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Around the Internet => Antimustachian Wall of Shame and Comedy => Topic started by: damyst on January 22, 2019, 10:55:46 PM

Title: Google thoroughly confused by LBYM
Post by: damyst on January 22, 2019, 10:55:46 PM: Just for fun, I tried googling this question: what to do when your income exceeds your expenses?
I expected to see standard advice about saving and investing. But instead, not a single search result actually fit the query, and almost all of them related to the exact opposite situation. Here's the first 5 results:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelkay/2017/06/27/what-to-do-when-your-bills-exceed-your-income/
https://www.wisebread.com/6-steps-to-take-when-you-have-more-bills-than-income
https://creditpilgrim.com/income-not-covering-expenses/
https://articles.extension.org/pages/36112/what-should-i-do-if-my-expenses-exceed-my-income
http://www1.cbn.com/when-your-expenses-exceed-your-income

For completeness I tried bing.com as well. Same result.
I know that search engine algorithms take all sort of cues into account. Maybe it's just in my geography that the algorithm finds it impossible to contemplate a person making more money than they spend? If anyone happens to try this and see a different outcome, let me know.
Title: Re: Google thoroughly confused by LBYM
Post by: gooki on January 22, 2019, 10:59:44 PM: Put it in quotes and the results are even funnier.

Spoiler: show
No results found for “what to do when your income exceeds your expenses?”.
Title: Re: Google thoroughly confused by LBYM
Post by: jinga nation on January 23, 2019, 10:54:16 AM: Hoe Lee Fuchs!

opportunity for google to show ads for retirement products, Roth, savings accounts, investment vultures (EJ, AF), caskets, retirement homes, mid-life crisis cars, boats, etc.

But parsing failed.
Title: Re: Google thoroughly confused by LBYM
Post by: AMandM on January 23, 2019, 11:02:57 AM: I tried "income exceeds expenses" and got a lot of accounting flashcards with the definition of "cash surplus."
Title: Re: Google thoroughly confused by LBYM
Post by: slugline on January 23, 2019, 01:02:06 PM: It sounds like Google thought you made a little typo. ;) Well, perhaps someone will go ahead and write an online article that directly answers your question. Maybe it will rocket to the top of the search results in the future.
Title: Re: Google thoroughly confused by LBYM
Post by: Bayou Dweller on January 23, 2019, 02:39:16 PM: Quote from: slugline on January 23, 2019, 01:02:06 PM
It sounds like Google thought you made a little typo. ;) Well, perhaps someone will go ahead and write an online article that directly answers your question. Maybe it will rocket to the top of the search results in the future.

I was just thinking, oh what a great idea for a new article ;)

Thanks for that, fellow Houstonian.
Title: Re: Google thoroughly confused by LBYM
Post by: Dragonswan on February 05, 2019, 02:37:59 PM: If you ask the question slightly differently, you get useful answers. Try what to do with excess income. I believe the word expenses in the same breath as income is causing the confusion.

But yes, that's mighty funny.
Title: Re: Google thoroughly confused by LBYM
Post by: Travis on February 05, 2019, 02:59:00 PM: Search engines tend to ignore articles and common words. In this case Google really only searched for "expenses" "exceed" and "income" in no particular order, but the results were heavily stacked in the opposite of what you wanted - probably because there's more content out there for that version.
Title: Re: Google thoroughly confused by LBYM
Post by: Alternatepriorities on February 06, 2019, 01:24:40 AM: Observation changed the result. It worked for me when I first saw this but I wanted to share it with friends today and this thread is now the lone result when I put the question in quotes...
Title: Re: Google thoroughly confused by LBYM
Post by: Pizzabrewer on February 06, 2019, 01:47:47 AM: There’s some real comedy in the last link in the OP. The “700 Club”s answer is to increase tithing.
Title: Re: Google thoroughly confused by LBYM
Post by: Linea_Norway on February 06, 2019, 02:55:46 AM: When I search in Norwegian on: inntekten overstiger utgiftene (income exceeds expenses), then I get hits about how to pay zero taxes while having a high income, by only having tax-free types on income. All hits are about how to save taxes in some way or another.

I asked a little different question in Norwegian: sparer mesteparten av inntekten (saving most of your income).

That gives me a bunch of hits about how to get rich on a normal salary, how to save most on a low income and how to save up a big sum to buy a house. So I think adding the word saving to the question gives better results.
Title: Re: Google thoroughly confused by LBYM
Post by: Mississippi Mudstache on February 07, 2019, 08:41:39 AM: Quote from: Pizzabrewer on February 06, 2019, 01:47:47 AM
There’s some real comedy in the last link in the OP. The “700 Club”s answer is to increase tithing.

LOL. Save money by giving it to us! Because God will reward you! Or something.