Glossary · Tracking technology
What is heatmap?
A website heatmap is a visualization that overlays a page with colors showing where visitors clicked, how far they scrolled, or where they moved their pointer — warm colors for high activity, cool colors for low.
Also called: Click heatmap, Scroll map, Website heatmap
Updated
Types of heatmaps
| Type | Shows | Answers |
|---|---|---|
| Click map | Density of clicks and taps | What do people try to interact with? |
| Scroll map | Share of visitors reaching each depth | Where do people stop reading? |
| Move map | Pointer position | Rough attention on desktop (weak signal) |
How to read a heatmap
Scroll reach at depth d = visitors who scrolled to at least d ÷ visitors who viewed the page
Look for clicks on non-clickable elements (people expect a link), important calls to action in cold areas, and the depth where scroll reach falls off a cliff — content below it is read by few people. Compare devices separately; a desktop and a mobile layout are different pages.
Heatmap example
A pricing page's click map shows heavy clicking on the plan comparison table's feature names, which aren't links. People want to know what each feature means. Adding tooltips there reduced support questions — and the scroll map showed only 35% of mobile visitors reached the FAQ, so the most common question moved above the table.
Heatmap pitfalls
- Too few visits — a few hundred clicks make random patterns look meaningful.
- Dynamic pages where the layout differs per visitor, so clicks land on the wrong spot of the screenshot.
- Mixing devices.
- Treating mouse movement as eye tracking.
Click heatmaps in VisitTrack
VisitTrack records click positions as a percentage of page width and height, so its click heatmap paints density over a full-page screenshot of your real page — captured automatically for public pages, or uploaded for pages behind a login — split by desktop, tablet and mobile. It adds a scroll-reach panel, the most-clicked elements, and a buyers mode that shows only clicks from visitors who paid within 30 days: the parts of the page that attract customers. Pair it with session replays to see the why.
Frequently asked questions
How many visits do you need for a reliable heatmap?
Enough that patterns are stable, usually at least a few hundred to a few thousand pageviews per device type for the page. Compare two periods; if the pattern changes a lot, you need more data.
What is the difference between a heatmap and session replay?
A heatmap aggregates many visitors' clicks or scrolls into one picture; a session replay shows one visitor's session in detail. Heatmaps find where something happens, replays show why.
Related terms
- Session replaySession replay is a feature that records the changes to a web page and a visitor's interactions with it — mouse movement, clicks, scrolling, typing events — and reconstructs them later as a video-like playback of that visit.
- Funnel drop-offFunnel drop-off is the share of visitors who complete one step of a funnel but don't reach the next one — the leak between two stages of a conversion path.
- Engagement rateEngagement rate is the percentage of sessions that counted as engaged — in Google Analytics 4, sessions that lasted at least 10 seconds, viewed two or more pages, or triggered a key event.
- Event trackingEvent tracking is recording specific actions visitors take on a website or app — clicks, form submissions, sign-ups, downloads, purchases — as named events, often with properties that describe them.
- Landing pageA landing page is the page a visitor first arrives on from a link, ad or search result — and, in marketing, a standalone page designed for one campaign with a single call to action.
Tools and guides
See which channels actually bring paying customers
VisitTrack is cookie-free analytics with revenue attribution built in. One script tag, no consent banner, live in two minutes. 14 days free, no card required.