Last year, Google started including a feature on search results, which let you click a link and get a little pop-up card with a description about the site. The idea is that you can get a basic idea of what the site you’re about to click on is all about before you actually visit it.
Google doesn’t offer this feature on all sites, but when it does, it often draws the description from Wikipedia, not unlike its typical Knowledge Graph descriptions.
As Google Operating System points out (h/t: Search Engine Land), Google is using DMOZ rather than Wikipedia for its own blog, and some other sites like Android Police and Google Operating System itself.
It also does this for its other blogs like the Chrome Blog, Gmail Blog, Webmaster Central Blog, etc. It does still draw from Wikipedia for other sites. It appears that it turns to DMOZ when no Wikipedia entry is available, though it sill leaves the feature off of a lot of sites altogether.
Google has used DMOZ as a source of site descriptions for years, often using it for snippets when it can’t find a good one from the site itself. It’s interesting that Google is now also using it for a more recently added feature, given that the Open Directory Project has hardly in its prime.
Image via Google