Yep this upgrade without any themes is so bad that it just made me buy a new ecommerce script and start over maaan what a shame, good luck all

I don't think it's that bad, you just gotta play around with it a little

For sure, links remain one of the most important factors for SEO. It's probably the only factor that can indicate the authority of a resource, which is why it will remain one of the most important factors as long as search engines don't find another method to measure the authority.

But if we think about the real world, is there another factor that indicates a person's authority if not what others say about them?

And just like with people, the rule is simple:
 If you want your site to be known and for this to happen quickly, get the big boys to talk about it.

But hey, you don't need to do it by yourself. Just as celebrities have a PR expert who handles their public perception, there are agencies that deal with the so-called PR of websites.

To do that, you can use your e-commerce platform's reporting or export feature. Most e-commerce systems have options to generate reports or export order data. Then, you can open that data in a spreadsheet program and print it out.

 I had a similar issue. Check your CSS and see if there's a margin or padding set for the footer or the element above it. Adjusting that should help remove the space below the footer.