Link building for a Shopify store works best when you point links at collection pages and blog guides rather than single products. The most reliable sources are suppliers and brands you stock, gift guides and product roundups, your own data, and relevant partner sites. Google treats free products sent in exchange for a link as link spam.
The usual Shopify situation looks like this. The store has 200 products, a theme that loads fast and a blog called News with three posts from launch week. You emailed a handful of bloggers asking them to link to a product page and nobody replied, because a product page gives another site's readers nothing to read. Store link building starts with fixing what you are asking people to link to.
Why is link building different for a Shopify store?
It's different because most of a store's pages are commercial, and editors rarely link to a page whose only job is to sell. On a standard Shopify theme, products sit under /products/, collections under /collections/ and articles under /blogs/<blog-name>/. Each of those page types attracts links in a different way.
Product pages rarely earn links on their own
A product page is a price, photos and an Add to cart button. Unless the product is genuinely new or unusual, there is little for another site to cite. Products earn links mostly as part of something bigger: a review, a roundup or a gift guide.
Collection pages are the realistic target
Collections are where category searches land ("linen bedding", "trail running shoes"), so a link to a collection page helps the pages that matter most for revenue. Writers linking to "a good place to buy linen bedding" will link a collection more readily than a single SKU.
The blog is your linkable layer
Shopify gives every store a blog. Its help centre says "your online store has a default blog called News", and you can add more. Buying guides, care instructions and sizing explainers on that blog are the pages other sites actually link to. From there, internal links pass visitors and value on to your collections.
Where do Shopify stores get backlinks?
The best store links come from businesses and writers who already have a reason to mention what you sell. These sources work for most stores, roughly in order of effort.
Suppliers and brands you stock
If you resell brands, many have a "where to buy" or stockist page. Ask to be listed, with a link to the collection for that brand. If you make your own products, your raw-material suppliers sometimes feature customers who use their materials. These are relevant, editorial links that competitors without the same relationships can't easily copy.
Gift guides and product roundups
Bloggers and publications publish "best gifts for runners" or "best linen sheets" lists every season, and they need products to include. Pitch the writer a short note with what makes the product different, a price, and a high-quality photo. Pitch early: seasonal guides are usually planned weeks before they go live.
Product reviews from creators (the careful version)
Sending products to creators is normal marketing, but Google's spam policies list "sending someone a product in exchange for them writing about it and including a link" as link spam. Google's guide to qualifying outbound links says paid placements should carry rel="sponsored". So treat gifted reviews as a traffic and trust channel, expect the links to be sponsored or nofollow, and never make a followed link a condition of the gift.
Your own data and guides
Stores sit on data nobody else has: which sizes sell out first, which colours return most, what customers search for on your site. A short annual post with real figures from your orders can earn links from journalists and bloggers writing about your category. Our page on what digital PR is in SEO covers how to pitch it.
Relevant partner sites and exchanges
Non-competing sites in your niche (a recipe blog for a cookware store, a training blog for a running store) can link to your guides from their own articles, and you can link back where it helps your readers. Google's spam policies name "excessive link exchanges" as spam, so keep these few, relevant and in-content. Our guide to link exchange for ecommerce explains how to choose partners.
What should a Shopify store link to?
Aim most links at the blog guides and collections, and link from those to products yourself.
| Page type | Typical Shopify path | Good link target? | Best way to earn a link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homepage | / |
Yes, for brand mentions | Press, supplier listings |
| Collection | /collections/<name> |
Yes, the main commercial target | Gift guides, stockist pages, partners |
| Blog guide | /blogs/<blog-name>/<post> |
Yes, the easiest to earn | Partners, resource pages, PR |
| Product | /products/<name> |
Sometimes | Reviews, roundups for standout products |
| Policy pages | /policies/... |
No | Not worth pursuing |
A worked example
Say a store selling linen bedding earns links from 12 domains in a quarter: 5 from gift guides pointing to the bedding collection, 4 from partner blogs pointing to a "how to wash linen" guide, and 3 from the brands it stocks. The guide then links to the 2 collections it mentions. Every link lands on a page with a reason to exist, and the collections benefit from both direct and internal links. These figures are an illustration, not a target.
What should Shopify stores avoid?
Some tactics sold to store owners do more harm than good.
Cheap link packages and "DA 50" bundles
Packages of hundreds of links for a low fee are almost always low-quality directories, comment links or private networks, which are exactly the patterns Google's link spam policy describes.
Mass directory and bookmarking submissions
Google's spam policies list "low-quality directory or bookmark site links" as link spam. A few genuine industry directories are fine; bulk submissions are not.
Followed links as a condition of free products
As above, a gifted product in exchange for a followed link is a link scheme. Gift freely, and let the creator mark links as they should.
Can a Shopify store use a link exchange?
Yes, in moderation, if the partner is relevant and the link sits inside a real article. On Backlinkster, the submitted link has to be an article URL on the member's own domain, which suits a store's blog guides well, and each swap is verified by API. Free accounts include 5 swaps a month; see the plans.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get backlinks to my Shopify store?
Point outreach at your collection pages and blog guides, not single products. Ask brands you stock to list you on their stockist pages, pitch seasonal gift guides, publish one useful guide or data post per quarter, and build a few relevant partner links.
Should I build backlinks to Shopify product pages?
Usually not as a first step. Product pages have little for another site to cite, so links are harder to earn and help fewer pages. Link to collections and guides, then link from those to your products.
Does Shopify have built-in link building tools?
No. Shopify gives you a blog, editable URL handles and SEO fields for titles and descriptions, but earning links from other sites happens off Shopify. Backlink tools and outreach work the same way for a Shopify store as for any other site.
Are links from influencer product reviews good for SEO?
They help with traffic and trust, but Google treats a product given in exchange for a link as link spam, and paid placements should use rel="sponsored". Don't count on gifted reviews for ranking value.
How many backlinks does a Shopify store need?
There is no fixed number. Compare your collection pages with the stores that outrank you for the same category terms, and look at how many relevant sites link to them. Relevance and placement matter more than the total.
Related: Link exchange for ecommerce · Link building for small businesses · What is digital PR in SEO? · What is off-page SEO?