Dispelling Google's 100 Link Limit Myth

Why is it that so many people think having more than 100 links on a webpage is going to get you banned or black flagged by Google? and how did Google gain so much power over the way we us website designers build our websites to the point that we think they dictate how many links we can have?




Well, lets face facts, Google own the search market. Almost 70% of World Wide Internet users, use Google as their preferred search engine. In Australia its closer to 90%. Google now run the search market and certainly at this point in time they have the best search algorithms and the best results shown in the SERP's.




Do we have to pander to Google and the way they want us to build and exist on the Internet in the form of our websites? Does this mean that we should have less than 100 links on any given web page just because we are scared of what they may think?




Well, I am fairly sure most of us have a list of friends that could extend well past 100 people - if each of these have a website and we then put links from a contacts page on our website can we reasonably expect Google to look at this page unfavourably? Probably not. So, maybe the 100 links is just a guideline not to get too carried away with links on web pages? Probably so!




Another good example of a website page that often has more than 100 links is a sitemap page - most websites have a sitemap and in many cases the list of links extends well beyond 100 - particulary for product catalogs and product ranges and yet they are not getting banned? It is most likely that website links that point to other internal web pages are treated differently.




Google and its search algorithms are very smart so their is much evidence that they can tell the difference between a legitimate list of 200 links on a website and a web page with the very same website links that is designed only for the purposes of a link farm.




So, to this end, lets dispell the rumours, myths and put an end to this 100 link limit. Build your website the way you want, with as many links as you, set out and structured how you want. Forget about limiting the amount of links if it is appropriate for you to be putting that many links on a website on one web page. Be smart, think like a search engine would when it looks at a webpage. Don't link to 100's of other websites from one webpage but don't be scared to link from your website.