Keyword research tells you which searches to target and what each page must say to rank; link building earns the votes from other sites that help those pages compete. Prioritize keyword research first when your pages target the wrong queries or no one searches for them, and prioritize link building when your pages already match demand and intent but stall behind competitors with stronger backlink profiles.
This guide is for e-commerce and Shopify teams deciding where to spend a limited SEO budget. You'll get a side-by-side comparison, a decision table for when to prioritize each, a six-month sequence that combines them, what Google and Ahrefs data say about links today, and how AI search changes the balance.
Keyword research vs link building: the difference
Keyword research is finding the words shoppers type into Google (and increasingly ChatGPT and Perplexity) when they look for what you sell, then judging each term's demand, intent and difficulty. It decides what pages you build and what goes on them.
Link building is earning links from other websites to yours. Links help Google discover your pages and signal that other people find them worth referencing. Our guide to what link building is covers the tactics in depth.
They aren't competitors. Ahrefs' search traffic study (December 2023) says that, assuming a page is indexed, there are only three reasons it gets no organic traffic:
- No search demand. Nobody searches for the topic, so even ranking first brings no visits.
- No backlinks. On competitive queries, pages without links rarely reach page one.
- Search intent mismatch. The page isn't the kind of result Google shows for that query.
Two of those three are keyword research problems. One is a link problem. That's the simplest way to think about priority: figure out which of the three is holding your pages back, then fix that one first.
What keyword research does for a store
For an online store, keyword research is mostly about matching the right page type to the right search. "Waterproof hiking boots" is a collection page. "Best waterproof hiking boots for wide feet" might be a buying guide. "How to waterproof leather boots" is a how-to post that links to your care products. Get that mapping wrong and no amount of links will fix it, because Google won't see the page as the right answer.
What good keyword research produces
- A keyword map. One primary keyword per URL, so your pages don't compete with each other. Our keyword mapping guide shows how to build one, and the keyword cannibalization checker finds overlaps you already have.
- Collection and product page targets. The terms your money pages should rank for, written into titles, H1s and intro copy. See Shopify SEO keywords for store-specific examples.
- A content list. Questions and comparisons that blog posts and guides can answer, each linking to a product.
- Realistic targets. Terms where your site can compete now, versus terms that will need links first.
Don't dismiss small keywords. Ahrefs' long-tail keyword guide (updated May 2026) says keywords with fewer than 10 monthly searches make up almost 93% of its U.S. keyword database. Individually they're tiny; together they're most of the searches your shoppers make, and they're usually far easier to win without links.
Source: Ahrefs, Search Traffic Study (December 2023) and Long-Tail Keywords guide (updated May 2026)
What link building does for a store
Links still matter to Google. Its ranking systems guide says PageRank, one of its original core systems, "continues to be part of our core ranking systems," and its SEO Starter Guide says Google "primarily finds pages through links from other pages it already crawled." Links from relevant sites help your pages get found, crawled and trusted.
For stores, the best links usually come from places that already talk about your products or category:
- Gift guides and product roundups from publishers and bloggers in your niche
- Supplier, manufacturer and retailer pages that list where to buy
- Press coverage of a launch, a founder story or original data you publish
- Existing mentions of your brand that don't link yet (see unlinked brand mentions)
- Resource pages, communities and local organizations you genuinely work with
Links also cost more per result than keyword work. Researching and mapping keywords for an entire catalog is a fixed, mostly in-house project. Each good link takes outreach, a reason for the other site to care and often weeks of follow-up. That's why keyword research usually comes first: it makes sure the pages you're building links to are worth linking to.
We benchmark your store against your top three competitors on Google and AI answers, show which pages are ready to move and the fixes to prioritize.
Keyword research vs link building compared
| Factor | Keyword research | Link building |
|---|---|---|
| Main question | What should we rank for, and with which page? | Why should Google trust this page over competitors? |
| Fixes | No search demand, intent mismatch, cannibalization | Not enough authority to compete on contested queries |
| Who controls it | You: it's research and on-site changes | Other site owners: you earn it, you can't force it |
| Typical cost | Mostly time and a keyword tool | Ongoing outreach, content and PR effort |
| Speed to see impact | Weeks, once pages are updated and recrawled | Usually months, and harder to attribute |
| Biggest risk | Targeting terms that don't convert | Spammy links that break Google's policies |
When to prioritize each: a decision table
Use Google Search Console to find your situation. Look at your most important collection and product pages, their impressions and their average position for the keywords you want, then find the matching row.
| Your situation | Prioritize | Why | First move |
|---|---|---|---|
| New store or new category, few pages indexed | Keyword research | You need the right pages before anyone has a reason to link | Build a keyword map for every collection and top product |
| Pages get almost no impressions | Keyword research | The page likely targets terms nobody searches or the wrong intent | Check demand and what type of page ranks for the term |
| Two of your pages swap places for one keyword | Keyword research | Cannibalization splits signals; links won't fix it | Pick one URL per keyword and consolidate |
| Pages rank in positions 8 to 20 for valuable terms | Both, links first | Intent matches, but competitors have more authority | Compare referring domains with the top three results |
| Long-tail and niche queries with weak competition | Keyword research | These can rank with few or no backlinks | Publish guides and FAQs that answer them directly |
| Competitive head terms (for example, "running shoes") | Link building | Ahrefs says competitive terms are very hard to rank for without backlinks | Create a linkable asset and run outreach |
| Strong rankings, but few AI mentions | Link building and mentions | AI visibility correlates more with brand mentions than links | Pursue reviews, roundups and press that name your brand |
The pattern: keyword research is the default first step for nearly every store, and link building becomes the priority once your pages already deserve to rank and the only thing missing is authority.
How to combine them: a 6-month sequence
Most stores get the best return by running keyword research first, then layering link building on top of the pages that are already close. Here's a sequence that works for a typical Shopify brand.
- Month 1: research and map. Pull your queries from Search Console, research demand for every collection and top product, and assign one primary keyword per URL.
- Month 1 to 2: fix on-page targeting. Rewrite titles, H1s and collection intros to match the mapped keyword and intent. Merge or redirect pages that cannibalize each other.
- Month 2 to 3: fill content gaps. Publish the guides and comparisons your keyword research turned up, each linking to a collection. Use the internal link checker to make sure your money pages get links from your own site first.
- Month 3: find the near misses. In Search Console, list pages ranking in positions 8 to 20 for valuable terms. These are your link-building targets.
- Month 3 to 6: earn links to those pages. Start with unlinked brand mentions and supplier pages, then pitch gift guides and roundups. Check that anchor text stays natural with the anchor text analyzer.
- Every month: measure and repeat. Track position, clicks and organic revenue for the target pages. Re-run keyword research each quarter, because demand shifts with seasons and trends.
Google's SEO Starter Guide notes that some changes take effect in a few hours while others could take several months, so judge each phase over weeks, not days.
What the data says about links today
Ahrefs has published more data on links than anyone, and two findings are useful for prioritizing.
Pages with no backlinks rarely get much traffic
In its December 2023 search traffic study, Ahrefs found roughly 20 million pages in its index with no referring domains, and only 2,997 of them got more than 1,000 search visits a month. That's about 1 in every 6,671. Ahrefs is careful to note this is correlation, not causation, and that low-competition topics can get traffic with few or no links. But for anything competitive, links are part of the price of entry.
For AI answers, mentions beat raw link counts
For AI search, the picture is different. Ahrefs studied 75,000 brands in May 2025 to see which factors correlate with being mentioned in Google AI Overviews. Branded web mentions had the strongest correlation by far. Raw backlink count ranked well below it.
View the data
| Value | |
|---|---|
| Branded web mentions | 0.7 |
| Branded anchors | 0.5 |
| Branded search volume | 0.4 |
| Domain Rating | 0.3 |
| Referring domains | 0.3 |
| Branded traffic | 0.3 |
| Number of backlinks | 0.2 |
| URL Rating | 0.2 |
Source: Ahrefs, AI Overview brand visibility factors (75K brands studied), May 2025
These are Spearman correlations, not proof of cause, and Ahrefs describes all of them as moderate to very weak. Still, the direction is clear: for AI answers, being talked about by name across the web appears to matter more than accumulating links. For a store, that means the best link-building tactics are the ones that also get your brand named: roundups, reviews, press and partnerships.
Our free $100M AI Visibility Roadmap, built from 7,960 live pages and 197 A/B tests, covers getting cited by ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity.
How AI search changes keyword research too
AI assistants don't take keywords the way Google's search box does. Shoppers type full questions, and Ahrefs' long-tail keyword guide notes that over 95% of conversational long-tail queries have no measurable search volume in keyword tools. Keyword research still tells you the topics and the language people use, but you also need to cover the questions around them.
- Answer the question in the first two sentences. AI Overviews and ChatGPT tend to quote direct answers.
- Cover comparisons and "best for" questions. These are the prompts where AI tools recommend products.
- Keep product facts consistent everywhere. Your site, marketplace listings and reviews should agree on specs, sizes and prices.
- Check how AI tools see your pages. The AEO checker reviews a page for answer-engine readiness.
The practical result: keyword research now covers questions as well as keywords, and link building now covers mentions as well as links. The two jobs are closer together than they used to be.
Mistakes that waste keyword and link budgets
- Building links to the homepage only. Homepage links help the brand, but your collection pages are what rank for buying searches. Point outreach at the specific pages your keyword map says should rank.
- Chasing volume over intent. A 40,000-search informational term can bring readers who never buy, while a 300-search "best X for Y" term brings shoppers ready to compare products. Rank keyword targets by likely revenue, not volume alone.
- Treating keyword research as a one-off. New products, seasons and competitors change what people search. A keyword map from two years ago is probably pointing some terms at the wrong pages.
- Using exact-match anchors everywhere. If every link to your boots collection says "waterproof hiking boots," it looks engineered. Natural anchors mix your brand name, page titles and plain URLs.
- Judging links by count. One link from a respected publication in your category usually does more than dozens from unrelated directories. Relevance and the linking site's own quality matter more than the total.
- Skipping internal links. Before you ask other sites to link to a page, make sure your own blog posts and menus do. It's the one kind of link you fully control.
Where to start this week
Open Search Console and sort your pages by impressions. If your most important collections barely appear, start with keyword research and fix your targeting. If they're showing on page two for the terms you want, list them and start earning links to those pages. Either way, map your keywords first so every link you earn points to a page that deserves it.
If you want help deciding which comes first for your store, talk to our team or see how we run SEO for e-commerce brands.
Book a free 30-minute call. We'll show you the pages closest to ranking, what's holding them back and the revenue math.
