Link Building, Technical SEO, and E-commerce – Optimize Your Site from A to Z
In this article, we focus on link building, technical SEO, and E-commerce SEO. Additionally, you'll learn how to analyze your results. We also explore essential tools that help you ensure your SEO strategy stays on track.
This article on link building, technical SEO, and e-commerce SEO is the 4th part of our comprehensive SEO guide, covering all aspects of SEO.
Link Structure and Link Building
The link structure refers to the links on your site, which can be either internal or external. Links are one of the key factors in search engine optimization and are essential to manage effectively.
Internal Links
Internal links help distribute link value throughout your website, improving SEO and making it easier for both users and search engines to navigate.
By connecting relevant content, internal links create a logical flow through your site.
Therefore, it's crucial to have a good menu structure and to use links directly within your text to other relevant subpages.
External Links
External links play a significant role in an effective SEO strategy as they act as "votes" from other websites, indicating your site's credibility and relevance.
When reputable and high-ranking websites link to your site, it signals to search engines like Google that your content is valuable and reliable. This can improve your site's ranking in search results.
However, it's important that external links are relevant to your content and come from high-quality sites, as links from low-quality domains can have the opposite effect.
Link Building
Link building is the process of acquiring backlinks from other websites to your own.
Backlinks serve as recommendations that can enhance your site's authority and ranking on search engines.
How to Build Links
A solid link-building strategy should focus on creating value, for example, through guest blogging, partnerships, or content that naturally attracts links from other relevant sites—such as via a blog.
Here are some examples of ways to build links:
1. Guest Blogging
Guest blogging involves writing articles for other websites or blogs in your industry. The articles can include links to your website if they provide value to the reader.
Example: If you sell tickets to an amusement park, you could offer an article to an industry blog on the topic "Top 5 Amusement Parks in Europe" and include a link to your solution as a great option in Denmark.
2. Creating Valuable Content
Unique and informative content, such as infographics, guides, videos, or research, can naturally attract links from other websites that wish to share or reference your content.
Example: Create a detailed report on a relevant trend in your industry, e.g., "Amusement Parks Investing Record Amounts in New Attractions."
If the report is well-executed, other media and blogs are likely to link to it.
3. Partnerships and Collaborations
Collaborate with companies or organizations where you can link to each other's sites as part of the partnership.
Example: If you run a webshop selling tickets to amusement parks, you could collaborate with other parks in Europe and get a link on their site in an article about your collaboration.
4. User Reviews and Testimonials
Write testimonials for other businesses, products, or services you have used. They will often include a link back to your website as a thank-you.
Example: Provide a review of an industry platform you use and suggest that they mention your company as a user of their service.
5. Broken Link Building
Broken link building involves finding dead links on other websites and offering your own relevant resource as a replacement.
Example: If an industry blog links to an article that no longer exists, you can contact them and suggest they link to a similar article you have on your website.
6. Media Coverage and PR
Write press releases or create stories that are interesting to media and blogs. Journalists and bloggers often link to the source when writing about a story.
Example: If your amusement park launches a new attraction or achieves a milestone, you can issue a press release and get coverage with a link back to your website.
7. Participating in Online Communities
Be active on niche forums, industry groups, and Q&A platforms. Share your knowledge and link to your website when relevant.
Example: If you run a blog about amusement parks, you can answer questions about new attractions at a specific park on a forum and refer to a guide on your website.
Natural Links
Remember, natural links—those that occur without direct solicitation—are the most valuable. Therefore, focus on creating great and relevant content that others want to share, such as blog posts highlighting your expertise or industry.
Link Building Assistance
At Flex4Business ApS, we can help you gain more high-quality links pointing to your site.
Images and Other Media
Images and videos play a central role in increasing user engagement and improving your site's SEO. Visual content quickly captures the user's attention, and Google values pages that include images and other media. However, it's equally important that they are optimized for fast loading.
Importance of Images/Videos
Use relevant and optimized images and videos in your content to illustrate topics, explain concepts (infographics), showcase products, bring content to life, and make it more relevant.
When using images, it’s important to add ALT text describing the image—used, for example, if the image cannot be loaded.
Image and Video Formats
When uploading images, the format matters.
Historically, formats like GIF, JPG/JPEG, and PNG were common.
Today, modern image formats such as WebP and AVIF are preferred because they load faster without noticeable quality loss. This contributes to a better user experience and a greener site.
For videos, MP4 has been a widely used format and remains a good choice as it continues to evolve. However, better alternatives have also emerged. The most commonly used new format for web videos is WebM. This format significantly reduces file size with minimal quality loss, making it preferable.
Image and Video Size
When using images and videos online, it is essential to ensure they are compressed.
Most systems, including the Flex4B system, compress files for you.
However, compression is crucial for search engine optimization, and further manual compression can be beneficial for advanced SEO.
Resize images to fit their intended usage. For example, if the maximum display size is half a standard screen, a width of about 1000px is usually sufficient. Resizing is easy with built-in programs on both Mac and Windows PCs.
Videos can be compressed online using various tools to make them as small as possible while maintaining acceptable quality.
A good tool for this is Freeconvert.com.
Technical SEO
Another very important part of search engine optimization is technical SEO.
As a Flex4B customer, Flex4Business ApS takes care of all the items listed below, so you don’t have to think about them.
Responsive Design and Mobile-First
A responsive, mobile-optimized site is crucial. A responsive site automatically adjusts to various screens, such as smartphones, tablets, and computers.
Google uses mobile-first indexing, so it’s essential that the site works optimally on smartphones and is coded with mobile-first in mind.
Additionally, since most traffic today comes from smartphones, this makes mobile optimization even more important.
URL Naming
When choosing a URL name, it’s important to consider both the name itself and the domain extension (TLD).
If the site will only be used in Denmark, .dk is often the best choice. For Europe, .eu might be a good option, and for global use, .com or .net are suitable.
There are also industry-specific domains, but in some cases, these can cause issues due to being longer than three characters.
HTTPS / SSL
HTTPS / SSL is a security standard that enhances the credibility of a site by showing users that it’s secure.
When a site runs on HTTPS / SSL, it has a valid certificate, and most importantly, all traffic—such as from forms—is encrypted, preventing it from being hacked as easily as plaintext traffic.
Google penalizes sites that do not use HTTPS / SSL.
Sikkerpånette.dk
Follow guidelines from Sikkerpånette.dk to ensure your site is optimally protected.
Sikker På Nettet is an initiative by major partners, including Dansk Erhverv, the Center for Cybersecurity, the Danish Business Authority, Dansk Industri, and e-mærket, aimed at ensuring that Danish websites are secure and meet modern standards.
It’s always a good idea to ensure you achieve a high green score on this platform.
Flex4B customers can achieve 100% on Sikkerpånette.dk.
Page Speed: Core Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals are important metrics that help ensure a website is fast, stable, and easy to use. By focusing on speed, responsiveness, and visual stability, you can improve the user experience and your site’s visibility on Google.
Core Web Vitals are central to Google’s evaluation of the user experience on a website and consist of three key metrics:
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)
Measures how quickly the largest visible content (e.g., an image or text block) is loaded.
FID (First Input Delay)
Measures how quickly the site responds when a user interacts with it, such as clicking a button.
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)
Measures visual shifts on the page during loading that might disrupt the user.
Optimizing these metrics is crucial to improving both the user experience and search engine rankings.
You can check performance with Pagespeed Insights or Lighthouse, which are effectively the same tool. Note that achieving a 100% score on a site with images, videos, etc., isn’t realistic, so focus on improving the aspects highlighted by these tools.
At Flex4Business ApS, we continuously optimize our system to perform as well as possible in terms of Core Web Vitals.
Schema Markup and JSON-LD
Schema markup (Schema.org) structures the data on your website to help search engines like Google better understand your content. This enables the display of "rich results" in search results, such as star ratings, prices, events, and FAQs, which can increase click-through rates.
JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data) is a popular method of implementing schema markup.
It is a script-based, easy-to-read structure that is embedded directly in the site’s HTML.
Example: For a recipe, JSON-LD can define ingredients, preparation time, and images so that search engines present the recipe with these details in search results.
By using schema markup via JSON-LD, you can make your site more visible and appealing to users in search results.
With the Flex4B system, this is done automatically based on the content you create.
Robots.txt
Robots.txt is a simple text file located in the root of your website that provides instructions to search engine crawlers about which parts of the site they can or cannot index.
It is used to control access to specific pages or files you don’t want to appear in search results, such as admin panels or temporary pages.
A properly configured robots.txt can help optimize crawl budgets and protect sensitive areas of your site.
Sitemap
An XML sitemap is a file containing a structured list of all the important pages on your website.
It helps search engines like Google quickly find and index your content, especially if your site has many subpages or a complex structure.
A good XML sitemap can include information about when a page was last updated and its importance relative to other pages, improving your site’s visibility in search results.
If you use the Flex4B system, an XML sitemap file is automatically generated for all your pages and included in robots.txt.
Semantic Tags
Semantic tags in HTML are elements that clearly describe their content and function, making it easier for search engines and assistive technologies to understand the structure of a website.
Examples include
header, footer, nav etc.
These tags improve SEO by making the page hierarchy and content more understandable to search engines while enhancing accessibility for screen reader users.
By using semantic tags instead of generic tags like div, you create a better user experience and a more structured website.
In the Flex4B system, semantic tags are automatically utilized for your content.
Language on the Site
The hreflang attribute is used to specify the language and geographic targeting for a specific page on a website.
This helps search engines like Google display the correct version of your site to users based on their language settings and location.
For instance, if you have a page in both Danish and English, you can use hreflang to distinguish between them so that Danish users see the Danish version and English-speaking users see the English version.
Proper hreflang implementation improves the user experience and reduces the risk of duplicate content in search results.
This is also automatically handled in the Flex4B system.
Open Graph
Open Graph is a technology that helps you determine how your website appears when shared on social media platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn.
By using Open Graph, you can choose the title, image, and text displayed, making your shares more attractive and clear to users.
This can help increase clicks and engagement with your content.
In the Flex4B system, you can easily and user-friendly manage Open Graph tags to control how your content appears on social media.
All Technical Aspects Are Handled in the Flex4B System
With the Flex4B system, technical SEO is managed for you. We handle it automatically and keep it constantly updated.
Where we need input from you—such as headlines, descriptions, etc.—it’s done easily and user-friendly during the setup process, without requiring technical knowledge.
SEO in Open Source
If you use open-source platforms such as WordPress or Magento, SEO optimization often requires additional plugins and significant effort. Popular solutions such as Yoast, All in One SEO Pack, or Magento SEO Suite Ultimate can help, but this is only part of the task. You must handle the installation, configuration, and ongoing updates of both the platform and plugins to ensure everything functions properly and adheres to the latest standards. This can quickly become time-consuming and technically demanding, especially if errors or conflicts arise.
There are also additional costs, and you become dependent on third-party developers for updates and support.
With a SaaS solution where SEO features are integrated as part of the platform, you avoid the hassle of managing updates and compatibility. Optimizations and maintenance are handled automatically, giving you more time to focus on your business instead of technical details.
E-Commerce / Webshop SEO
E-commerce SEO focuses on optimizing product descriptions, category pages, and keywords to attract customers.
Optimizing Product Descriptions
Product descriptions are a crucial part of any webshop because they need to attract search engines and persuade customers to complete a purchase. It’s essential for descriptions to be unique and targeted.
If your webshop sells tickets to an amusement park, avoid generic descriptions like "Buy tickets for a fun day at the park" and instead create detailed and engaging content highlighting unique aspects of the experience.
For instance, include information about which attractions the ticket grants access to, special benefits like fast access to popular rides, or discounts on food and beverages.
Incorporate relevant keywords that customers are likely to search for, such as "tickets to amusement park," "family day at amusement park," or "kid-friendly attractions."
Additionally, include local keywords like city names in long-tail keywords, as we learned in a previous article in our comprehensive SEO guide.
These strategies make your product descriptions more visible in search engines and help potential customers understand the value of your offerings.
Category Pages
Category pages are critical for webshops as they serve as entry points for both search engines and customers.
For an amusement park selling tickets, category pages can be divided into groups such as "Family Tickets," "Group Tickets," "Season Passes," and "Special Tickets." Each category page should include a detailed description explaining what the category covers and the benefits customers can expect.
Customer Reviews and Ratings
Customer reviews and ratings are powerful tools for building trust with potential customers and improving your SEO.
For an amusement park, reviews can provide an authentic look at others’ experiences and what makes the visit worthwhile.
For example, a customer might write, "The season pass gave our family access to the park all summer, and we saved money on food and souvenirs," which serves as social proof and valuable content.
Reviews also generate unique text content that helps your webshop rank better in search engines because keywords and phrases often naturally appear. Highlight selected reviews on product and category pages to make them even more trustworthy.
Schema Markup and JSON-LD
As previously mentioned, Schema Markup with JSON-LD is an excellent way to provide search engines with structured information.
For products and shops, specific schemas tailored to these purposes must be used.
In the Flex4B system, this is, as always, handled automatically based on the content you create.
Analyze Results
Continuously monitor performance and adjust your strategy based on data.
KPIs and ROI
Define KPIs and measure ROI to determine whether your SEO strategy is delivering results.
KPI (Key Performance Indicator) is a metric used to assess how well your business or specific activities are performing against set goals. In a webshop, relevant KPIs could include conversion rates, average order value, number of visitors, or customer satisfaction. Measuring KPIs enables you to continuously monitor and optimize the areas of your webshop that have the greatest impact on your success. KPIs should be clear, measurable, and aligned with your overarching business goals.
ROI (Return on Investment) measures how effectively you use your resources and how much profit you make from a given investment. ROI is calculated as (earnings - investment) / investment, which gives a percentage showing how much return you get for every dollar invested. For a webshop, ROI can be used to measure the value of marketing campaigns, such as how much revenue a Google Ads campaign generates compared to its cost. A high ROI indicates a successful investment, while a low or negative ROI signals the need for optimization.
The combination of KPI and ROI gives you a strong understanding of both short-term performance and long-term profitability in your webshop.
Analytical Tools
Google Tag Manager / Google Analytics
Use these tools to track user behavior, traffic sources, and conversions.
Google Search Console
Identify issues, view keywords and CTR, and submit sitemaps.
SEO Analysis Tools
Morningscore
Morningscore is a Danish tool for tracking SEO performance.
Ahrefs
Ahrefs is ideal for backlink analysis, competitor analysis, and keyword research.
SEO Guide - All Articles
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