Should we remove our "index" pages (alphabetical link list to all of the products on the site)?

[ChrisRoberts-MTI]

We run an e-commerce site with a large number of product families, with each family having a number of products within it. We have a set of pages (26 - one for each letter A-Z) that are lists of links to the product family pages.

We originally created these pages thinking it would aid in discoverability of these pages to search engines, of course as time has gone on, techniques like this have fallen out of favor with Google as it provides negligible value to the user. Should we consider removing these pages from the site overall? Is it possible that it could be viewed by Panda as resembling a link farm?

Thanks in advance!

[Ray-pp]

"it provides negligible value to the user"

That would be the determining factor for removal. If the content adds little to no value, it is best to remove it from your site. It only provides a potential for being penalized.

[ChrisRoberts-MTI]

Thanks Ray - that was my feeling. Appreciate the response!