Internal Linking Strategies for Shopify Ecommerce Sites

Internal linking remains one of the most underused opportunities across Shopify sites, despite playing a major role in how products and collections are discovered.

A lot of brands still think about internal linking as a basic SEO task focused on navigation, blog content or adding a few links into copy. In reality, internal linking is one of the core ways Google understands the relationship between products, collections, categories and search intent across a Shopify site.

It also directly impacts how users discover products.

The strongest stores I’ve seen aren’t just using basic breadcrumbs and internal links from the menu, but they’re using custom meta fields to improve the amount of internal links on collections and PDP’s. 

Why Internal Linking Matters for Shopify SEO

Internal links help Google understand which pages are important, how products relate to collections and how different areas of the site connect together.

For Shopify stores, this becomes increasingly important as product ranges grow & brands add deeper collections to target middle funnel search terms, without strong internal linking, deeper collections & products can quickly become isolated and deeper search intent opportunities become harder for Google to interpret.

The goal is not simply adding more links across the site. It is building clearer discovery pathways between products, collections, supporting content and priority commercial pages.

The Problem With Weak Shopify Internal Linking

One of the most common issues across Shopify stores is relying too heavily on navigation menus and product grids as the primary internal linking structure.

The issue is these elements often fail to reinforce deeper contextual relationships between collections, products, search intent, product attributes and supporting categories.

As a result, Shopify stores often end up with shallow collection depth, weak hierarchy, disconnected products and poor discovery journeys.

This becomes especially problematic for larger sites where Google relies more heavily on internal linking to understand page relationships due to the pretty rigid Shopify URL structure. 

Related Collection Links

Related collection links are one of the simplest but most effective internal linking improvements for Shopify stores.

Many collections exist in isolation with no supporting pathways into adjacent search journeys. For example, a collection targeting “Moisturisers for Sensitive Skin” should naturally connect to closely related collections such as fragrance free moisturisers, barrier repair moisturisers, night moisturisers or sensitive skin cleansers.

This helps reinforce topical relationships while improving user discovery.

This is easy enough to do by adding a simple custom meta field allowing you to add between 3-5 internal links which sit at the bottom of collections (Top of the page is also fine, all comes down to how you like the design out putted)

Expanded Product Breadcrumb Links

Breadcrumbs remain heavily underutilised across Shopify ecommerce sites.

Many stores still rely on dynamic breadcrumbs or extremely shallow structures such as “Home > Product” or “Home > Moisturisers > Product”.

The issue is these structures provide very little context around the product’s place within the wider site hierarchy.

Expanded breadcrumbs create a clearer relationship between parent collections, sub collections and products. For example, “Home > Moisturisers > Sensitive Skin > Product” gives both users and search engines a stronger understanding of where that product sits within the wider ecommerce structure.

This not only improves user navigation but also strengthens internal linking signals throughout the site.

PDP to Collection Links

A lot of Shopify PDPs act almost like dead-end pages.

Users land on the product, but there are often very few pathways encouraging deeper exploration of relevant collections.

Adding stronger PDP to collection links helps reinforce where products belong within the wider ecommerce structure. A running shoe product, for example, could naturally link back into running shoes, neutral running shoes, marathon running shoes or men’s running footwear depending on how the site is structured.

This strengthens the relationship between the product and the collections it supports while also improving the likelihood of users continuing their shopping journey beyond a single PDP.

PDP Cross Sell Links

Cross sell linking is often treated purely as a conversion feature, but it also plays an important role in internal linking.

Strategically connected products help reinforce relationships between complementary products, product types, routines, use cases and bundles.

A rash guard may naturally link to fight shorts. A moisturiser may link to a cleanser. A protein powder may link to a shaker. A dress may link to matching accessories.

This creates additional internal discovery pathways while also improving average basket opportunities.

The strongest implementations feel contextually relevant rather than overly forced or algorithmically random.

PDP Attribute Field Links

One of the most overlooked Shopify internal linking opportunities is attribute based linking.

Many products contain valuable attributes which are visible as plain text rather than internal links. These could include skin concern, material, flavour, fit, finish, activity type, colour or ingredient focus.

Turning these attributes into internal collection links creates significantly stronger discovery pathways.

For example, “Sensitive Skin” can link to a dedicated sensitive skin collection. “Linen” can link to linen product collections. “Vegan Protein” can link into a relevant vegan protein range.

This helps strengthen long-tail collection visibility, topical relevance and search intent alignment. It also allows Shopify stores to scale internal linking naturally across large product inventories.

Blog to Collection Links

A lot of Shopify stores produce informational content which remains heavily disconnected from commercial pages.

Blog content should actively support product and collection discovery.

For example, an article discussing how to repair a damaged skin barrier should naturally support collections around barrier repair moisturisers, sensitive skin products or ceramide moisturisers.

This creates a stronger bridge between informational and commercial search intent.

It also helps distribute authority from informational content into revenue driving collections.

The strongest ecommerce content strategies are rarely isolated blog strategies. They are integrated discovery strategies.

Related Product Links

Related product linking helps reinforce relationships between products while improving product exploration.

However, many Shopify implementations rely too heavily on automated “related products” widgets which often generate weak or irrelevant connections.

The strongest related product linking structures are aligned around use case, style, product intent, collection relationship and customer behaviour.

This creates more meaningful internal linking pathways while supporting stronger user journeys.

Footer Priority Links

Footer links still play an important role within Shopify site architecture, particularly for reinforcing priority commercial pages.

A lot of ecommerce stores waste footer space on low-value or duplicated links while failing to reinforce important collections, seasonal categories, high margin product ranges or strategic landing pages.

The goal is not creating an excessively large footer.

The goal is reinforcing the pages which matter most commercially.

Final Thoughts

Internal linking is one of the foundational layers of ecommerce SEO, particularly across Shopify stores with growing product and collection inventories.

The brands seeing the strongest organic growth are usually the ones building internal linking strategies around product discovery, collection relationships, search intent, merchandising structure and user navigation.

Because modern ecommerce visibility is no longer just about individual pages ranking.

It is about how effectively the entire site helps products, collections and categories connect together.