How to update a DMOZ site description?

Google's using it instead of the one on my site.

[vanessa19]

Hi
Please can you tell me how I can ask Google read the description heading of my site instead of the one I submitted to dmoz a number of years ago. The google search is still using the wording when first registering which is out of date now.
Many thanks for your help.

[Stefan]

You won't have any luck with G changing it for you. Your only option is to ask the editor of your ODP category to change the description.

[vanessa19]

Hi
Thanks for your reply.
I have asked quite a few times but there is no moderater for that section.
I have noticed from my competitors that Google reads the description in their web site. I have altered mine many times but it still keeps showing the one listed by dmoz.
My competitors have many search terms stuffed into their description which I know are not the description on the dmoz directory. How can I do the same?
Many thanks

[vanessa19]

Is there a way to stop google reading the dmoz description and to read the relevent site description?

[Stefan]

Is there a way to stop google reading the dmoz description and to read the relevent site description?

No. G is getting it from their directory, which is based on the ODP. They're ignoring the meta tag for your page, and not using a snippet from the text. They might stop doing that at some point, but for now, forget about correcting it on the Google end of things.

With regard to the lack of an active editor in your ODP category (if I understood you correctly): Why don't you try asking for advice in the WW "Directories" forum (forum17) on how to deal with that. There are meta editors above the category editors.

[coconutz]

>> My competitors have many search terms stuffed into their description which I know are not the description on the dmoz directory. How can I do the same?

I tend to avoid search results that have keyword stuffed descriptions - looks spammy.

[victor]

Google sometimes chooses to display the DMOZ description rather than some words that exist on the page itself. No one knows why, and Google have not explained. There are many theories. If WMW was searchable, you could easily track them down.

One way to get it changed is to ban DMOZ's spider -- it comes round a few times a year to check the page still exists. If you ban it, a few months later you'll drop out of DMOZ, then some months after that, you'll fall out of the Google Directory

That will ensure that Google uses text from the page (or some other source, though I don't think there currently are other sources) for the description.

Alternatively, try to find out why Google prefers the DMOZ description: you may need to escalate through Google's ranks, perhaps eventually becoming a shareholder and asking at the annual company meeting. Good luck!

[vanessa19]

Thank you very much for your help.

[Span]

I've seen that too but not for all search terms that I could find a site with. For the same site sometimes the snippet from DMOZ was used and sometimes, using other search terms, the snippet from the site was used.
Did you try that? Different search terms? Is the DMOZ desciption always used?

[tschild]

I have asked quite a few times but there is no moderater for that section.

Did you use the form linked from "update listing" on top of the Open Directory page? These update requests are usually looked at much more quickly than the site suggestions. It doesn't matter if there is there is no editor listed for the exact categories; editors of the categories above all see that there is an update request pending in a subsubcat.

Of course that is no help if the description that you want does not comply with the ODP's guidelines.

[hutcheson]

There's a bit of priority clash here. Google uses the ODP tags because they think most of the time that's best (for Google search results). But the ODP guidelines do not take into account uses like that -- the descriptions should be written to be best IN THE CONTEXT OF THAT CATEGORY (for the ODP directory).

What's best for the webmaster doesn't enter into either calculation. And that's OK: what's best for Google or the ODP doesn't enter into many webmasters' calculations either, or the web wouldn't look anything like it does.