Google Description From Wrong Site

Google is taking a snippit from a site that links to me

[freejung]

This seems very strange to me and I was wondering if anybody else has noticed this. When I search G for the business name of one of my sites, I still come up #1 (after being hit pretty hard by Bourbon), but the description is not from my site.

A search for the exact description G shows reveals that the snippit G is using comes from another site which links to me. Seems odd to me and I wonder what it means, whether it is normal, and why they are doing it.

Seems this offers an easy way for a competitor to hurt your site -- if this site linking to me were to change their description to "this site totally sucks, don't bother going there it's a waste of time" would G still display it?

[Clint]

I'm not sure if you're saying YOUR site comes up, or someone that's linking TO you. In the first paragraph you state you are 1st, but if you're first how can someone else's description be there? Is the actual URL of the G result YOUR site, or someone else's site? Have you looked into any 302 hijacking?

In your 2nd paragraph it sounds like you are NOT 1st, instead someone that links to you using your description is first.

Well, at any rate, during Bourbon this happened to me. All those sites that linked TO me, were showing on the 1st page, 2nd page, etc., INSTEAD OF me, and this was in searches for not only my biz name, but my key phrases as well! some of these I never even knew linked to me, and some were 302 redirects. Several days ago this all changed, and I got back most of my pre-May 21st G SERP's.

[g1smd]

What is the site that is linking to you? If it is dmoz.org then, yes, Google does use a combination of your meta description, text from your page, or text from your ODP entry, in their SERPs.

If it is information from some other site they are using, just some normal website, then that may be a big problem...

[freejung]

Clint, no, it's not that another site linking to me is coming up before me in the SERPS. It is that the description used on another site comes up as my description.

lol, g1smd, you are right, the description is from dmoz. The other site I found was just stealing the dmoz description. Thanks for clearing that up, sure it makes sense to use the dmoz description, I'm fine with that.