Do Navbars Affect Keyword Density with Google?

Hello Everyone,

I'm just wondering if Google calculates navbar text with keyword density. Every time I use some keyword density tool, I keep getting my navbars information included in the results, so I'm wondering if I need to start implementing some other navbar technology that hides this mass of text, like Javascript, CSS, etc. I also use a left menu bar that also gets included in these keyword density results, and these two navbar menus are of course spread across most of my website, so I don't know if google will think I am spamming keywords, when in reality I just want an easy user friendly navigation. For example, I sell different kinds of knives, so because of these 2 navbars, I keep getting the keyword "knives" really high. I guess some people don't even think keyword density is that important, but it seems to me it would be very important, or at least counts for something. A lot of my customers praise my website design, but of course I don't want to be committing SEO suicide. Please advise with your ideas.

--Cosmic Mind--

Hi Cosmic,

Yes Google will read your navigation area and include any words within the links while keyword density is in part directly related to relevance.

Without seeing your site I can not comment too much but when faced with this situation in general I would be inclined to incorporate keywords in to your navigation menu.

The thing with keyword density like any other factor is if you push too hard it will do more harm than good. It really comes down to trial and error coupled with being patient.

Hi Cosmic,

You can create your nevbars using images instead of text, then keywords in nevbars will not have an effect on keyword density

nav bar have no effect on keywords density but navbar show extra informaion with managed and it looks good one.

Thanks for the comments, guys. It's funny, some of you have different opinions whether or not navbar info is included with keyword density, even though that I stated that it is included with keyword density tools. Honestly, I would rather control what Google indexes or includes towards my page rank, so I am trying to avoid the navbar information from being included.

Well, I think I just solved my problem. I converted my HTML navbars to Javascript and notice that they are now NOT included in the keyword density. So, my next question is, I heard that google can now read some flash, so can they also read my Javascripts? Thanks.

--Cosmic Mind--

Which "navigation area" you are referring to? Because, as far as I know, there are 4 possible navigation areas, the top, left, right, and bottom. The only unique navbar is the top one, because it can be put in the page header, the rest need to be put in the body. As stated before, I use a top and a left navbar. Also, some people use HTML, some use Flash, some use Javascript, and even CSS. So, please be more specific, because this all makes a difference. Also, my website is included with my profile, just click on my name.

--Cosmic Mind--

You should be less concerned about keyword density and more concerned about the relevance of those navbar links to the topic your pages are trying to rank for.

If your site targets particular keywords with its content, and your internal links make sense and are also relevant, why would you want to have them unread by Google? Keyword density??? I think you're looking at this all wrong.

If your pages are written well, on topic, with similar sites linking to you with your target keyword, you shouldn't have to worry about keyword density. You could be rushing down the dark path of looking spammy.