This is the actual HTML code that is used to render the homepage of Google.

As you may have noticed, there aren’t any meta tags in the Google source code so search engines have to rely on the DMOZ directory for fetching descriptions that display as snippets in the search results for queries like google, google search, etc.
Now here’s what you’ll get when you try searching for the keyword "google" in the top three search engines.
Google on Windows Live Search
Google on Yahoo Search

Google on Google Web Search

Yahoo and Microsoft Live get the perfect descriptions but interestingly, Google search incorrectly describes "Google" as a place where you can "search and browse mail-order catalogs online."
This is probably a glitch where the description of Google Catalog Search has been mixed with that of Google Web Search but the bug has been around for quite some time now and I won’t be surprised if it affects any non-Google websites that are relying on the DMOZ directory. If that’s the case, some visitors may be skipping these sites altogether due to incorrect snippets in the search results.
Also see: Things That Yahoo! Can Do But Not Google
Find this article at: http://www.labnol.org/internet/microsoft-and-yahoo-explain-google-better/7007/
Tags: bug, dmoz, exclusive, feature, fun, google, seo, yahoo, Internet

Reader Comments
lol…. funny…. weird…. ironical!!!! :)
appreciate your catch :-)
Written by akshay on 02.03.09
I think its the way Google tries to market itself. Nice catch though
Written by Vinitt on 02.03.09
That is a little bizarre! Maybe they’re plotting something we don’t know about ;-)
Written by idale on 02.03.09
You should mail this to the official google blog team :-)
Written by Rajaram S on 02.03.09
Very interesting observation
Written by jacob on 02.03.09
today it is “Doodle 4 Google: Your child’s design could be our logo and appear in the National Design Museum Advertising Programs – Business Solutions – About Google …”
Written by eplmatches on 02.04.09
This is very funny. As rajaram said – You should mail this to the official google team.
Written by Prashanth on 02.04.09
i think they are guessing that nobody gonna search for “google” in google.com ;)
Written by eplmatches on 02.05.09
its funny weird one….
Written by motts on 02.13.09