Heatmaps and Page Engagement
Page Engagement shows you exactly how visitors interact with your pages. Instead of just knowing someone visited, you can see where they scrolled, how long they stayed in each section, and where they clicked.
This data helps you answer questions like:
- Are visitors actually reading my content, or bouncing after the first few paragraphs?
- Which sections hold attention longest?
- Are people clicking my call-to-action buttons?
- Is my mobile experience working as well as desktop?
Getting Started
When you open Page Engagement, you'll see five filters at the top:
Domain — Select the website you want to analyse.
Page — Choose a specific page from that domain. The dropdown shows all tracked URLs.
Date Range — View data from the last 7, 30, 60, or 90 days.
Device — Filter by desktop, mobile, tablet, or view all devices combined.
Analysis Type — Switch between three views: Scroll Data, Time Spent, and Click Heatmap.
Once you've made your selections, the page preview loads with your chosen analysis overlaid on top.
Scroll Data
Scroll Data answers: "How far down the page do visitors actually get?"
What you're looking at
The page is divided into small vertical zones. Each zone shows a pink bar extending from the left edge. The length of the bar represents the percentage of visitors who reached that section.
You'll also see a label showing:
- The zone position (e.g., "Zone 20%-22%")
- The reach percentage (e.g., "78% reach")
- The number of visitors
How it's calculated
The baseline is everyone who loaded the page. If 1,000 people loaded your page and 650 scrolled past the halfway point, the 50% zone shows 65% reach.
Percentages naturally decrease as you move down the page. Visitors drop off at different points. A healthy page might show 90%+ reach at the top, declining gradually to 30-40% at the footer.
What to look for
Sharp drop-offs — If reach suddenly drops from 75% to 30% at a specific point, something at that location is causing visitors to leave. It might be a confusing section, a slow-loading element, or simply content that doesn't match visitor expectations.
Footer reach — If only 10% of visitors reach your footer, your page might be too long, or the content above isn't compelling enough to keep people scrolling.
Mobile vs desktop differences — Compare device types. Mobile visitors often scroll less. If your mobile scroll depth is dramatically lower, check for layout issues or slow-loading images on phones.
Time Spent
Time Spent answers: "Which sections actually hold visitor attention?"
What you're looking at
Like Scroll Data, the page is divided into zones. Each zone shows a pink bar representing how much time visitors spent in that section relative to other sections.
Labels show:
- The zone position
- Average time per visit (e.g., "2.4s avg")
- Percentage of sessions
- Number of sessions
How it's calculated
The system tracks how long visitors pause at each scroll position. If someone stops scrolling for a few seconds at the 40% mark, that time gets recorded to that zone.
The bar width shows the "time share" — what percentage of total page engagement time was spent in each zone. A longer bar means visitors spent proportionally more time there compared to other sections.
What to look for
High-engagement sections — Zones with the longest bars are where visitors spend the most time. This usually indicates compelling content: detailed product information, interesting copy, or interactive elements.
Skipped sections — Zones with short bars (low average time) are being scrolled past quickly. Visitors aren't finding value there. This might be acceptable for navigation elements, but concerning for important content.
First-section behaviour — If visitors spend very little time at the top of the page before scrolling, your headline or hero section might not be engaging enough to hold attention.
Comparison with scroll data — A section with high time spent but low scroll reach suggests visitors who get there find it valuable, but many drop off before reaching it. Consider moving that content higher.
Click Heatmap
Click Heatmap answers: "Where are visitors actually clicking?"
What you're looking at
A colour overlay appears on your page. Warmer colours (towards red/orange) indicate areas with more clicks. Cooler colours (towards blue/purple) show fewer clicks. Areas without colour received no clicks during the selected period.
Hover over any coloured area to see the exact click count.
How it's calculated
Every click is recorded with its position on the page, stored as a percentage from the top-left corner. This means clicks align correctly regardless of screen size.
The heatmap uses a 95th percentile calculation to prevent a single high-traffic button from washing out all other data. This means you can see both your most-clicked elements and secondary click patterns in the same view.
What to look for
CTA effectiveness — Are visitors clicking your call-to-action buttons? If your "Buy Now" button shows little or no heat, it might not be visible enough, or visitors aren't convinced by the point they reach it.
Unexpected click patterns — Visitors sometimes click things that aren't clickable. If you see heat on non-interactive text or images, people might be confused about what's actionable. Consider making those elements into links, or clarifying your design.
Navigation usage — Which menu items get clicked most? This shows what visitors are actually looking for, which might differ from what you assume.
Mobile click patterns — Switch to mobile view. Tap targets that work on desktop might be too small or too close together on phones. You might see clicks scattered around buttons rather than on them directly.
Below-the-fold buttons — Check if buttons further down the page receive clicks. If they show no activity, visitors either aren't reaching them (check scroll data) or don't find them compelling.
Practical Tips
Combining the three views
The real insights come from looking at all three analyses together.
If scroll data shows visitors reach a section but time spent is low, they're seeing it but not engaging. The content might need to be more compelling.
If scroll data shows visitors reach a section, time spent is high, but click heatmap shows no clicks on your CTA there, visitors are interested but not converting. The button placement, copy, or offer might need work.
If clicks happen above a scroll drop-off point, visitors might be clicking away to a different page before seeing your main content.
Device-specific analysis
Always check mobile separately. Mobile users:
- Scroll less
- Spend less time per section
- Click differently (tap vs precise cursor)
What works on desktop often fails on mobile. Use the device filter to spot these differences.
Date range selection
Shorter ranges (7 days) show recent behaviour but may have lower sample sizes. Longer ranges (90 days) smooth out anomalies but might include outdated data if you've changed the page.
After making significant page changes, check 7-day data to see immediate impact before the longer averages catch up.
Exporting Your Analysis
Click the download icon in the top-right of the filters to export a PNG image of the current view. This captures the page screenshot with your selected overlay (scroll, time, or clicks) for use in reports or presentations.
The export includes your current filters, so you can save separate images for desktop and mobile comparison, or different date ranges.
Troubleshooting
"No data for this selection" — This appears when there's no tracked activity matching your filters. Try expanding the date range or checking a different device type. New pages won't show data until visitors have been tracked.
Page looks different from the live site — The preview shows a snapshot of the page when it was captured. If you've recently updated the page design, the snapshot may be out of date. Snapshots refresh periodically.
Heatmap seems faint — This usually means relatively few clicks were recorded. Try extending the date range to gather more data, or check if the page receives significant traffic.