Are you frustrated that no one is linking to your Ecommerce site? Are you under the impression that what you sell isn’t “sexy” enough for anyone to link to you? If so, there’s good news: You’re wrong, at least on the second count. According to leading blog Search Engine Watch, every niche industry website can build links. The larger problem is having a website that discourages others from linking to you. If no one is linking to you, don’t automatically assume it’s because your industry isn’t exciting. First, check to be sure that your site is free from mistakes like:
Poor navigation and site search: If your visitors can’t find what they’re looking in the first minute or two, they may never come back – and others aren’t likely to link to you, either. You have to offer something of value to your consumers as well as those you want to attract for cross-promotion. They have to be able to find that value quickly and easily. To encourage others to link to you, don’t bury your products under multiple clicks; put them front and center, one click past the home page.
Bad content: If your product descriptions are bad, why would an industry blog or lifestyle site link to them? They wouldn’t, because it would be an embarrassment. Many business owners are unintentionally passing by the opportunity for bloggers to review their products by writing poor product descriptions and bad content on their other pages. If you aren’t a good writer, this is an area where a good SEO agency can come in handy. They are often staffed with writers who can craft good web content for you.
Poor internal link structure: Long URLs are not linkable URLs. Webmasters don’t want to spend time searching for relevant pages to link to, so even if you have a dynamic site, make sure your internal links and navigation structure are short, simple and easy to link to. You are far more likely to get links this way.
404 errors: It’s okay to remove content and take down pages when necessary, but it’s not okay to have lots of 404 errors on your site. Here’s a suggestion: If you must take down content (for example, because a product is no longer available), try 301 redirecting the old page to another relevant page, such as a page for a very similar item. That may be a good way to preserve the mileage you have from any existing links. This isn’t a hard and fast rule; some e-commerce experts will disagree. But if you’ve recently removed a page and your links are suffering, it’s worth a try.
Meta descriptions and titles: Your meta descriptions and page titles are what searchers will see when they find you on the search engine results page. Make sure that morsel of information is interesting enough for them to click on; if not, you are essentially saying you don’t want to be clicked on – or linked to.
By taking steps to be sure your e-commerce site is free from these mistakes, you can improve your chances of being linked to, no matter what you sell or what your niche industry is. If you have an e-commerce site that has successfully achieved good link building, let us know what worked for you in the comments section.
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