tedster - 9:40 am on Jul 1, 2008 (gmt 0)

And while there are a lot of these pages around this should not be punished by google.

I don't think it's punishment, at least not intentional. Instead I think that Mega Menus make the algo's job harder, just as they make the visitor's job harder. And sometimes, it's easier to be "collateral damage" from some algorithm factor that is designed to catch scraper pages or whatever.

I should also make it clear, those redesigned sites I worked with are not small, or even smaller than they were. Some are in the area of several hundred thousand pages.

Interesting that your niche has many successful sites with long menus. That's what I was wondering about. Google's algorithm today does seem quite adaptable to the "local customs" in various markets. thanks for the report.