Why Backlinks Matter
Google treats backlinks as votes of confidence. A link from a trusted, relevant website tells Google your content is credible and worth ranking. Without backlinks, even the best-optimised Shopify store will struggle to rank for competitive terms.
Not all backlinks are equal. A single link from a relevant industry publication with high domain authority is worth more than 100 links from low-quality directories. Focus on quality over quantity.
For most UK ecommerce brands, a domain rating (DR) of 30-50 puts you in a competitive position for mid-tail keywords. Getting from DR 10 to DR 30 is achievable within 12-18 months with consistent link building.
Content-Led Link Building
The most sustainable link building strategy is creating genuinely useful content that people naturally want to link to. This is slower than outreach-heavy approaches but builds lasting authority.
For ecommerce brands, high-performing linkable assets include: original research and survey data, comprehensive buying guides, free tools and calculators, infographics with proprietary data, and detailed how-to guides.
A candle brand might publish a "UK Candle Market Report" with data from their own sales. A running equipment store might create a "UK Running Routes Database". These earn links from journalists, bloggers, and other brands in the space.
Supplier and Partner Links
One of the quickest backlink wins for new stores is getting links from your suppliers and brand partners. Most manufacturers have a "Where to buy" or "Stockists" page. Ask to be listed.
Similarly, if you are an official distributor or certified retailer for a brand, their website should link to you. Contact their wholesale or partnership teams and request to be added to their retailer directory.
Business partnerships, co-marketing campaigns, and joint guides with complementary brands are another reliable link source. A running shoe brand partnering with a nutrition supplement brand for a guide is natural and earns links from both audiences.
PR and Digital Outreach
Digital PR means pitching journalists, bloggers, and content creators with genuinely newsworthy stories or useful expert contributions. A successful digital PR campaign can earn dozens of high-authority links from a single story.
Effective angles for UK ecommerce brands include: trend data from your own sales, expert commentary on industry news, original research, charity partnerships, and product launches that solve a genuine problem. Use a service like HARO (Help a Reporter Out) or ResponseSource to find journalists actively seeking expert quotes.
Broken Link Building
Broken link building involves finding pages in your niche that link to dead URLs, then suggesting your own content as a replacement. It is effective because you are helping the linking site fix a problem.
Use Ahrefs' broken links report to find broken pages being linked to from relevant sites. Create or repurpose content that matches what the original page covered, then reach out to sites linking to the dead page with your replacement suggestion.
Internal Linking
Internal linking passes authority between your own pages and helps Google understand your site structure. Every new blog post should link to at least 3-5 relevant product or collection pages. Every collection page should link to sub-categories and related collections.
Use descriptive anchor text rather than generic "click here" links. "Browse our leather wallets" tells Google what the destination page is about, which supports that page's rankings.
Monitoring Backlinks
Set up backlink monitoring in Ahrefs or Google Search Console. New backlinks take 2-8 weeks to impact rankings, so monitoring helps you correlate link building activities with ranking changes.
Also watch for toxic backlinks from spammy directories or irrelevant sites. While Google is generally good at ignoring them, a sudden influx of low-quality links can trigger manual review. Disavow persistent problem links via Google Search Console.
