Growth Marketing

Your traffic is up. Is it real?

This week's Nothing After Six: why a rising traffic number can mislead you, and the five-minute fix to do tonight. The full issue goes to subscribers.

18 October 2026
A funnel full of cursor arrows feeds a tap that drips only a few coins, beside the words Check the leak before you turn it up.

TL;DR

Traffic up and business up are two different numbers. This week's issue has three checks before you spend another dollar, and one five-minute fix.

One practical growth fix each week.

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Last weekend I opened my own Google Analytics and found something embarrassing. Weeks ago I set up a filter to stop my own visits being counted. I made it, saw it saved, and moved on.

It was still sitting in Testing. Google never switched it on. So every time I opened my own site, I counted myself as a visitor.

That's the problem with traffic numbers. When they go up, it feels like the business is going up. So you spend more on ads, more on SEO, more on content. But traffic up and business up are two different numbers. Some of your visitors aren't people. Some of them are you. And the number you're watching might not even answer the question you're asking.

The three checks, and the five-minute fix to do tonight, are in this week's Nothing After Six. Sign up below and the full issue comes to your inbox.

Written by Oyekola Obajuwon

nothing after six · website traffic · google analytics · exclude internal traffic ga4

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