Google Company Listings - with extra category links

[Jack_Frost]

I got a call from a client today with 2 odd issues. When one searches the company name for one of their divisional sites, Google not only lists the site, but it has 4 links to sections within the site underneath it.

I guess I never noticed this before, but if you search Sony, Apple, or Anheuser-Busch you'll see what I mean. Does anyone know why this happens for some companies and can we as SEO people exhibit any control over it?

For the same site, Google and MSN are also pulling the description they use from the ODP. My client recently bought PART of this company and got the website in the deal. The part that they bought is in the Auto industry. The other part was in the medical industry and its the medical description that is still being associated with the site even though the new site has no medical products in it.

I told my client to add their own Meta description ASAP and that we could try to get the editor (if there is one) at the ODP to update the listing, but I know that's a longshot. I guess I can also report it to Google. Any other ideas?

As always, thanks for your input.

[tedster]

Our members have been calling this an "extended listing" or "extended description". It is decided algorithmically and dependent and whether the site is identified as an authority on the actual search terms used. For example, WebmasterWorld has an extended listing when you search on "webmasterworld" or "webmaster world" as two words, but not just on "webmaster"

This kind of search result started getting tested late last summer, but it's now going full steam. Here's one of the threads in the Google Search Forum on this topic:

[webmasterworld.com...]