In Google Search Console, there is a feature under the Fetch as Google tool to request indexing. When you click that, it let's you select either "crawl only this URL" or "crawl this URL and its direct links." Someone on Twitter asked John Mueller how many direct links would Google crawl from that page that you are requesting indexing on? John responded on Twitter saying to keep the links on that page to a minimum because the tool is not a replacement for the Sitemap file.
Here is the tweet:
@_sebastiansimon I'd limit the number of links on a page to a reasonable amount. That tool isn't meant to replace a sitemap file.
— John ☆.o(≧▽≦)o.☆ (@JohnMu) April 25, 2017
What is a "reasonable amount" of links for a page? Who knows - it depends on the page. Sites like Techmeme, which I find super useful, have thousands of links on one page.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
