Shopify Link Building Guide: How to Earn Backlinks That Boost Rankings

Why Backlinks Still Matter for Shopify SEO in 2026

Despite every Google update over the past decade, backlinks remain one of the top three ranking factors. A high-quality backlink from a relevant, authoritative website tells Google “this Shopify store is trusted and worth ranking.” Pages with more high-quality backlinks rank higher — it’s that simple, and that hard.

Shopify stores face a specific link building challenge: product pages are hard to get natural links to. Who links to a product listing? The solution is building links to your blog content and homepage, which then pass equity to your product pages via internal links.

Tactic 1: Product PR and Review Outreach

Send free products to relevant bloggers, journalists, and YouTubers in exchange for honest reviews. When they publish a review with a link to your store, that’s a high-quality, topically relevant backlink. This is the most natural and effective link building tactic for product-based Shopify stores.

How to find targets: search “[your product category] review blog UK”, “[your niche] best products 2026”, “[your niche] gift guide.” Build a spreadsheet of 50–100 targets, prioritise by domain authority and relevance, and send personalised outreach emails.

Tactic 2: “Best of” Roundup Inclusions

Thousands of blog posts rank for “best [product type] UK 2026.” Getting your product included in these roundups earns a backlink and drives referral traffic. Outreach template: “Hi [Name], I noticed your roundup of [category] — I thought you might want to consider including [Product]. It’s [key differentiator]. Here’s a sample I’d love to send you.”

Tactic 3: Guest Posting

Write high-quality, genuinely useful articles for relevant industry websites in exchange for a link back to your store or blog. Guest posts on high-DA sites in your niche can significantly move the needle on rankings. Focus on sites your target customers read — relevance matters as much as authority.

Tactic 4: Digital PR (HARO and Journalist Outreach)

Help a Reporter Out (HARO) sends daily email digests of journalists seeking expert sources. When you provide a useful quote or insight as an ecommerce expert or brand founder, the journalist often includes a link to your website in their article. Major publications like The Guardian, Forbes, and industry trade press regularly source from HARO. Sign up at helpareporter.com and monitor for relevant queries daily.

Tactic 5: Supplier and Partner Links

Do you stock branded products? Most brand manufacturers maintain stockist pages — get listed. Are you part of an industry association? Get your member listing link. Do you have wholesale customers? Ask them to link to you. These are easy wins that many Shopify stores miss.

Tactic 6: Create Link-Worthy Content

Content that earns links naturally: original research or surveys in your niche, infographics with industry statistics, free tools (size guides, calculators), comprehensive buying guides that become the definitive resource on a topic. These take effort to create but generate links passively for years.

What to Avoid

• Paid link schemes — Google penalises these; the short-term gain is never worth the risk
• Low-quality directory submissions — most pass zero value
• PBNs (private blog networks) — detectable by Google and a ranking risk
• Over-optimised anchor text (using “buy organic cotton t-shirts UK” as anchor text on every backlink — looks manipulative)

Need a link building strategy for your Shopify store? Our SEO team runs ethical, effective link building campaigns. Get in touch or see our SEO portfolio.