Domain or Category Links for E-Commerce Page?

[soralsokal]

I am trying to rank with my page on a major keyword for my E-Commerce store. Currently, I am ranking on page 4 in SERP:
mydomain.com/category-for-major-keyword

Now when people like to link to me, what should I do? Shall they link to:

1. mydomain.com or
2. mydomain.com/category-for-major-keyword

What brings me more in terms of ranking for that keyword with my category?

Thanks, Robin

[SamuelScott]

I presume that you are talking about a page that is a category page that lists multiple products?

The general rule is that any page will tend to rank more highly when it has quality links pointing towards it. So, the same is true for a product category page. However, I would add the following caveats on the types of links for which you should aim:

1. The links should be good ones and not from junk directories, article sites, and so on
2. Don't use exact-match anchor text
3. Are the websites quality and relevant -- one way to determine this is to ask if you would want a link from a site for the referral traffic even if Google did not exist. Is the page and website talking specifically about that type of product? Is it a website that your potential customers use and is relevant to the industry?
4. Look at Domain Authority and Page Authority
5. Will the link appear natural or as though you "built" it
6. Will the link be an editorial one (placed in the main text of a page) and not in other places that are targeted by spammers (header, footer, sidebar lists, etc.)
7. My personal rule is to try to earn links through natural PR and marketing (that's a Moz post I wrote on the topic) rather than to "build" them artificially
8. Don't get too many artificial links pointing towards the category page -- it will look like an unnatural link profile. Most natural links will always likely point towards the home page or to pieces of content (like blog posts) that have added to the site.

I hope this helps! For links, quality matters more than quantity. Good luck!