Backlinks
Backlinks (inbound links or incoming links) are hyperlinks from external websites pointing to your store. They're one of Google's strongest ranking signals because they represent third-party endorsements of your content's quality and relevance.
Why It Matters for Shopify Stores
Backlinks from authoritative, relevant websites can dramatically improve your store's domain authority and ranking ability across all pages. A Shopify store with strong backlinks from relevant blogs, press coverage, and industry directories outranks competitors with better on-page SEO but no external links. While backlink building is beyond the scope of a technical audit, understanding that link authority is a major ranking factor puts on-page optimizations in context — they work best when combined with a link building strategy.
How to Check Your Store
Use Google Search Console > Links to see your top linking domains and most linked pages. Free backlink analysis tools include Ahrefs Backlink Checker and Moz Link Explorer.
Use the free shopify seo score toolHow to Fix It
Earn backlinks through: getting press coverage, creating linkable content (original research, tools, guides), guest posting on relevant industry blogs, and being listed in relevant directories.
Related Terms
Organic Traffic
SEOOrganic traffic refers to visitors who arrive at your store through unpaid search engine results — not via paid ads, social media, or direct visits.
Domain Authority
SEODomain Authority (DA) is a Moz-developed score from 1–100 predicting how well a website will rank in search engines based on the quantity and quality of its backlink profile.
Anchor Text
SEOAnchor text is the clickable, visible text of a hyperlink.
E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness)
SEOE-E-A-T is Google's framework for evaluating content quality, introduced in its Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines.
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