What is the optimum number of links on a page?

[prsntsnh]

I have a local content based website which gives information of services under different categories and subcategories in a segment across multiple localities. Our menu is found across all pages and the menu has about 150 different links to sub-categories and categories. On any listings page that comes up, when you choose a particular category or sub-category, we have another 100 links relating to the individual listings in addition to the menu which is consistent across all pages. Is this a problem?

[Houses]

Hi

Check out this http://moz.com/learn/seo/internal-link

[David-Kley]

As long as you have sitemaps listing where all these pages are, you should be fine.

What I would look at more closely, and perhaps more importantly, is when a user or search engine finally gets to the end page, meaning the end of the menu links, what content are they seeing?

Google used to have something in place where they didn't want to see more than 100 links per page, but I believe that has been removed now.

EDIT* confirmed: 
http://searchengineland.com/googles-matt-cutts-we-dropped-the-100-links-per-page-guideline-but-we-may-take-action-if-it-is-too-spammy-178197

Pay special attention to how your internal linking is currently set up, and if it makes sense to your user. If your menu system is too complex, people wont use it, and Google will have issues indexing it. Take a look at site with large menu systems, and try and emulate their success and structure.

[Lumina]

Prashant,

You could be told many different things depending on who you ask, but I'd say from my experience working at a company that makes websites, the answer is that there is no definitive answer.

That being said, there ARE helpful tips I can give you:

• "How many links?" is a less important question than "What kind of links?" Consider the position of each page in regard to where it is in your sales funnel (if at all). The closer to the bottom of the funnel (bottom = conversion), the more straightforward your navigation and direction should be. For instance, you wouldn't put a link to your "About Us" page on a landing page or contact form, because it directs traffic away from conversion and the flow of your site.
• The modern design tends toward simplicity - which means that while it's not necessarily a problem to have so many links, it will be confusing to your customers and lead people away from the content they were initially searching for. People are inattentive and fickle, so you want to guide them.
• Links need to fit logically with the content. If a page is about a service X, don't link to service Y unless it relates to service X, and you write your content in a way that makes sense.

I hope that's helpful for you!