Link building for a Finnish online store works best when links point at category pages and useful content, come from sources Finnish shoppers already trust, and are tagged correctly whenever money or free products are involved. An online store has more pages than a service business, and those pages change more often. Its links also have to survive stock changes, seasonal campaigns and strict Finnish rules on advertising and reviews.
This guide covers how Finns shop online and which link sources suit online stores. It also covers which pages should receive the links and the mistakes that cost Finnish stores the most. It builds on the general guide to link building in Finland and focuses on what is different for e-commerce.
How Finnish consumers shop online
Almost every Finnish adult buys online. In Paytrail’s Verkkokauppa Suomessa 2026 report (survey run during 2025), 91% of Finnish respondents had bought something online in the previous 28 days. That included 85% of people over 60. Most shopping starts on a phone: 68% used a smartphone to shop.
How Finns shop online
The buyer behaviour your links and landing pages need to match
Reach
Domestic vs foreign stores
Checkout and delivery
Sources: Paytrail, Verkkokauppa Suomessa 2026 (survey run during 2025); Posti E-commerce Index, spring 2025. Checked September 2026.
Three habits matter for SEO and link building:
- Finns buy from Finnish stores first. In Posti’s spring 2025 E-commerce Index, 82% ordered from Finnish web shops regularly or occasionally, compared with 52% from foreign ones. Germany, Sweden and China were the most common foreign sources.
- Delivery and payment decide the sale. Nearly 75% prefer a pickup point or parcel locker (noutopiste, pakettiautomaatti) to home delivery. Online bank payments (verkkopankkimaksu) and MobilePay are the preferred payment methods.
- Many carts are abandoned. 43% had abandoned a purchase in the past 28 days. High shipping costs were the reason for 40% of them, and a missing payment method for 17%.
These figures show why links alone rarely fix a Finnish store. A link can bring a shopper to the page, but the page still has to show euro prices, familiar delivery options and familiar payment methods. For the wider search picture, including Google’s share in Finland, see the guide to SEO in Finland.
Why e-commerce link building is different
E-commerce link building differs from service link building in one main way: the pages that earn money are the pages other sites least want to link to. A journalist or blogger will happily link to a useful guide. Few will link to a product page with a “buy now” button.
Product pages are short-lived
Products sell out, change model numbers and disappear. A link to a discontinued product page loses its value when that URL returns a 404 error (page not found). Category pages such as naisten talvikengät (women’s winter shoes) usually exist for years, which makes them safer link targets.
Google reads internal links as a sign of importance
Google’s e-commerce documentation says that the more links a page has within a site, the higher its relative importance. It recommends linking from menus to category pages, from category pages to sub-categories, and from sub-categories to products. External links pass value into the page they point at, and internal links then spread that value further. For online stores, internal linking is therefore half of the link building work.
Finnish keywords change form
A Finnish shopper might search talvikengät, talvikenkiä or talvikenkien alennus. These are the same word in different grammatical cases. This affects how you name categories and which anchor text looks natural. The guide to anchor text in Finnish explains how the 15 noun cases change anchor planning.
Which pages should receive links
Aim most external links at category pages and linkable content, and let internal links carry that value to products.
| Page type | Good link target? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Home page | Yes, for brand and sponsorship links | Natural target for brand mentions; passes value through the main menu |
| Category page | Yes, the main commercial target | Stable URL, ranks for high-volume Finnish terms |
| Sub-category page | Yes, for specific niches | Easier to rank, often closer to purchase intent |
| Product page | Only for reviews and price comparison | Short lifespan; links lost when products are discontinued |
| Buying guide or blog post | Yes, the easiest to earn | Editors link to useful content, not to shop pages |
| Data or research page | Yes, for digital PR | Journalists cite data, and the page can link to categories |
Before you plan targets, confirm what Finns actually call each category. The guide to Finnish keyword research covers tools and methods that work for non-Finnish speakers.
Link sources that work for Finnish online stores
The strongest links for a Finnish store come from its own supply chain, the Finnish media and genuinely useful content. Paid and product-for-review links have a place too, but they must be tagged and labelled.
Link sources for Finnish online stores compared
What each source is realistically worth, and how the link should be tagged
| Link source | Usual link type | Main value | Best target page | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer or brand “where to buy” pages | Editorial, often followed | Relevance and trust | Brand or category page | Low |
| Digital PR (data stories, gift guides in Finnish media) | Editorial | Authority and brand searches | Category page or data page | Low |
| Buying guides and how-to content earning links | Editorial | Informational rankings that feed category pages | Guide, then internal links | Low |
| Price comparison sites (e.g. Hintaopas) | Tracked or redirected | Traffic from ready-to-buy shoppers | Product pages | Low |
| Local sponsorships (clubs, events) | Should be sponsored | Local visibility, brand | Home page | Medium |
| Influencer and blogger product reviews | Must be sponsored if product or payment given | Traffic and trust, not ranking credit | Product page | Medium |
| Affiliate programmes (e.g. Adtraction, Awin) | Sponsored or tracked | Sales | Product or category page | Medium |
| Sponsored articles on Finnish sites | Must be sponsored, labelled “Mainos” | Referral traffic, brand | Category page | Medium |
| Coupon and discount code sites | Mixed, often low quality | Little beyond code users | None in particular | High |
| Bought followed links with exact-match anchors | Followed, unlabelled | Short-term, if any | Not recommended | High |
Risk refers to the chance of breaking Google’s spam policies or Finnish advertising rules when the link is handled as described. Based on Google Search Central and KKV guidance, checked September 2026.
Manufacturers and brand partners
Many brands list their authorised Finnish retailers on a “where to buy” page (jälleenmyyjät or mistä ostaa). Being listed is one of the most relevant links a store can get, because it comes from the brand that makes the product. Ask each supplier whether they keep a Finnish retailer list, and check that it links to the right category page.
Digital PR and data stories
Finnish media use seasonal and data-led stories, such as gift guides (lahjaideat), price trends before Black Friday and “what Finns bought most this winter”. An online store holds sales data that no one else has. Anonymised, aggregated trends can become a story that earns editorial links from news and lifestyle sites. The guide to digital PR in Finland explains how to pitch Finnish media.
Buying guides and how-to content
A thorough Finnish-language buying guide earns links far more easily than a category page. Examples include how to choose a winter coat for Finnish temperatures, or what to check before buying a used e-bike. The guide can then link to the matching category with a natural anchor. Written by a native speaker, it also ranks for the informational searches that come before a purchase.
Price comparison sites
Hintaopas, run by Prisjakt Finland Oy, is the best-known Finnish price comparison service. Links from price comparison listings are usually tracked or redirected, so their direct ranking value is limited. Their value is traffic from shoppers who are ready to buy. Treat them as a sales channel with a side benefit, not as a link building tactic.
Local sponsorships
Sponsoring a local sports club, school event, or charity often earns a logo and a link on its website. If the sponsorship was paid, Google classifies that link as paid, so it should carry rel="sponsored". The real value is local visibility and brand searches.
Influencers, bloggers and product reviews
Sending products to Finnish bloggers and YouTubers is common, but the link rules are strict:
- Google: its spam policies list “sending someone a product in exchange for them writing about it and including a link” as link spam, unless the link is tagged
rel="sponsored"orrel="nofollow". - Finnish law: the Consumer Ombudsman (KKV) requires commercial cooperation to be clearly labelled, for example as mainos or kaupallinen yhteistyö.
The value of these reviews lies in reach and trust, not ranking credit.
Affiliate programmes
Networks such as Adtraction and Awin connect Finnish stores with publishers who earn commission on sales. Affiliate links are paid placements, so they should be tagged rel="sponsored". Most networks’ tracking redirects already stop ranking credit passing. Google’s spam policies accept affiliate sites that add original content, comparisons or testing. They treat pages that only copy the merchant’s product descriptions as thin affiliate content.
Sponsored articles
Paid articles on Finnish websites can bring referral traffic and brand exposure. They must be labelled as advertising, and the links should carry rel="sponsored". The rules are covered in detail in paid links and Finnish advertising labelling. Before paying for any placement, evaluate the Finnish website for real traffic and relevance.
Business directories
A small number of trusted Finnish directories help with brand searches and basic trust signals. They carry little ranking weight on their own. The list of Finnish business directories covers which ones are worth the time.
Reviews, trust and Finnish consumer law
Customer reviews are not backlinks, but they strongly affect whether visitors from links become buyers. Finnish law now governs how stores handle them. According to KKV, a store must tell consumers whether it checks that reviews come from people who actually bought or used the product, and how it checks. It may not publish fake reviews, pay others to write them, or delete negative reviews without a justified reason. In 2026, the Consumer Ombudsman intervened in an online store’s handling of user reviews, and the company committed to making corrections.
This matters for link building because many “review exchange” and “review for a link” schemes break both Google’s rules and Finnish consumer law at once.
Pros and cons of the main approaches
| Approach | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Content and digital PR | Editorial links, lasting value, builds brand | Slow; needs native Finnish writing and data |
| Supplier and partner links | Highly relevant, low cost | Limited number; depends on partners |
| Paid placements (tagged) | Fast, predictable, controllable | No ranking credit if tagged correctly; costs money |
| Untagged bought links | Can move rankings short term | Breaks Google’s spam policies; risk of manual action; breaks KKV labelling if unlabelled |
For stores that want predictable referral traffic and brand exposure from vetted Finnish sites, SEO Butler runs a backlink marketplace with Finnish publishers. As with any paid placement, those links should be labelled and tagged correctly.
Common mistakes Finnish online stores make
The most expensive mistakes are about where links point and how they are tagged, not how many there are.
- Pointing links at product pages that disappear. Links to discontinued products are lost unless the URL is kept or redirected to the closest category.
- Thin category pages. A category that only shows a grid of products gives neither editors nor Google a reason to value it. A short, genuinely useful Finnish introduction helps.
- Filter URLs that multiply. Colour, size and price filters can create thousands of near-duplicate URLs that waste crawl budget (the number of pages Google will crawl on a site).
- Machine-translated category text. Finnish shoppers notice awkward translations immediately. See Finnish content localisation for why native writing matters.
- Coupon site links in bulk. Many coupon sites are low quality, and the links rarely help.
- Untagged influencer links. A free product in exchange for a followed link breaks Google’s policies, and unlabelled cooperation breaks KKV guidance.
The wider list of common link building mistakes in Finland covers errors that are not specific to e-commerce.
Getting your store ready before you build links
Links work best when the pages receiving them already convert Finnish visitors. Run through the checklist below before spending on outreach.
Is your Finnish store ready for links?
Tick these off before spending on outreach
Pages worth linking to
Trust signals Finnish shoppers check
Technical basics
Selling into Finland from abroad
A foreign store can compete in Finland, but it starts at a disadvantage because most Finns prefer domestic web shops. Posti’s survey shows cheaper prices, a wider selection and products not available in Finland are the main reasons Finns order from abroad. Foreign stores should lead with one of those reasons, and remove friction by offering Finnish delivery points, Finnish payment methods and Finnish-language pages. Stores already selling in Sweden, Norway or Denmark can reuse part of their approach. The guide to Nordic link building explains what transfers and what does not.
Finnish events and communities can also help. Digital Commerce Finland, for example, runs networking clubs and an annual eCom Summit for Finnish online retailers. These are places to meet partners and earn mentions from Finnish industry sites.
How to measure whether it worked
Measure category rankings in google.fi, organic revenue by landing page, and referral sales from linked sites, not the number of links. A link that brings buyers matters more than one that only looks strong in an SEO tool. The guide to measuring link building ROI explains how to set up tracking for the Finnish market.
Reference sources
- Paytrail: Verkkokauppa Suomessa 2026 (E-commerce in Finland report)
- Paytrail: 91% of Finns buy online, where e-commerce growth comes from in 2026
- Posti: E-commerce Index, spring 2025
- Google Search Central: Ecommerce SEO best practices
- Google Search Central: Help Google understand your ecommerce site structure
- Google Search Central: Spam policies for Google web search
- Google Search Central: Qualify your outbound links
- KKV: Consumer reviews
- KKV: Identifiability of advertising
- KKV: New guidelines on labelling influencer marketing
- Hintaopas: Finnish price comparison service (Prisjakt Finland Oy)
- Digital Commerce Finland: community for Finnish online retailers
Frequently asked questions
Should I build links to product pages or category pages?
Category pages should be the main target in most cases. They have stable URLs and rank for broader Finnish searches, and internal links pass value on to products. Product pages suit reviews and price comparison listings.
Do links from price comparison sites like Hintaopas help SEO?
They help mainly through traffic, not ranking credit. Most price comparison links are tracked or redirected. Their value is shoppers who are close to buying.
Can I send free products to Finnish bloggers for a link?
Yes, as long as the link is tagged rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow" and the post is labelled as commercial cooperation. Google treats a product given for a followed link as link spam. KKV requires the cooperation to be clearly disclosed.
Do I need Finnish-language pages to rank in Finland?
For most products, yes. Finns search in Finnish, and keywords change form across 15 grammatical cases. English pages rarely match those searches, and Finnish shoppers prefer stores that speak their language.
How long does e-commerce link building take to show results in Finland?
Referral traffic from a link can arrive the day it goes live. Ranking changes usually take weeks to months, depending on competition in your category.
