With Black Friday almost upon us, we have put together some tips of how you can get ahead with your socials
Retail is always one step ahead and that doesn't just the physical stores
Retail is always one step ahead and that doesn’t just the physical stores – planning for peaks is at the front of every online retailer’s mind too. Whether that’s strengthening your ad strategies, preparing for product launches or being smart about inventory.
It all comes down to staying productive and preparing for the upcoming busy season. Tech plays a vital role in this, ensuring you can offer the best service for customers – from their first website visit, right down to last mile delivery.
In stores this is obviously key but online it is so much more competitive. The competition online starts with exposure to your business and making sure you are the first they have seen! It is important to make sure you are seen before the rest of your competitiors and expanding your online exposure as much as possible. With shoppers becoming less brand loyal online and opting for retailers that can offer the smoothest service and best delivery options, it’s more important than ever to plan out and anticipate customer journey from the very beginning and getting your products out there.
The beauty of being online is that there are many ways you can market and advertise your product to your audience. Things like Google Ads, Social Media campaigns and Guest posts can all help to gain the all important exposure before the crowds, or clicks rush in.
Amazon Prime Day
Amazon Prime Day is taking place as we speak, so although you might be prepared in terms of the stock, if you’re a seller in this space, there are still a few marketing tactics you can use to boost sales.
One of the best ways to encourage purchases is to educate your customers and provide tips around shopping for the two-day extravaganza. Many customers are not aware that they can create personalised deal updates on Amazon – they simply go onto the Prime Day 2022 page and create deal updates for the items they want to follow on there.
On top of summer, sales are bound to be better when this annual event rolls around at the same time for sellers. One of the most common complaints from stockists is having to manually look through full lists of orders to determine what’s on back order and what stock availability looks like. Having somewhere to digitally store this information and create a centralised list can really help with prioritising inventory levels. Here’s where tech, once again, can literally save the day!
Christmas in July!
One of the scary thoughts of peak season for many online retailers is the reminder that Christmas prep needs to start as early as July in order to keep up with an influx of sales. This is almost always a less daunting thought when there is a streamlined fulfilment process in place.
Many retailers opt for an Order Management System , allowing for the continuous tracking and active monitoring of purchases and inventory levels. This ensures the fulfilment process runs smoothly and in turn, so does the customer journey. Not only does this allow you to process orders faster during the busiest periods, but it also removes the risk of the sometimes costly human admin errors that can come naturally when there’s high demand.
Opening up conversations around Christmas can also be helpful, especially if you have larger recurring customers and contracts. Discussing the peak season allows you to plot and plan, formulating your distribution strategy ahead of schedule.
This, along with having the right tech in place for when one of the busiest periods of the year hits, allows you to streamline orders and reduce errors. Most importantly, tech enables you to maximise the opportunity that surrounds this peak period, so you don’t end up with dead stock or the inability to fulfil orders.
Summer sales strategy
Summer is in full swing, and things are already hotting up for many online retailers. Consider packaging up products with summer in mind when thinking about your strategy plan. Certain products such as sunglasses, fans and sportswear, naturally seem more appealing in the hotter months. Put these particular items at the front and centre of your marketing efforts and across your website. It can help to list items under certain themes such as summer, much like Amazon does when it comes to peak periods.
Thinking about your customer journey is also key throughout the summer months. Shopping experiences should be hassle-free and so should getting in touch with retailers. Research suggests that 40% of survey respondents said that they are happy to be contacted by chatbots when seeking help online. Deploying a chatbot strategy could be key to maximising your time when it comes to responding to common questions, where customers are also looking for efficiency so they can enjoy the great outdoors!
Following this, it’s the picking, packing and shipping processes involved in summer fulfilment that should be handled with care. Technologies available such as order management software, ensures users are alerted in real-time when a new order comes in and, information will automatically be sent to warehouse operatives – allowing them to pick and pack the order as quickly and as accurately as possible.
Black Friday
Black Friday, also known as Cyber Week, is one of the most anticipated sales periods for online retailers. Having your ecommerce store set up for an influx of sales this November should be a top priority that you’re already starting to think about.
One of the things that is helpful to do early on, is getting as many customer reviews and testimonials on site by the time this busy period rolls around. Purchase decisions are often made by reading through other user experiences. Customers have lots of sites to choose from when it comes to Black Friday sales and this is a great way to educate them and support them with purchase decisions.
Another top tip is to always have a range of payment methods available on site, so that you can reach a wider range of people when it comes to potential sales. You should also have strong delivery options and an easy returns policy, so that customers can purchase with ease.
Implementing a multi-courier strategy, rather than working with a sole courier will allow eCommerce businesses to offer more flexibility and options. Using more than one dedicated courier will also help to keep costs down.
If you opt to implement an order management system with pre-built courier integrations, then working with multiple couriers won’t even add to your admin burden. These pre-built integrations seamlessly connect with all the data within your platform, allowing it to automatically select the best courier for the job, based on rules you define (delivery date, product value, delivery location etc.)
Post-Covid service levels in peak seasons
Covid-19 had big impacts on order management, fulfilment and delivery processes across the world but now customers are no longer accepting Covid-19 as an excuse for late delivery. Poor customer service and a general lack of efficiency in the order process are not so widely tolerated. Post-Covid-19, shoppers are now spending less online but demanding better service when they do. According to a new study, two-thirds said they had noticed an increase in customer service problems at point of purchase and/or delivery since the pandemic began.
Peak sale periods are a real test on how effective a retailer’s order management and warehouse management systems are in meeting the high demands of customers. This is something that is crucial for retailers to get right, with 63% of customers stating poor delivery would stop them returning to a company.
Implementing technology such as a consolidated order management system can help retailers handle an increase in order demand, whether that’s supporting warehouse employees, or customer service teams during seasonal peaks. A sound order management system provides real-time data and displays achievable KPI’s, therefore reducing any errors and miscommunication in times where demand is high and retailers have to act quickly.

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With Black Friday almost upon us, we have put together some tips of how you can get ahead with your socials
When you are running a small business, time is always in short supply. But that does not mean your blog content should be left untouched. With just 20 minutes, you can update an existing post and give it a powerful SEO lift. Whether your goal is to attract more organic traffic, improve engagement, or increase conversions, this quick checklist will help your content work harder for your business. 1. Start with a Smart Keyword Check Start by checking if your target keyword is still relevant. Search habits and trends evolve quickly, and what worked six months ago may no longer perform well. Use a quick Google search to review how competitive your target phrase is and see which competitors are currently ranking. You can also use free tools like Ubersuggest or Google Trends to assess search volume and interest over time. Make sure your main keyword appears naturally in the title, within the first 100 words, and in at least one subheading. The key word here is "naturally." Avoid keyword stuffing, which can harm your rankings and diminish readability. 2. Refine Your Title Tag and Meta Description Your blog title may be engaging, but do not forget to check your metadata. The title tag and meta description help search engines understand your content and encourage users to click. Keep your title tag under 60 characters and include your primary keyword. Write a clear, benefit-driven meta description under 160 characters. Your meta description should accurately reflect the content and provide a reason to click. This also appears in search results and can affect your click-through rate. For best practice, refer to Google’s SEO Starter Guide. 3. Use Clear and Consistent Subheadings Subheadings improve readability and help search engines understand the structure of your content. Use H2 and H3 tags to break up your text and guide the reader through your message. Make sure your subheadings reflect your main themes and, where appropriate, include relevant keywords. This not only improves SEO but also makes your content more digestible for busy readers, especially those in fast-paced SME environments. 4. Add Internal Links Strategically Internal linking helps Google crawl your site more effectively and keeps visitors engaged for longer. Link to other relevant blog posts, service pages, or contact forms within your own site. Use descriptive anchor text. Instead of writing "click here," try "learn more about our SEO services" or "visit our contact page." This reinforces relevance and provides a better user experience. You can see a great example of this strategy on the Moz Beginner's Guide to SEO. 5. Optimise Image Sizes and Alt Text Slow-loading images can negatively affect both user experience and rankings. Use compressed image formats like WebP or JPEG and limit file sizes without sacrificing quality. Free tools like TinyPNG or Squoosh can help reduce image weight without a visible drop in resolution. In addition to compression, always add descriptive alt text. This helps with accessibility and provides another opportunity to include relevant keywords. 6. Format for Mobile and Readability Before you hit publish, check that your post looks good on mobile. Google prioritises mobile-first indexing, so a mobile-friendly layout is essential. Use short paragraphs, bullet points, and plenty of white space to improve legibility. Test how it looks on both mobile and desktop to make sure formatting is consistent and easy to scan. 7. Hit Publish and Promote It Once your blog is optimised, go ahead and publish it. If it is an older post, consider updating the published date so it reflects the fresh edits. After publishing, promote your post through your usual marketing channels. This could include sharing it on LinkedIn, featuring it in your email newsletter, or repurposing parts into social media content. At BubbleSEO, we always recommend repurposing content into formats your audience prefers to consume. Final Thoughts Optimising a blog post does not have to be a time-consuming task. With just 20 minutes and a focused checklist, you can improve your post’s visibility, usability and impact. This process is especially valuable for small businesses that need to make the most of every piece of content. Bookmark this guide, refer back when refreshing old posts, and let your content continue to support your business goals.
Many marketers use Google Trends once in a while, usually to check whether a keyword is popular, then move on. It’s easy to miss how much insight the tool can actually offer. When you take a bit more time to explore it properly, Google Trends becomes incredibly useful for shaping content ideas, spotting new interest early and understanding how searches shift during the year. Search behaviour changes constantly. Relying on data rather than instinct helps you plan content that reaches people at the right moment. Here are a few straightforward ways to use Google Trends to guide your strategy. Spot early interest before everyone else notices One of the strongest features of Google Trends is its ability to show what is gaining attention right now. Tools like Ahrefs and Semrush are excellent for keyword research, but their numbers are based on monthly averages. Trends shows movement instead. You can see which topics are slowly growing or starting to spike. Enter a broad keyword into the tool and scroll down to Related Queries. Anything labelled Rising or Breakout is worth a closer look. Breakout terms often point to something that is becoming popular very quickly. Creating content around these topics early gives you a far better chance of ranking before everyone else starts writing about them. If you’re curious about how Google handles fresh content and emerging topics, the official Search Central documentation is a helpful resource. Make seasonal planning easier and more accurate Many industries see big changes in search behaviour throughout the year. Google Trends helps you check whether this applies to your audience. Switch the date range to the past five years and look for repeating patterns. You might notice that certain searches peak every January, or that interest rises in late summer. Once you see these patterns, you can plan ahead with far more confidence. Publishing just before a seasonal spike gives your content time to settle and rank. This usually works better than guessing when people might start searching. If you want more insight into how search patterns change over time, Moz publishes reliable research that can support your content planning. Compare topics to decide where to focus The comparison feature inside Google Trends is often overlooked, yet it’s genuinely helpful when you’re choosing between a few content ideas. You can compare up to five keywords at once and see how their interest levels rise or fall over time. Look for topics that show steady growth. A keyword doesn’t need huge interest today to be valuable. Slow upward movement often means it will become stronger over the next few months. Matching this insight with research from places like Search Engine Journal or Backlinko helps you invest your time in content that has long‑term potential. Build stronger topical authority Topical authority has become essential for ranking well. Google wants to see depth, structure and clear expertise. Google Trends can help you build that depth by revealing smaller, related topics you might not have considered. Enter a broad keyword and check the rising and top queries. These often give you ideas for supporting articles that can sit within a wider cluster. Once you create a handful of these pieces, you can link them to a main pillar page that acts as the hub. If you’d like a clear explanation of how cluster content works, HubSpot’s guide to topic clusters is a great place to start. Final thoughts Trends help you to understand what people are searching for, how their interests shift and which topics are gathering momentum. When you combine Trends data with reliable industry insight from sources like MarketingWeek and the Neil Patel blog, you can build a content plan that feels grounded in real behaviour rather than guesswork. If you want your content to remain relevant and continue performing well over time, Google Trends deserves a spot in your regular workflow.
SEO is the process of how your website becomes ranked above others in a search engine. With search engines like Google and Bing having...
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is often viewed as a complex and ever-changing field, but its core principles remain constant. If you're looking to increase your website's visibility, generate traffic, and climb the search engine ranks, understanding the foundational elements of SEO is critical. This article will unlock the secrets of SEO, covering essential topics like link building, content marketing, and optimising for search engine rankings. 1. The Foundation of SEO: Why It Matters At its core, SEO is about making your website more visible to search engines like Google, Bing, or Yahoo. The higher your site ranks on search engine results pages (SERPs), the more likely users are to visit your site. Why does this matter? Studies show that over 75% of users never scroll past the first page of search results, making it crucial to rank as high as possible. 2. The Power of Content Marketing Content marketing is a central part of any successful SEO strategy. Search engines prioritise websites that regularly publish high-quality, relevant content. This not only helps with ranking but also establishes your brand as an authority in your industry. Focus on High-Quality Content: Google’s algorithms reward websites that produce in-depth, well-researched content. Blogs, case studies, infographics, and videos that provide real value to your audience are more likely to rank well. Consistency is Key: Regularly updating your website with fresh content signals to search engines that your site is active and valuable. Use Targeted Keywords: When creating content, make sure to incorporate keywords that your audience is searching for. Tools like SEMrush or Google Keyword Planner can help identify relevant keywords with high search volume. 3. Link Building: The Backbone of SEO Link building is one of the most important ranking factors for search engines. It involves getting other reputable websites to link back to your content, signaling to search engines that your site is authoritative and trustworthy. Earn Quality Backlinks: Focus on earning backlinks from credible, high-authority sites within your industry. Guest posting on blogs, securing mentions in industry publications, and creating shareable resources are great ways to attract backlinks. Avoid Low-Quality Links: Links from spammy or irrelevant sites can harm your rankings. Always aim for quality over quantity when building links. Internal Linking: Don’t overlook the power of internal links. By linking to other relevant pages on your website, you improve your site’s structure, making it easier for both users and search engines to navigate. 4. On-Page SEO: Optimising Each Page On-page SEO involves optimising individual pages on your site to help search engines understand and rank your content. Title Tags and Meta Descriptions: Your title tag is one of the first things search engines and users see. Make sure your primary keyword is included. Meta descriptions, while not a direct ranking factor, improve click-through rates when they are engaging and relevant. Headers (H1, H2, H3): Break your content into readable sections using headers, which help both users and search engines digest the material. Image Optimisation: Use descriptive alt text for images and compress them to ensure your page loads quickly, another critical ranking factor. 5. Technical SEO: Enhancing Site Performance Beyond content and links, technical SEO is crucial for ensuring your site is easy to crawl, secure, and optimised for all devices. Mobile Optimisation: As more users search on mobile devices, Google now considers mobile-friendliness a key ranking factor. Use responsive design to ensure your site looks great and functions well on mobile. Site Speed: Slow-loading sites frustrate users and are penalised by search engines. Tools like Google PageSpeed Insights can help you improve load times. Crawlability and Indexing: Make sure your site is easy for search engines to crawl and index. Submit an XML sitemap to Google Search Console, and fix any errors that may block search engines from accessing your content. 6. Search Engine Ranks: Climbing the SERPs The ultimate goal of SEO is to rise to the top of search engine ranks. But getting there takes time, effort, and the right strategy. Track Your Progress: Use tools like Google Analytics, Moz, or Ahrefs to monitor your search rankings and track organic traffic over time. This will help you identify what’s working and what needs improvement. Competitor Analysis: Regularly check in on your competitors to see how they’re performing in search results. Understanding their strategies can reveal opportunities for your own SEO improvement. Continuous Optimisation: SEO isn’t a one-time task—it requires regular adjustments. Keep up with the latest trends and algorithm updates to ensure your site remains optimised for long-term success. 7. The Future of SEO SEO is always evolving, and staying ahead of the curve is crucial for maintaining your search rankings. With the rise of artificial intelligence, voice search, and new ranking factors like Core Web Vitals, it’s more important than ever to stay informed about SEO developments. Focus on user experience, creating valuable content, and building authoritative links to future-proof your SEO strategy. Conclusion SEO doesn’t have to be a mystery. By focusing on key areas like content marketing, link building, and technical SEO, you can unlock the secrets to improving your search engine rankings. SEO is a long-term investment, but with a clear strategy and consistent effort, you’ll start seeing the rewards in higher rankings, increased traffic, and greater visibility for your brand. Master the essentials of SEO today and watch your website soar to new heights!
It is easy to blame Google's latest update when rankings start slipping. Sometimes that is the reason. More often, though, the problem is much closer to home. Over the years, many websites that have been struggling to gain visibility have had the same underlying issues. Nothing dramatic. No catastrophic penalties. Just a collection of small SEO mistakes that had gradually piled up and started holding the site back. The frustrating part is that most of these problems are entirely avoidable. If your traffic has slowed down or your rankings seem stuck, here are ten areas worth checking. 1. The Outdated Keyword Application Approach Every SEO professional has come across it at some point. There’s a page targeting a phrase such as "SEO agency" where the words appear in almost every sentence, often in places where they simply do not belong. Years ago this sort of thing was common but, today, it tends to make content feel awkward and forced. The reality is that Google is much better at understanding topics than it used to be. Therefore, if a page genuinely answers a question, the search engine does not need endless repetition to understand what the content is about. If you find yourself squeezing a keyword into a sentence that reads strangely, it is probably a sign to leave it out. You can learn more about Google's approach in its SEO starter guide. 2. Overlooking Site Speed Website owners often spend weeks tweaking content while ignoring the fact that their pages take six or seven seconds to load. This is a problem because most users can be put off if a website doesn’t load immediately. If a page drags its feet, visitors will not sit around waiting to find out if the content is excellent. Large images tend to be one of the biggest culprits. Bloated themes, unnecessary plugins, and budget hosting can also make a noticeable difference. If you have not checked recently Google's Web.dev tool is worth a look. You may be surprised by what it uncovers. 3. Treating Meta Descriptions as an Afterthought Meta descriptions are not the most exciting part of SEO, which is probably why so many websites neglect them. However, they still matter. Think about how people use search results. They're scanning options, comparing headlines and deciding what looks most relevant to their question. Thus, a good meta description can give somebody that final nudge to click and a missing one cannot. For inspiration, Moz has a useful guide to writing effective meta descriptions. 4. Accidentally Creating Duplicate Content Duplicate content sounds like something that happens when somebody copies a page word for word but it is often much less obvious. A business might have several service pages covering almost identical topics. An online shop may use the same manufacturer description across hundreds of products. Sometimes different URL versions create the issue without anyone noticing. This can mean uncertainty for search engines when deciding which page deserves to rank, but tools such as Semrush can help identify pages that are competing with one another. 5. Forgetting About Internal Links Backlinks usually get all the attention and internal links rarely do, which is a shame because internal links can play an important role in helping both users and search engines navigate a website. Imagine walking into a library where none of the books are organised. You could still find information eventually, but it would take far more effort. Websites work in much the same way, especially as a sensible internal linking structure helps visitors discover relevant content and makes it easier for search engines to understand what each site is about. Articles on the BubbleSEO Blog are good examples of how related topics can support one another naturally. 6. Ignoring Mobile Users Unfortunately, this still happens more often than people realise. A website might look fantastic on a desktop monitor yet become frustrating to use on a phone. Tiny text, awkward menus and buttons that are impossible to tap are all surprisingly common. Given how much web traffic now comes from mobile devices, that is not a risk worth taking. If visitors struggle to use your site on their phone, many will leave and try a competitor instead. 7. Chasing Backlinks for the Sake of Numbers There is often a temptation to focus on quantity. The thinking goes something like this: more links must be better than fewer links, but SEO does not work that way. One genuinely relevant link from a respected website can outweigh dozens of low-quality links from sites that nobody reads. Authority takes time to build, but it is usually worth the effort. Businesses exploring outreach opportunities often start with strategies such as guest posting and relationship-based link building. 8. Missing the Intent Behind a Search This is one of the easiest mistakes to make. You find a keyword with decent search volume, you create a page around it, you optimise headings, titles, and images then, disappointingly, nothing happens. Often, the issue is not the keyword itself. The problem is that the content does not match what people expect to find. For example, a person searching for SEO mistakes wants practical advice instead of a hard sales pitch. Ultimately, the best-performing content usually answers the question first and sells later. 9. Publishing Content That Says Very Little We've all read articles that take 1,000 words to say what could have been explained in two paragraphs. Readers notice and so do search engines. Content does not need to be excessively long, but it should leave somebody with something useful. A new idea, a practical tip or a clearer understanding of a topic. If a page exists only because somebody felt they needed another blog post that week, it may struggle to gain traction. 10. Never Looking at the Data Perhaps the biggest mistake of all is publishing content and then forgetting about it. SEO is not a one-off task as ranking positions change, search trends shift, and competitors improve their websites. Without tracking performance, it becomes very difficult to know what is working and what needs attention. Free tools such as Google Search Console and Google Analytics can reveal opportunities that would otherwise go unnoticed. Final Thoughts Most SEO problems are not caused by a single dramatic mistake. Instead, they develop gradually. A few weak pages here, some missing internal links there, a site that loads a little slower than it should. On their own, those issues might not seem significant but, together, they can have a real impact on visibility. The good news is that they are usually fixable. Before investing in the latest SEO trend or chasing a brand-new tactic, it is often worth revisiting the fundamentals. Often, that is where the biggest opportunities are hiding.
Content Marketing is a key marketing driver for many businesses to grow their income and to engage a wider audience
Would you like to write the most engaging and gripping content? As the internet grows, it seems so does the amount of competition. We are all looking for ways to stand out from the rest of the internet and grab the attention of our desired audience. Although it is not the easiest task to achieve great, quality content, it will be the best way to grab the right attention! With the growth of the internet and accessible online sources, this can be used to our advantage and help find ways to use and implement features into own our content. Quality is not about how many posts are shared, but the characteristics and style of your content.
If you work in digital marketing long enough, you see the same pattern repeat. A business invests heavily in SEO, ticks every technical box, and still struggles to grow. Another pours time into content, publishes regularly, and wonders why traffic never really arrives. Both usually assume they are missing a trick. In reality, they are missing each other. SEO and content marketing have never been separate in practice, even though they are often treated that way. One shapes how your site is understood. The other shapes how it is experienced. You need both, because search engines and people care about different things, and your website has to satisfy them at the same time. Traditional SEO is still the starting point. Pages need to load properly, internal links need to make sense, and keywords still matter. Search engines cannot rank what they cannot understand. Semrush’s breakdown of what SEO actually involves makes that fairly clear. Structure and clarity come before anything else. But this is where many strategies stop. Pages are optimised, metadata is polished, and then nothing else really happens. Traffic might rise briefly, but it often flattens out. When it does, the instinct is to tweak keywords again or chase more links. The problem is rarely the setup. It is what happens once someone arrives. This is where content marketing earns its place. Not as a buzzword, and not as a volume exercise, but as the part of the strategy that gives your site weight. Content is what turns a technically sound page into something people actually want to read. Good content does not feel like it was written to rank. It feels like it was written because someone understood the question being asked. Google has been nudging things in this direction for years, and platforms like Think with Google regularly reinforce how much expectations have changed. People are quicker to leave, quicker to judge, and far less patient with vague answers. SEO-only pages tend to struggle here. They match the query, but not the intent. They say just enough to exist, but not enough to be useful. Backlinko’s research into Google ranking factors shows how closely performance is tied to engagement and relevance. Those signals are difficult to fake without substance. At the same time, content marketing on its own has limits. Publishing thoughtful articles without any search consideration often leads to frustration. The content is fine, sometimes very good, but it never quite finds an audience. SEO adds direction. It shows what people are actively looking for and how competitive that space is. Ahrefs explains this well in its guide to SEO-driven content creation, where content ideas come from demand rather than instinct. This does not make content robotic. It simply stops it from being invisible. When the two approaches are planned together, things change. Content starts answering real questions, not imagined ones. SEO becomes less about forcing pages to rank and more about supporting the content that deserves to be seen. This is also where link building becomes easier. People link to things that help them. The Content Marketing Institute has written about how content-led strategies support link building more naturally than outreach-heavy tactics. In practice, this is obvious. A useful resource travels further than a perfectly optimised page ever will. Trust plays a bigger role here than most strategies acknowledge. Sites that publish consistently helpful content tend to weather algorithm changes better. They feel less brittle. SEO gets them noticed. Content keeps them credible. Semrush touches on this balance in its guidance around SEO content strategy, but it is something you usually see more clearly in real-world results than in reports. Sites that combine structure with substance tend to grow steadily. Sites that lean too hard on one side rarely do. There is no real debate between content marketing and traditional SEO. They are not alternatives. They are different parts of the same process. SEO helps search engines understand your site. Content marketing helps people trust it. If either is missing, rankings become harder to hold onto. That is why you need both.
Selling online is not getting any easier. Whether you run a small niche store or a large e‑commerce brand, you are competing against marketplaces, big retailers and a long tail of specialist sites. Most of you are targeting the same category and product keywords. Good technical SEO and smart on‑page work will get you part of the way. But if you want to push key pages into genuinely competitive positions, you need backlinks. Quality ones. From real sites. Google makes it very clear in the Google Search Central SEO starter guide that links help it understand which pages deserve to rank. For e‑commerce, those signals can be the difference between a page that sits on page 3 and one that drives sales every single day. In this guide, we will walk through some realistic link building strategies that work particularly well for e‑commerce sites. We will look at products-led digital PR; influencers and creators; improving and promoting category pages; using competitor data to find quick wins; and making the most of seasonal interest You can pick one to start with or combine them into a more complete strategy. 1. Using Product PR To Earn High Authority Links E‑commerce brands have something a lot of businesses would love to have. You have products that people can touch, photograph, review and talk about. That makes you perfect for digital PR. Pitch your products for media coverage Journalists regularly put together gift guides, ‘best-of’ product roundups, seasonal features, and lifestyle and shopping content , and they are always looking for new items to include. You can find relevant opportunities on platforms like Press Loft, JournoLink and ResponseSource. Many PRs and founders also keep an eye on the #journorequest hashtag on X (Twitter) when journalists are sourcing products at short notice. When your product is included in an article, the site will often link back to your product or category page. That is a highly relevant, high intent backlink. If you want to see examples of this in action, have a look at the digital PR content on Search Engine Journal or some of the public relations guides on HubSpot’s marketing blog. They regularly break down campaigns that have driven hundreds of links for brands with fairly simple ideas. Make your products easy to feature Journalists are busy. The more work you do for them, the more likely they are to use your product instead of someone else’s. As a minimum, prepare good quality, high resolution product images; a clear description, including materials and key features; retail price and availability; and a short brand or founder quote for individuals to copy and paste. This is simple, but it truly matters. A journalist choosing between ten similar products will nearly always choose the one with complete, usable information. 2. Build Links Through Influencer and Creator Partnerships Influencer marketing is usually discussed in the context of awareness and social reach. For e‑commerce, it can also be a very direct way to build links, especially if you work with creators who own their own websites. Product reviews that live on blogs, not just social Many creators still maintain blogs, review sites or personal magazines alongside their social channels. When they genuinely like a product, they will often write a full review that includes a contextual link to your homepage or category, one or more links to specific products, and/or images and personal notes that build trust with a key audience. That kind of long form, editorial link is exactly what you want more of in your backlink profile. Research shared on MarketingWeek and in the guides on Backlinko both highlight how creator content can feed into brand discovery and search performance, rather than sitting in its own silo. Long term relationships, not one‑off freebies The strongest links often come from repeat collaborations. If a creator regularly features your brand, you start to build multiple references across different posts, consistent brand mentions, and a more natural link pattern over time. You do not need to work only with big names. Micro influencers can be brilliant partners, especially in specific niches. They tend to have more engaged audiences and are often more open to detailed written reviews. If you want ideas for how to approach outreach and collaboration, the team at Ahrefs share plenty of practical examples on their blog. 3. Turn Your Category Pages Into Resources Worth Linking To For most e‑commerce sites, category pages carry a lot of commercial intent. If you rank well for “women’s hiking boots” or “vegan protein powder”, for example, those visitors are usually ready to buy. The problem is that many category pages are just a grid of products. That is fine for users who already know exactly what they want, but it gives other sites very little reason to link to you. Add content that actually helps people choose You do not need to turn every category into a blog post, but you can build in genuinely useful content around the product listings, such as a short buying guide or quick checklist; size, fit, or material guidance; answers to questions customers regularly ask; and links related to ‘how to’ guides. This helps users make better decisions and gives editors, bloggers and journalists something more substantial to reference when they link. Support category pages with helpful content You can also create articles that sit near your categories in the site structure, then link internally. For example: “How to choose the right running shoes for beginners” linking to your running shoes category “What to pack for a European city break” linking to luggage and travel accessories “Beginner’s guide to skincare ingredients” pointing to your skincare ranges Internal linking is covered in detail in the Moz Learn SEO hub and on the Semrush blog. The key idea is simple. Helpful content attracts links, and those links can then be passed through to your money pages via smart internal linking. 4. Use Competitor Backlink Data To Find Real Opportunities You do not have to guess where to build links. Your competitors are already showing you what works. Work out who you are really competing with in search Your main SEO competitors are the sites that rank where you want to rank. That might be a marketplace, a DTC brand or a specialist blog. Start by searching for a few of your core category and product terms and make a list of the domains that appear again and again. Check where their links are coming from Tools like Ahrefs, Semrush and Moz Link Explorer allow you to plug in a domain and see who is linking to it. When you scan that data for a few key competitors, you will often find gift guides that feature their products; “Top 10” style product roundups; niche blogs that review items in your category; resource pages or directories relevant to your industry; and broken links pointing to old or discontinued product pages. Each one of these is a possible opportunity. If a site has already linked to similar products or brands, there is a reasonable chance they will be open to adding or updating content to feature you too. For a deeper dive into this kind of research, Backlinko’s content on competitor analysis is a good starting point. 5. Use Seasonal Content To Win Timely, Relevant Links Retail runs on seasons. Search behaviour does too. People look for different things at Christmas, during Black Friday, in summer, at the start of the school year and so on. If you plan for that, you can put yourself in a strong position when journalists and creators start looking for products to talk about. Create seasonal pages with a long shelf life Instead of treating every promotion as a one off, consider building seasonal pages you can update each year, such as: Christmas gift ideas by price or recipient Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals Mother’s Day and Father’s Day gift suggestions Summer holiday essentials Back to school checklists If those pages are well structured, genuinely useful and updated regularly, they can pick up links over multiple years rather than losing everything when a sale ends. Watch for journalist requests around key dates Ahead of major events, journalists and freelancers put out a lot of requests for gift ideas, product recommendations, expert quotes, and deal roundups. You can find some of these on Qwoted, SourceBottle and, again, through the #journorequest thread on X. Responding quickly with a clear pitch, strong imagery and a link to your relevant seasonal page gives you a good chance of being included. If you want a more formal steer from Google on building useful content that can be refreshed, their guidance on creating helpful content is worth a read. Final Thoughts Link building for e‑commerce does not need to be mysterious. It is mostly about putting the right content in front of the right people at the right time. If you make your products easy to feature in the press; work with creators who publish proper reviews and guides; turn your category pages into helpful resources; learn from the backlinks your competitors already have; and plan for seasonal demand rather than reacting at the last minute, you will naturally build a stronger backlink profile. Over time, that means better rankings, more trust and more sales.You do not have to do everything at once. Start with the tactic that feels most achievable this quarter, get a simple process in place, then layer in other strategies as you