Is large number of external links on a webpage bad SEO ?

Many people ask this Q, how many links are allowed on a page, maximum. And is there a limit at all to the number of external links allowed on a page ?

Interesting question. Interesting because, though Google have clarified it many times that their engines have improved over time, some popular sites seem to restrict the number of external links on single pages. If its okay to add as many links as possible, why restrict ?

Google suggest that ideally, its alright to add as many links as you want on a page, as their bots can handle more file size and more number of links than ever before. (Earlier this was limited). So adding many external links is fine.

But..think about what will happen to your website if there were an unnatural amount of links on any single page ?

- The page size would increase, and even though Google would crawl them and figure out what the context is, would they harm your user experience ?

- If your website is built for visitors, is there a necessity to display large number of external links on a page, unless its a directory or something.

So even if your site had hundreds of links on a page, and assuming Google crawls it all, your users might not like it, unless the site is meant for it (like directories). They may find the page load time and lack of organization annoying.

So in my opinion it makes sense to limiting the number of external links on a single page to a minimal level, a number that makes sense, is in context with the content, and is organized.

Pumping in external links anywhere on the site – not good. Even if Google is okay with it.

Hope its clear.

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