Advice with keyword links/site maps

[MobileDealsNow]

I'm setting up a new 200+ page website and wanted to ask everybody's opinion of using keywords at the bottom of pages. I'm not doing this in a way to "spam" the search engines, but more of a way to gain popularity from my website for certain search terms.

At the bottom of each page I am considering having a small Site Map, which would consist of a number of links to other pages on my website. However the links themselves will be highly-ranking keywords on the engines, eg. "Cheap Mobile Phone" which will links to a certain page on my site.

Just wanted to get some feedback on this type of thing, although I'm pretty new to SEO I think I have a bit of knowledge worked up which should help. I know just have keywords at the bottom of pages is usually a no-no, but what if they are links and are in a "Site Map"?

Many thanks,
Keith

[accelerator]

Keep the total number of links appearing on any one page less than 100, otherwise your site may get classified as a link farm by Google and penalised.

Other than that, it's a good idea and a technique I employ myself. However, as you are probably aware, there are many other factors that need to be applied before each page is SEO'd properly.

Rgds

accelerator

[MobileDealsNow]

Thanks for the advice, accelerator. Does the 100 links max rule include links in drop down menus? The reason I ask is that on the right of all pages will be drop down lists for each handset brand, so that users can easily select the models that they want to find deals for.

Also do you have any experience of using htaccess for outbound affiliate links? I started a thread the other day (http://www.a4uforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=34866) but I'm not sure if I posted it in the wrong place or maybe too much as I haven't yet had a reply.

[accelerator]

Originally Posted by MobileDealsNow Does the 100 links max rule include links in drop down menus?

It would include any link that can be "seen" or "cached" by Google, which you could see by downloading the Google toolbar and looking at the cached snapshot of your page. Often, dropdown menus cannot be seen by Google because the spider can't navigate through the JavaScript, which from an SEO point of view, is a major weakness of dropdown menus.

Originally Posted by MobileDealsNow Also do you have any experience of using htaccess for outbound affiliate links?

No, sorry.