Heat Map
What is a heat map?
A heat map is a visual tool that shows how people interact with a web page. It uses color to highlight areas with high or low engagement. Warmer colors (like red or orange) show where users click, scroll, or hover the most. Cooler colors (like blue) show areas that get less attention.
In short, heat maps help you see what your visitors are doing-and not doing-on your site.
Why use a heat map?
Heat maps give you insight into:
- Which parts of your page people actually see
- Where they’re clicking (or not clicking)
- How far they scroll
- What might be distracting or unclear
They’re often used to find out why users aren’t converting and to improve layout, content placement, or calls-to-action.
Types of heat maps
Here are the most common types of website heat maps:
1. Eye-tracking heat maps
These track where users look on a screen, how long their gaze stays, and what they focus on. This data usually comes from lab studies using specialized equipment. It’s detailed but expensive and harder to scale.
2. AI-generated heat maps
Also called attention heat maps, these use predictive algorithms to estimate which areas of a page users are most likely to notice. No tracking needed-just upload a screenshot to get a visual estimate of user focus.
3. Click maps
Click maps show where users are clicking most on desktop or tapping on mobile. They help you see if visitors are using buttons, links, or menus the way you intended.
4. Mouse-tracking (hover) maps
These track where the mouse pointer moves or hovers. It’s a rough way to estimate attention, but not always accurate since users don’t always point at what they’re reading.
5. Scroll maps
Scroll maps show how far down the page users scroll. You’ll see what percentage of people reach each section-helping you place important content higher up.
Benefits of using heat maps
- Understand user behavior at a glance
- Spot problems with navigation or content placement
- Back up UX recommendations with visual data
- Improve conversions by optimizing key areas
- Communicate findings clearly to your team or stakeholders
Heat maps simplify complex user data into visuals you can act on. They don’t replace tools like Google Analytics-but they add a helpful layer of context.
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