What is a Heatmap?

A heatmap is a visual representation of visitor behaviour on a web page. Warm colours (red, orange) show where people click or scroll a lot; cold colours (blue) show little activity. Heatmaps are an essential tool in CRO for spotting bottlenecks that quantitative data alone does not reveal.

Types of heatmaps

Click heatmaps show where visitors click, including clicks on non-clickable elements (a telling sign of confusion). Scroll heatmaps show how far visitors scroll and which part of the page is never seen. Mouse movement heatmaps show attention patterns. Session recordings complete the picture by showing individual behaviour in real time.

Heatmaps and A/B testing

Heatmaps help you form hypotheses for A/B tests. If visitors ignore a CTA but do click on a non-clickable image, you know what to test. Popular tools are Hotjar, Microsoft Clarity (free) and Crazy Egg.

Heatmaps and UX

Heatmaps reveal friction: elements that cause confusion, buttons that get ignored or content that sits too far below the fold to ever be seen.

Are heatmaps accurate?

For qualitative insights, certainly. Always combine them with quantitative data from GA4 for the full picture.

How many sessions do I need for reliable heatmap data?

At least 500 to 1,000 sessions per page. More at developers.google.com/search.