Page targeting options can be found for Heatmaps by selecting either Visit a specific page, Visit one of multiple similar pages or Trigger a JavaScript snippet.
Hotjar's page targeting rules are:
- Simple Match: This is the default match type and is used to target a page on your site, ignoring any query strings and fragments as well as protocol, http vs https, and the presence or not of 'www'.
- Exact Match: Targets a specific URL, including the protocol, which can include a query string and fragment.
- Starts With: Target all pages that have a URL, including the protocol, which starts with the entered text.
- Ends With: Target all pages that have a URL which ends in the entered text.
- Contains: Target all pages which contain the entered text. This rule is case sensitive
- Regular Expression: A regular expression, regex or regexp for short, is a special text string for describing a search pattern.
- JavaScript Trigger:Available on our Plus and Business plan, this method targets actions taken by a visitor to trigger a Heatmap screenshot.
To better understand how URL targeting works, it is good to also understand what components form a URL:
Components of a URL
Simple Match
This is the default match type and is intended to be used to target a page on your site. The match will be correct if the URL path your visitor is on, matches the URL path you specify.
Query strings and fragments are ignored
If the live site loads with a query string, it will still be considered to match the Simple URL targeted.
Simple Match - http://www.x.com/pages/
| Result | Example URL |
| MATCH | http://www.x.com/pages/ |
| NO MATCH | http://www.x.com/pages/subpage |
| MATCH | http://www.x.com/pages/?x=1 |
| MATCH | http://www.x.com/pages/?x=1&y=1 |
| MATCH | http://www.x.com/PAGES |
| MATCH | http://www.x.com/pages/?x=1 |
| MATCH | https://www.x.com/pages/ |
| MATCH | http://x.com/pages |
| MATCH | https://x.com/pages/ |
Exact Match
The match will be correct if the URL path, query string and fragment your visitor is on match EXACTLY the ones you specify.
Exact Match - http://www.x.com/pages/?x=1
| Result | Example URL |
| NO MATCH | http://www.x.com/pages/ |
| NO MATCH | http://www.x.com/pages/subpage |
| MATCH | http://www.x.com/pages/?x=1 |
| NO MATCH | http://www.x.com/pages/?x=1&y=1 |
| NO MATCH" | http://www.x.com/pages/?x=1#2 |
| NO MATCH | https://www.x.com/pages/?x=1 |
Only One Heatmap Can Be Created at a Time
When selecting Visit one of multiple similar pages, a single Heatmap will be created and contain data collected from all pages, overlaid upon a screenshot of one of the targeted pages.
Starts With
The match will be correct if the URL your visitor is on, starts exactly as you specify it, including the protocol.
Starts with - http://www.x.com/pages/
| Result | Example URL |
| MATCH | http://www.x.com/pages/ |
| MATCH | http://www.x.com/pages/subpage |
| MATCH | http://www.x.com/pages/?x=1 |
| MATCH | http://www.x.com/pages/?x=1&y=1 |
| MATCH | http://www.x.com/pages/?x=1#2 |
| NO MATCH | https://www.x.com/pages/ |
Ends With
The match will be correct if the URL your visitor is on, ends exactly as you specify it.
Ends with - pages/
| Result | Example URL |
| MATCH | http://www.x.com/pages/ |
| NO MATCH | http://www.x.com/pages/subpage |
| NO MATCH | http://www.x.com/pages/?x=1 |
| NO MATCH | http://www.x.com/pages/?x=1&y=1 |
| NO MATCH | http://www.x.com/pages/?x=1#2 |
Contains
The match will be correct if the URL your visitor is on, contains the text you specified.
Contains - ?x=1
| Result | Example URL |
| NO MATCH | http://www.x.com/pages/ |
| NO MATCH | http://www.x.com/pages/subpage |
| MATCH | http://www.x.com/pages/?x=1 |
| MATCH | http://www.x.com/pages/?x=1&y=1 |
| MATCH | http://www.x.com/pages/?x=1#2 |