What is a heat map?

The heat map is a technique that allows the graphical presentation of the most important information about the behavior of users visiting a specific website. Thanks to the use of a wide range of colors, we can check which areas of the website are most frequently visited, for example:
– red – the most popular elements;
– yellow – areas of less interest;
– blue or green – places visited least often.

In some cases, heatmaps are equally identified with clickmaps. According to Paraphrase Online experts, this is the correct reasoning, but to simplify it – it is nothing else than a method of presenting data collected using click tracking, scroll tracking and attention tracking. What do these terms mean?

– click tracking – tracking information related to user clicks using server logs;
– scroll tracking – a rule based on the depth of scrolling, i.e. places where Internet users will reach the farthest;
– attention tracking – research based on the analysis of website elements that attract potential visitors.

Remember not to confuse heat maps with eye tracking. Well, eye tracking tracks the movement of the eyeballs, and the mission of this study is to verify the most popular elements that Internet users look at. For this purpose, we need specialized equipment – dedicated glasses or a monitor equipped with special functionalities.

Heat maps developed on the basis of tools such as Hotjar track the cursor movements, and thus – in this case we use click tracking or scroll tracking technology. Eye tracking is a completely different, more advanced technique used much less frequently than classic solutions.

Heat map implementation – 3 most popular tools

The most popular tools for implementing a heat map include: Crazy EGG, Smartlook and HotJar. With their help, we will implement the tracking code for the website and we will be able to study all the factors affecting click-, scroll-, and attention tracking. Here are 3 heatmap apps!

Crazy EGG
Crazy EGG is a tool that shows the number of clicks and scrolls. Creates heat maps and presents additional statistics of clicks on specific areas, elements and functionalities. You can use it for free for 30 days in the demo version.

Smartlook
The Smartlook application offers click maps, scroll maps, and allows you to record the behavior of potential customers on the website (e.g. clicking between subpages of the website). In the free version, we will generate any number of heat maps, but the data on which our heat map is based will be quite limited.

HotJar
HotJar, a program that prepares click maps and cursor movement recordings. The free version of the application is very limited, but we can use all its functionalities for free for 15 days. In some cases, HotJar reduces site performance (e.g. increases loading time).

Types of heat maps – 5 examples

The different types of heat maps enable a comprehensive analysis of all visitor activities. Depending on our preferences, we can see, among others how far users scroll our website, what they most often pay attention to, and why they do not click on a given link or leave the site. Here are the types of heat maps! – 5 examples.

Click Map
Click Map allows you to carefully analyze all clicks made on our website by potential customers. It works on a simple principle – after the user’s activity (in the form of a click), he marks a specific area on the page with a bright dot. The larger the spot of white, the more active the visitors were in this place. Thanks to the appropriate identification, we can assess whether the guests have clicked on the appropriate space.

Page scroll map
The page scroll map allows you to see how far users are scrolling. That’s not all, because with its help we can also verify the most eye-catching functionalities and places that make visitors leave our site.

Map of the percentage of clicks
The click-through percentage map allows you to accurately count the number of clicks generated by using a specific element (e.g. a call to action) compared to other website functionalities. This is very important because it allows you to find out which areas of the website are most important to users.

Confetti map
The confetti map shows single clicks on the page. It also allows you to verify that potential customers are clicking inactive areas. Some may confuse it with the click percentage map, but the confetti type only demonstrates single clicks, not the click density.

Mouse tracking map
The mouse tracking map shows the most common places your visitors move around. It is a very useful type of map that facilitates the verification of where the user has reached with the mouse, but has not clicked on a given element or has left the site.

Heat maps in internet analytics

Heat maps can be perfectly used in internet analytics, e.g. to improve the visibility of priority buttons and icons or to detect the most problematic areas of a given website. They are also helpful for improving website navigation, moving individual elements as well as analyzing the volume of content. Below we present the use of heat maps in web analytics!

Detection of the most problematic areas of a given website
Appropriate use of clickmaps will allow you to verify which elements are inactive and still attract the attention of visitors. Additionally, you can eliminate places considered to be the most problematic – it is very useful in highly competitive industries (e.g. e-commerce, hosting, gambling).

Content volume analysis
The content volume analysis is possible thanks to the scrollmap – then we will be able to check whether the user reads the entire text available on our website. If, on the other hand, we conclude that visitors only roll over half of the article, we should choose a different SEO strategy focused on, for example, shorter but more substantive content.

Improving the visibility of priority buttons and icons
Thanks to the click map, we will find out which functionalities of our website attract the most attention of users. If we come to the conclusion that individual elements in the current form (e.g. a subscription button or a basket icon) are not effective enough – we will be able to make significant changes.

Moving items within the site
Moving items within the site is a procedure performed primarily by online stores. What is it exactly about? Well, using scroll and attention maps, we will get to know the buttons that attract the special attention of visitors. Thanks to this, we will find out which of them should be moved higher to interest other Internet users.

Improving site navigation
The use of heat maps in web analytics is primarily the continuous testing of the functionality of a given website. Exactly the same is the case with improving the navigation on the site.

For example – if we provide our clients with two versions of the menu (vertical and horizontal), we should test which of them is used more often. We can then notice that the side navigation does not arouse any interest, and thus – we will insert additional buttons, banners or icons in its place.

Summary

Heatmaps are excellent SEO tools that improve website analytics. They look very effective, are transparent, and most importantly – they increase conversion and make the website more useful. Remember, however, that the necessary skill is to draw appropriate conclusions from the obtained maps, and then make well-thought-out and correct changes to the selected site.

FAQ

When to use heatmaps
Heatmaps are worth using to measure audience engagement in the context of your articles. According to Semcore experts, they can be additionally used to verify what elements attract the attention of recipients and check what Internet users click on most often.

What can be deduced from the heat map?
The heat map requires a careful analysis, thanks to which we can conclude, inter alia, where should we place the most important content, where visitors leave the website, and how to increase the effectiveness of priority functionalities and properly present your product or service.

Who should use heatmaps?
Heat maps are especially useful in highly competitive industries (e.g. e-commerce, gambling, hosting), where even the smallest details count. This does not change the fact that the so-called The heat map is useful in every field, for example to increase conversion or meet the requirements of Internet users (UX aspect).

To be completely honest – most of the problems include a high bounce rate and even too few entries from mobile devices compared to stationary devices can be solved by correctly implementing the improvements that we have developed based on the data from the heat maps.

How to implement a heat map to your business?
The heat map should be implemented using appropriate applications (eg Crazy EGG, Smartlook, HotJar) that will facilitate the implementation of the tracking code on our website. Thanks to this, we will be able to study the elements affecting click-, scroll- and attention tracking.