Once you have installed Hotjar correctly, there is a built-in verification system that will check if your tracking code is working correctly.
Inside your Insights panel, click on the Tracking button in the top right.
The Tracking button has two different appearances, depending on whether or not someone has visited your site since Hotjar was installed
Active:
Inactive:
If you do not see this button, this means your Tracking Code has never been detected. Head to your dashboard and click the verification button under your Tracking Code.
Click on the Verify Installation tab.
Verify the installation.
You can then make sure you are up and running by clicking the Verify Installation button. This button will open a browser window, and display a message telling you if Hotjar is installed correctly.
Ad/script blocking when performing verification will prevent verification
If any kind of ad or script blocking is in use then verification will not work. You should either turn this off or switch to an alternative browser temporarily. This includes extensions such as Ghostery, AdBlock Plus, Brave or Privacy Badger. Some of these extensions will allow you to add Hotjar to their allow list as an alternative to disabling them entirely.
A dialog box saying "Hotjar installation verified" should appear.
If you see this error message saying that multiple tracking scripts are installed, you should remove each of the extra codes installed on your page, leaving one remaining.
If you see no messages, but do not have ad or script-blocking enabled, then the tracking code has likely not been published. At this point, it is best to start the installation process again.
Once Hotjar has detected the Tracking Code on your site, the Site Dashboard will show a notice like the one below:
If Hotjar shows as inactive after you installed the Tracking Code, there are a few reasons this could be happening. Below are the common issues and how to resolve them.
- Verification is not working
- Data being collected is of a different site
- Hotjar suddenly stopped collecting data
- Hotjar is not tracking all pages
Verification is not working
There are 3 common reasons why the verification is not working properly:
- The Tracking Code has not been installed on your website.
Solution: follow one of our installation guides to help you install the Tracking Code.
- The code was added incorrectly.
Solution: To find out if you’ve installed the Tracking Code properly, follow these steps. Avoid pasting the code in word processors and other text editing programs before pasting on your site as these programs tend to automatically alter the content of the code for styling.
If you are not seeing any requests in the developer tools, the Tracking Code has not been installed properly. Try adding the Tracking Code once again.
- No traffic to your site.
Solution: Hotjar verifies tracking as being active if it detects at least one visit in the past hour. If your site hasn’t had any visitors within the past hour(s), this could be due to low traffic to your site or perhaps that the Tracking Code isn’t installed.
If you didn't block your IP in your Hotjar account and you don't have Do Not Track enabled in your browser, you can browse the pages of your site to trigger the activation. Once you do that, refresh your Hotjar dashboard after 2-3 minutes to see if you’ve triggered the activation.
If it’s still not working, follow this guide to make sure that your Tracking Code is installed on your site.
Data being collected is of a different site
You have multiple sites in your account
Solution: If this is the case, there is a chance that you have added the incorrect Tracking Code and maybe seeing data from another site or no data at all. Within Hotjar, you can find the correct Tracking Code for your site in the Sites & Organizations page by clicking on the 'Tracking Code' button next to the site URL.
Compare the Tracking Code, specifically the Site ID, that’s present on your website to the tracking code you’ve just copied. If the Site ID is different, then you can confirm that you have added the wrong Tracking Code. Remove the Tracking Code that is present on your site by retracing your installation steps, then paste the correct Tracking Code on your website.
Hotjar suddenly stopped collecting data
Your site has undergone major design change
Solution: Sometimes during this process, the Tracking Code is accidentally removed. To confirm the Tracking Code is not present due to any of the changes mentioned above, verify the installation within Hotjar. If the verification fails, add the Tracking Code to your site by following one of our installation guides.
Has Hotjar suddenly stopped working with Google Tag Manager?
Check that you have Published the version of your GTM script with the Hotjar Tracking Code installed. For more information, take a look at our GTM Installation Troubleshooting Guide.
Hotjar is not tracking all pages
Hotjar is tracking some pages, but not all
Solution: To check if Hotjar is installed on a specific page, follow these steps while on the page. If there are no requests in the developer tools, the Tracking Code is not installed. To install the Tracking Code, you can use one of these installation guides.
Missing pageviews due to sampling
If the Tracking Code is installed on all pages but you’re getting limited pageviews, this may be due to sampling.