sitemap number of links a problem?

[eztrip]

I have a sitemap that i've tried my best to limit the number of links per page but it's a fairly daunting task. I have around 50,000 items categorized by city name. I start out at the top of the sitemap with the letters A-Z for countries starting with the letter 'X'. That drills down to lists of countries with between 1-20 countries listed. That drills down to cities (or in some cases like the US, a list of states which in turn drills down to city names) which can have as many as 75-100 city names depending on where it is. Lastly you click on a city which lists the items available in that city. This list can also be quite large up to 100 or so links which link directly to the item with descriptions, etc. These links and pages are URL-rewritten database driven pages (i.e., they appear to be just .html pages).

Anyway, my question is, does the number of links on certain pages cause Google or anyone else to think I'm spamming? I really would rather not change some of the pages that have 50 or 100 links on them and break them up into even more smaller pieces as it will make searching tedious to have to click through all those links. Also, I feel that in general 50 items to choose from is not too much for a user to grasp. I tend to think of a list of US states - breaking up a list of the 50 states is just plain silly.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[martinibuster]

Please read the Google Webmaster Guidelines. In addition to telling you exactly how many links you should have on your site map, Google also offers other Design and Content tips.

[google.com ]

It's always a great learning experience to click around through the Search Engine web sites. And the information you learn there is better than what you'll pick up on the street.

[eztrip]

Thanks for the tip. That answers pretty much my questions :-) - sorry about that!

Michael

[martinibuster]

No need for apologies! It's not immediately apparent that so much content exists behind Google's minimalist interface.