--- title: "Heatmap" description: "A visual analytics tool that displays user interaction data — such as where people click, how far they scroll, and where their mouse moves — as color-coded overlays on a web page, with hotter colors indicating higher activity." url: "https://skribra.com/glossary/heatmap" type: "glossary-term" category: "Analytics & Measurement" updated: "2026-06-09" --- # Heatmap **Definition.** A visual analytics tool that displays user interaction data — such as where people click, how far they scroll, and where their mouse moves — as color-coded overlays on a web page, with hotter colors indicating higher activity. **In short.** Heatmaps show you where users click, how far they scroll, and where their attention goes on a page. They reveal whether users are finding your CTA, reaching your important content, or getting stuck — far more actionable than aggregate session metrics. ## Key points - Three main heatmap types: click maps (where users click), scroll maps (how far users scroll), and move maps (where mouse hovers, which correlates with eye tracking) - Scroll maps often reveal that most users never see content below the fold — a common reason for low conversion rates on pages with bottom-positioned CTAs - Click maps identify 'rage clicks' (repeated clicking on non-interactive elements) — a sign of frustrated users who expect something to be clickable - Heatmap tools include: Hotjar, Microsoft Clarity (free), Lucky Orange, and Mouseflow ## Types of Heatmaps and What They Reveal Different heatmap types answer different questions about user behavior[1]. Click maps show where users click — useful for identifying whether users are engaging with important [CTAs](https://skribra.com/glossary/call-to-action), clicking on non-clickable elements (confusion), or ignoring key page sections. Scroll maps show how far users scroll before leaving — the most common finding is that 50-70% of users never scroll past the fold, meaning content placed below the fold is seen by a minority. Move/hover maps show where mouse cursor goes — research shows 88% correlation between cursor position and eye tracking on desktop, making this a proxy for attention. Rage click maps (offered by Hotjar and Clarity) specifically highlight where users click repeatedly in frustration — these spots need immediate investigation for broken elements or unmet expectations. ## Using Heatmaps for SEO and CRO Heatmaps bridge the gap between [analytics](https://skribra.com/glossary/google-analytics) data and user experience insights[1][2]. If organic traffic is high but [conversion rate](https://skribra.com/glossary/conversion-rate) is low, heatmaps reveal why: is the CTA in the scroll-dead-zone? Are users clicking on images expecting them to be links? Is navigation drawing attention away from the main content? For content pages, scroll maps are critical — if 90% of users leave before scrolling to the main argument of a long article, the introduction needs to better establish value early. If users are clicking on a heading expecting it to link to more information, add an [internal link](https://skribra.com/glossary/internal-linking). Session recordings (often paired with heatmaps in tools like Hotjar) let you watch actual user sessions to see exactly what caused a user to leave or convert. ## Setting Up and Interpreting Heatmaps Microsoft Clarity is the best starting point for heatmaps — it's completely free with unlimited sessions and integrates directly with [Google Analytics 4](https://skribra.com/glossary/google-analytics)[2]. Set up requires adding a small JavaScript snippet to your site's ``. Collect at least 1,000 sessions on a page before drawing conclusions from heatmap data — small sample sizes produce misleading patterns. Segment heatmaps by device type (desktop vs. mobile) separately since click and scroll behavior differs dramatically. Segment by traffic source — organic search visitors often behave differently than paid or social visitors because of different intent. Run heatmaps on your highest-traffic landing pages and key conversion pages first, where improvements have the greatest impact. After implementing changes based on heatmap insights, run [A/B tests](https://skribra.com/glossary/a-b-testing) to confirm the change improves conversion rate rather than just anecdotally changing click patterns. ## Related terms - [Conversion Rate](https://skribra.com/glossary/conversion-rate): The percentage of visitors who complete a desired action (purchase, sign-up, download, inquiry) on a website — calculated as conversions divided by total visitors multiplied by 100. - [A/B Testing](https://skribra.com/glossary/a-b-testing): A controlled experiment in which two or more versions of a web page, email, or element are shown to different audience segments to determine which performs better against a defined metric. - [Bounce Rate](https://skribra.com/glossary/bounce-rate): The percentage of sessions in which a user visits only one page on your website and leaves without interacting further, as measured by Google Analytics. - [Call to Action](https://skribra.com/glossary/call-to-action): A prompt — typically a button, link, or directive phrase — that encourages a user to take a specific next step, such as signing up, downloading, buying, or contacting — designed to convert visitors into leads or customers. ## Sources 1. [Microsoft Clarity — Free Heatmaps and Session Recordings](https://clarity.microsoft.com/) 2. [Hotjar — How to Use Heatmaps to Improve Your Website](https://www.hotjar.com/heatmaps/) ## Machine-readable index - HTML version of this page: https://skribra.com/glossary/heatmap - Site index for agents: https://skribra.com/llms.txt - Sitemap: https://skribra.com/sitemap.xml - Public REST API: https://skribra.com/api/v1 - OpenAPI specification: https://skribra.com/openapi.json