Analytics flatter us. Prefetching, VPNs, and scrapers can inflate counts. You still need signal—just calibrated signal.
Cross-check with outcomes
If clicks moon but signups flatline, suspect bots or wrong audience—not “bad copy.”
Referrer sanity
Sudden anonymous direct spikes after a Hacker News mention differ from uniform bot rain.
Time windows
Humans cluster around hours you actually promoted. Perfectly even 24/7 graphs smell mechanical.
Simplicity as strategy
You do not need a SOC2 fraud suite on day one. You need directional truth: which slug beat which on the same landing page.
Octilink aims for lightweight analytics—enough to steer creative, not drown operators.