Link building

What is link building?

Link building is an SEO discipline that involves building links from other websites (backlinks) to your online store. Google considers each link as a "vote" for the quality and relevance of your site. The more quality links you have, the higher Google prioritizes your site in search results.

Link building has been one of the most important ranking factors since Google was launched and it's still central in 2025 - although the quality of links is far more important than the quantity.

Why do backlinks work?

Google's original algorithm (PageRank) was based on the idea that a link from one page to another is a recommendation. The logic is:

• If many credible sites link to you, your content is probably valuable
• A link from an authoritative site (e.g. a major media outlet) counts more than a link from an unknown blog
• Relevant links (from sites in your industry) count more than irrelevant links

Types of backlinks

• Editorial links: Links you get because someone finds your content valuable and chooses to link to it. The most valuable type.
• Guest post: You write an article for another blog and include a link back to your webshop. Still effective if it's quality content on relevant pages.
• Mentions and PR: Press mentions and articles in industry media provide strong links and brand visibility.
• Directory links: Links from industry directories, associations and organizations. Low SEO value individually, but can provide relevant traffic.
• Affiliate links: Links from affiliate partners and price comparison sites. Often nofollow, but provides traffic.

Link building strategies for webshops

Create link-worthy content

The most sustainable strategy is to create content that others will naturally link to:

• In-depth guides and how-to articles related to your products
• Original studies, statistics or data
• Infographics and visual overviews
• Tools and calculators (e.g. a 'find the right size' guide)

Digital PR

Create stories that are interesting for media and bloggers:

• Comment on trends in your industry with expert knowledge
• Publish industry analysis based on your sales data
• Partner with relevant organizations

Competitor analysis

Use tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush to see who is linking to your competitors. Many of the same sites may also link to you if you offer something relevant.

Broken link building

Find links on other sites that point to pages that no longer exist (404 errors). Offer your own relevant content as a replacement.

What to avoid

• Bought links: Google penalizes sites that buy links to manipulate rankings. It's not worth the risk.
• Link farms and PBNs: Networks of sites created solely for linking. Google is good at identifying these.
• Mass-produced guest posts: Low-quality articles scattered to hundreds of blogs provide minimal value and can do damage.
• Irrelevant links: Links from sites unrelated to your industry provide minimal SEO value.

Measure your link profile

• Number of referring domains: How many unique domains link to you? This is more important than the total number of links.
• Domain Authority/Rating: Ahrefs (DR) and Moz (DA) provide a score for your page's link strength.
• Anchor text distribution: Varied anchor text is natural. If 80% of your links have the same anchor text, it looks manipulated.
• Follow vs. nofollow: Dofollow links transfer the most SEO value, but a natural profile has a mix of both.