Why is Google displaying meta descriptions for pages that are nowhere contained in said page metas?

[Closetstogo]

Certain search keywords are pulling up incorrect page titles and meta descriptions for our site. I've looked through our code, and the text used by Google in the search results is nowhere found inside our site. I've also looked at previous iterations of our site from over a decade ago and still haven't found it.

I then searched specifically for the exact phrased incorrect meta descriptions and found a long list of spammy sites linking to our domain with the exact, incorrect meta description. Is this why Google is displaying the incorrect data, and how do I get Google to use the meta descriptions from my actual site?

[antonioaraya]

Hi Jeffrey:

Sometimes Google shows other info in the meta description like Open Directory Project and Yahoo Directory. Have you tried to implement this in the section of each page you have this problem?