Link Structure

[Palmbourne]

On my site I have a dropdown menu going across the page at the top to all of my categories on each page, I also have a similar structure going down the side going to the same categories, is this acceptable or would Google count this as double the internal links?

[EvolveCreative]

There is nothing wrong with linking to the same item more than once on a page. Though, it isn't usually necessary and is usually the result of a poor website design.

[KarlBantleman]

Why have you decided on this structure? In terms of usability, it could be a bit confusing. The Co-op Electrical website used to have a similar structure but they changed it a while ago to just the top navigation bar.

[johncallaghan]

To reiterate what Dave and Karl have said, don't worry about the number of links, worry about user experience. Do you feel that the navigation and design you've opted for delivers a great user experience?

As an aside, the average ecommerce website product category page has 3 links to every product; 1) product name, 2) product image, 3) call to action. It would be a poor user experience for any of those not to link to the product page.