQs, and comparisons that earn natural links and send qualified visitors to your Shopify product and category pages.

Lastly, consider adding clear internal links from posts to matching product pages. This greatly aids user understanding and SEO — Google’s bots can crawl your pages more effectively and rank your Shopify store higher in search results.