SEO Moz Tools - too many on the page links result driving me nuts

[ICTADVIS]

A while back I remember Rand and I having a conversation about how many links on the page and up until that point I had followed the NO MORE THAN 100 links on a page rule - which is what the MOZ tools are telling me now in the campaigns I have running.

But then during a seminar both of us were holding this 100 link rule question came up and Rand commented that this was probably old hat now as the search engines can crawl a much greater number of links in the page. I was encouraged by his answer especially where ecommerce websites are concerned.

But the MOZ tool is driving me nuts telling me that this 100 link rule is still something to be adhered too. It is especially frustrating when we are discussing ecommerce website sites with editable mega menus. Examples to support this question are www.bohemiadesign.co.uk or www.flowersbuydelivery.co.uk which are 2 ecommerce sites I am aware of using such mega menus that are editable and give a link count greater than 100. and I am sure there are many more sites like this, even Amazon for example.

So, how much notice do we take of this warning in MOZ tools that is telling me about excessive numbers of links on the pages it lists as needing corrected?

[ShaMenz]

Hi Brian,

The key here is that it is a "warning" intended to alert you to the fact that the situation exists so that you have the ability to do something about it if you can.

While there are many sites (especially ecommerce sites) which are highlighted by the tool because they have extensive menus, it is also quite possible that some users have pages where the body text is full of plain text links which could be fixed.

As to whether they should be fixed, I would say definitely "yes" if they are the latter.  Pages that have way too many links in the text are detrimental to user experience. They are harder to read, look spammy and the message tends to get lost if people are constantly clicking a link and going to another page.

If, on the other hand, you have a site where the large number of links is the result of the menus it is a fairly simple thing to ignore the warning.

I should mention that there is a feature request in the works which would enable users to "switch off" items in the Pro App that can be ignored. When this is implemented you would be able to remove them from the report so you don't have to keep looking at them.

Hope that helps,

Sha

[ICTADVIS]

Hi Sha

I really appreciate your response to my questiom. In the back of my mind with regards the actual menu architecture associated with ecommerce websites I agree with you and what you have said about too many links in the body content, totally with you on that as well.

I hadn't realised (or not come across) the feature in the tool you refer too so I will go take a look at that.

But, your response has reiterated that I am not going off my head at this end and my inner thoughts were the belief that I just needed somebody else in the community to help clarify with me. Many thanks, and on a Sunday too!!

All the Best

Brian

[ShaMenz]

Hi Brian,

The feature is not live as yet, but has been lodged as a feature request and a staff member recently confirmed that it is in the works.

Enjoy your Sunday,

Sha

[KeriMorgret]

Sha has a good response here. You might also be interested in reading Dr. Pete's post about "How Many Links is Too Many" on the SEOmoz blog earlier this year at http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-many-links-is-too-many for some more background information.