How much is too much?

number of reciprocal links

[troi21]

I am starting to realise the importance of reciprocal linking. I have an e-commerce site and want to link to quality sites. But how many links would be considered too many by google (for example)? Should I be trying to have in the region of 50 links on my link page?

[Dante_Maure]

No such thing as too much, so long as all of the links you're providing are to quality sites that will be of value to your visitors.

As your links directory grows, just break it down into an easy to navigate topical directory that will serve both your users and the search engines.

[Reflect]

Stick with maximum of 50 per page and then do what Dante_Maure suggested.

[troi21]

Thanks.

[aerosmith]

Most people I have interacted with are of the feeling that that some search engines notably google, considers more than 20 links on a page as a link farm. While I do try to have content-specific links on the pages , some web sites mails be saying that they do not want to reciprocate with a potential link farms .
My questions are
1.) What exactly is a link farm
2.) does the number of links are a factor in determining the technical defination of a link farm
3.) Does automated linking software like "Linkmanager" and "Zeus"are then a part of the farm

[coconutz]

From Google's Webmaster Guidelines [google.com]:

Design and Content Guidelines

Keep the links on a given page to a reasonable number (fewer than 100).

[Dante_Maure]

1.) What exactly is a link farm

A link farm is a program where participating members agree to upload a page to their site linking to all other participants.

2.) does the number of links are a factor in determining the technical defination of a link farm

No.

3.) Does automated linking software like "Linkmanager" and "Zeus"are then a part of the farm

Neither are link farms, but any automated link building program can potentially cause problems with Google. The automated links pages produced by Zeus are infamous for getting PR0 penalties.

Here's a direct quote from Google on the use Zeus...

"Like any other program, Zeus is a tool that can be used or misused. Google judges the quality of a site partly by the quality of the pages that site links to. If a webmaster links to poor-quality or spammy sites, that can affect his or her site's ranking. As a program that actively engages in searching out links, Zeus can amplify that factor. Webmasters who use Zeus should be extremely careful - adding links to sites tagged as spam can lead your site to be tagged as spam, and Zeus can clearly play a role in that process."

Matt Cutts

Google Software Engineer and Spam Czar

[Trisha]

Keep the links on a given page to a reasonable number (fewer than 100).

I just read over that again, I had previously thought they were just referring to the number of external links, but since they also say:

If the site map is larger than 100 or so links, you may want to break the site map into separate pages.

I guess that means both internal and external links. Does this imply that there is something in the algorithm reflecting the thought that 100+ links on a page means something spammy? On a new site of mine, an info site, I have some pages which are nothing much more than links to articles on my site within that category. Over time I may end up with more than 100 articles that will need to be linked to.

[jimbeetle]

And this is a point I think where Google is arbitrarily dictating the rules of site design.

In one section of my site I have about 250 "Widget" pages. These widgets can be divided into categories by either location or price. To make it very easy for the visitor I include the relevant "Location" menu on the left and a "Price" menu on the right.

This can easily run to more than 100 links but the visitor doesn't ever have to use the back button, just click the next widget in either list.

So, in making your site easy for a visitor to use you might violate Google's guidelines. Time for external .js files, but that's a whole other discussion:

[webmasterworld.com...]

Jim

[aerosmith]

Thanks everyone for your feedback
Lets say -I approach a web site which in turn has 50 other domains that is related to my specific subject matter.
And we agree to exchange links from all his 50 domains, to mine.Would that be considered as a link farm?