Importance of multiple entry points.

Hi,

I am currently planing the structure of the incomming links for a 3000 page four level web site. I must admit that in previous projects we have pointed the large majority of the initial incommin links to the natrual entry point (the root level page), I am wondering if it could be a better long term strategy to point more of the incomming links to other pages in the tree structure.

When a website growns natrual links it would be natrual that many of these links point to other pages than the root level page. Would it be possible that Google would see it as a sign of quality if the inital incomming links would follow a similar pattern?

Any ideas or comments?

 

This is a common practice for me.. I simply select key nodes within the tree structure, determine the appropriate anchor text for each entry point (node) and link to these accordingly. One of the little things I try to do is ensure the number of links is appropriate for the node level within the tree. For example (this is just me, not an established practice) Level 4 sees 4 inbounds to every 1 on the root node. That way, provided your site wide navigation includes links to the nodes, (and your anchor text on internal links is same as external) you end up with a nicely balanced tree (in terms of relevance and indexing). The main point to this is distribution and scalability. It works for me.. it may work for you too

 

Definitely make your site human navigable. If there is only one link to a portion of your site, then few people will find it. Sidebar and topbar menus are a good idea. Have them going to major sections of your site throughout all the pages. This really helps people understand what the major sections are, and how to easily get there. For instance, just look at this forum. See the top toolbar. It's on every page, which is a major convenience to users.