Google Reading Javascript Menu Text?

[seo4me]

I have a <brick and mortar> client who has 100+ locations. They are using a js drop down menu to display all of the locations. Once you chose a location and you are on a specific location page, the same js menu is available so that the user can navigate to other location pages. The question is whether or not the content of the drop down (100+ city names) is effecting the keyword density of the specific location page.

We know that Google is reading the content of the js menu because in some instances, the other locations (cities) are showing up in the google description.

We are trying to determine if changing the js drop down menu to a flash menu with images would help the placement of the location pages of the site. Again, the theory is that Google is reading the city names in the menu and it is diluting the keyword density on each location page.

Thanks in advance.

[edited by: Robert_Charlton at 8:14 pm (utc) on Mar. 19, 2009]
[edit reason] edited specifics [/edit]

[rainborick]

If the dynamic aspects of the menu are controlled by JavaScript, but the actual content (including the <a>nchor tags) of those menus is all in plain HTML, then Google will certainly see them as they would any other link(s).

If the menu is entirely generated by JavaScript embedded in the page itself, then Google may scan that JavaScript for complete URLs. But those links don't pass "link juice". They just use them for "URL discovery".

[tedster]

That certainly was the accepted answer by most SEOs, but I'm not sure that it is true any longer. At Pubcon in Austin, I asked Matt Cutts a somewhat similar question about urls that are discovered through form submission. He told me that PR does pass, and that Google sets up a "virtual link" on their back end to be used in calculations.

Granted, we were discussing form navigation and not javascript - but it seems to me the two situations are roughly parallel. So I'd guess that PR can flow through those links today, but I haven't tested this yet.

[rainborick]

That is odd, since one of the endorsed alternatives to rel="nofollow" has always been using JavaScript to block passing PageRank in advertising - like with AdSense ads. I would have thought this was well-established.

Someday I hope someone discusses their testing of form links, but I don't want to pollute this thread any worse than I have.

[tedster]

using JavaScript to block passing PageRank in advertising

You're right! My assumption that the form and js situations are parallel is flawed.

We are trying to determine if changing the js drop down menu to a flash menu with images would help the placement of the location pages of the site. Again, the theory is that Google is reading the city names in the menu and it is diluting the keyword density on each location page.

If you can generate the city names through an external script so that they are not appearing the url's source code, that's probably the best. Google is ramping up their Flash indexing and even if it worked for your situation right now, it might not in the near future.

[dstiles]

A point to remember with flash AND javascript: not everone has either or both turned on in their browser. With more exploits being found daily anyone with a bit of caution is using firefox with noscript and flash turned off.

I've always replaced the drop-down menu option with a links list when google comes calling, assuming I want them to follow the links. I don't see that google can complain, since it's only recently they've managed to follow forms and drop-downs have traditionally been for people, not engines.