Sometimes the wrong text appears in the Google SERPs. You'd very much rather see a company description than some "Home | About Us | Contact" text, for example, right?
I thought so. And so webmasters are scrambling to get the right text to appear in the Google search results because that can help--a lot.
There are a few ways to go about this. You can eliminate the redundant navigation with Javascript or position the text elsewhere using CSS, but JohnMu, who now works for Google, suggests what others recommend: use meta descriptions and vary them wherever possible.
All are good ideas and the web design element as well as combining the meta descriptions would probably do the trick.
Forum discussion continues at Cre8asite Forums.