Google reads form elements

I was just googling myself in the office and came accross a page that I wouldn´t have thought would be in the the SERPs for what I had searched for. Turns out one of the keywords was actually in a select box on a search form.
 
I knew that Google didn´t follow forms to the page they submit to but I thought that it would ignore form elements as well. Turns out they do factor into the algorithym. Guessing just not as high as actual text.