View Full Version : Max number of links to a page
Nacho
07-21-2004, 02:20 AM
According to Google Webmaster Guidelines (http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html) it says:
Keep the links on a given page to a reasonable number (fewer than 100).
Here's an example, I just checked Amazon's Gourmet Food (http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?node=3370831) section and it has 222 links, and I don't think there is any filter from what I see that verifies what Google is saying above. Related or not, this page is ranking #2 for "gourmet food" in the SERPs.
What's the deal? What should we really follow as a max number of links to a page as a golden rule?
cariboo
07-21-2004, 03:18 AM
I think you're right...
The actual max number of links is ... "a reasonable number". Not a hundred. 100 is just a hint for what a reasonable number should be...
Many directories have hundreds of links on each page, and all these links are followed...
I think this "good avice" means :
- either "beware of pagerank leaks"
- or "with too many links, you take the risk of reaching the limits of our bot"
And why not both ?
I think there are two kinds of limits for Googlebot :
- rules, implemented to prevent following useless links, and to spare bandwith
- technical limits : in some cases, the bot can't crawl all the pages thoroughly
If this "100 links" limit is a rule, it's not applied to all pages... If it's a potential technical problem, then there is no real exact maximum number of links in a page.
Certainly if you are asking the question as an SEO question then I guess the answer would be whatever the traffic will bear, but if you are asking it from the perspective of a viewer then I would think that searching through more than 50 links per page is not going to be something you will do more than once or twice if there were other alternatives.
My personal preference it to limit links to no more than 50-60 per page even though I have seen instances where as many as 600 links on a single page have been indexed. This is becasue it seemt to me the when you start to get that many links (Or perhaps even some smaller number) on a page, while the links may be indexed it seems to me that the further you go down the list of links the longer it takes for the linked pages to be spidered.
powerofeyes
07-21-2004, 02:59 PM
When it comes to search engines especially Google, there is no definete Number of links per page, Only limit Google has spidering a page is 101K, If the html code exceeds this google stops spidering, Other than that 100 links per page is just a guideline by google so that the page is also useful for users not only for search engines,
David Wallace
07-22-2004, 02:33 PM
Even Google does not abide strictly by their own guidelines for their own Site Map (http://www.google.com/sitemap.html) contains 126 links! ;)
St0n3y
07-22-2004, 02:39 PM
Does anybody know of an instance where the 100K rule is broken?
Even Google does not abide strictly by their own guidelines for their own Site Map contains 126 links!
Since when have SEs EVER abided by their own rules?
seobook
07-22-2004, 04:27 PM
the hundred links is a guideline based on usability. i have seen backlinks from pages with thousands of links on them
as you add more links to a page it eventually starts to become less usable and you are also parsing less link popularity out to each page you link to.
glad I found this thread!
I was having this discussion in my office today and somewhere I got the crazy notion that having 100+ links on one page smacked of link farming.
But none of you guys have had any trouble with 100+ links on a page?
Okay, this is embarrassing to ask :o but in regards to the 101K/page spidering capability, does this factor into how many pages of website gets indexed?
Like, how many total K will a spider digest or minutes will it spends on a site? :o
seobook
07-22-2004, 07:41 PM
Okay, this is embarrassing to ask :o but in regards to the 101K/page spidering capability, does this factor into how many pages of website gets indexed?
Like, how many total K will a spider digest or minutes will it spends on a site? :o
they will index the first 101K/page for an unlimited number of pages if you have sufficient link popularity pointing into that site.
just so that there is links to other pages before the 101k point of the page Google will follow them
Nacho
07-22-2004, 07:48 PM
101K/page spidering capability
Keep in mind that the 100k p/page limit refers to the html and not html+images. ;)
seobook
07-22-2004, 07:53 PM
Keep in mind that the 100k p/page limit refers to the html and not html+images. ;)
if your pages are over 100k you will likely lose many visitors who do not want to wait for them to load.
seobook-
when you say link pop, you're talking about PR or something with google, right?
seobook
07-23-2004, 12:03 PM
seobook-
when you say link pop, you're talking about PR or something with google, right?
PR is Google's measure of link popularity. other search engines measure it differently. also many many low pagerank links from a ton of independant sources may sometimes help you more than one higher pagerank link does.
so if I have some pages batting PR0 then they're SOL until they get a little green in their bar, so to speak. :(
seobook
07-23-2004, 12:50 PM
so if I have some pages batting PR0 then they're SOL until they get a little green in their bar, so to speak. :(
no, visual pagerank display lags actual pagerank and many pagerank 0 pages show up in search results.
I see. But either way I need to pass some pr to those other pages to get them coming up.
So as long as they have a reason to keep crawling, the spiders will continue to crawl your pages regardless of how many you have. Talk of them timing out is a myth then, well, assuming your pages are small enough and are able to be uploaded.
Is that about right?
seobook
07-23-2004, 01:13 PM
I see. But either way I need to pass some pr to those other pages to get them coming up.
So as long as they have a reason to keep crawling, the spiders will continue to crawl your pages regardless of how many you have. Talk of them timing out is a myth then, well, assuming your pages are small enough and are able to be uploaded.
Is that about right?
if your links are static
and you are not issuing session ids or cookies (http://pbskids.org/sesame/letter/d.html)
and a bunch of links are pointing at you
and your content is unique and valuable
search engines will want to index all of it.
excellent! Thanks seobook!
Now back to the links per page discussion. Basically the 100 or less is a guideline and statements about having over 100 and looking like a link farm is pure myth?
It's just odd because on a page on my site it had pretty intense linking as a part of the navigation and the page was hardly being found. ONce the linking was removed it started to climb. Coincidence? :confused: Probably. But I never paid attention to the page size either.