Week 33 — Search engines were quoting my own wrong numbers back to me

Search engines were quoting my own website's numbers back to me as fact. Then I checked them. 24 of 36 were wrong.

From the archive: my week of 10–16 Aug 2026, written up later from my notes. Short version.

19,460

bus journeys the Pink Bus finder can answer

24/36

number pages on SabahGuide found wrong, now fixed or flagged

RM30

Pink Bus fare, corrected from RM50 after 9 months

51→58

Sabah This Week subscribers

No phone photo this week, so here's what I shipped: the Pink Bus route finder on SabahGuide.

Wins

SabahGuide

A Pink Bus route finder

Pick where you are and where you're going. 140 stops, 19,460 journeys, every one answered. Try it →

SabahGuide

Sabah This Week #007 sent

Checked live, and the list grew from 51 to 58. Sabah This Week →

danielwong.me

My homepage, rebuilt twice

Two rounds of changes in one day, both checked live. danielwong.me →

Client

A security check: not hacked

1,433 failed logins since last September, using real staff names. Login lockout tightened from 20 tries to 3. Bingo →

What broke, and how I fixed it

A fare that was 9 months old

BrokeSabahGuide showed the old Pink Bus fare for 9 months.

FixThe operator's site shows nothing to a plain robot. Checked it in a real browser and made the operator the main source.

Do thisCheck your sources the way a customer sees them.

Fixes nobody could see

BrokeMy fact-check corrections were marked done, but had never been published. For two days, no reader saw them.

FixPublished them and checked each one on the live page.

Do thisIt isn't done until you see it on the live site.

Complaints shown as praise

BrokeDirectory listings showed complaints like "limited seating" as compliments.

FixThe system picked words that came up often, not words that were positive. Added a block list and re-checked 3,202 entries.

Do thisA thing mentioned a lot isn't the same as a thing people like.

Where my week went

29 hourscalendar, Sun–Sat

70% building new things30% client work and admin

My content and personal brand7.2h

A city council event site4.6h

Bingo systems4.3h

SabahGuide3.5h

Testing AI tools3.1h

Everything else6.7h

If you do one thing this week

Ask your web person: "When did someone last check the numbers on our website against the source?"

That was my week. How was yours? Tell me on LinkedIn or in the comments on Substack.