Heatmaps continuously collect data across all pages on your site that have the Hotjar Tracking Code installed. You can then view this data across different types of Heatmaps for clicks and taps, scrolls, and movement.
In this article, we'll learn how to generate a Heatmap including: specifying the URL, viewing a heatmap, applying filters, and saving a heatmap with applied filters.
If you're having issues with Heatmaps, see our troubleshooting guides for:
Ensure session capture is enabled to use Heatmaps and Recordings
The traffic coverage widget towards the top-right corner of Hotjar shows you information about your daily session capture settings. If session capture is not enabled, you'll see a yellow Session capture is currently disabled message at the top of the page. Clicking on the link inside that message to Enable session capture in Site Settings takes you to the session capture configuration.
From your Heatmaps page, click on New heatmap.
Use the URL filter dropdown to show data from one URL or a group of related URLs.
The default match type is URL is, which will show data from a specific URL of your site.
Heatmaps can show data from a single, specific URL or a group of URLs. When the URL filter that's applied results in heat data being sourced from multiple pages, the aggregated data is shown over a single screenshot. See our What Are Heatmap URL Filters for more details and examples of match type options.
Available options in the URL filter dropdown
- URL is
This is the default match type and is used to target a specific page on your site, ignoring any query strings and fragments that might get added, as well as ignoring the protocol, HTTPS, and the presence or not of 'www'. - URL is exactly
Displays data from users who visited a specific URL, including the protocol and any query strings and fragments. - URL contains
Displays data for all URLs which contain the entered text. This rule is case-sensitive. - URL starts with
Displays “Exact match” results for all URLs that begin with the entered text, including the protocol. - URL ends with
Displays “Exact match” results for all URLs that end with the entered text, including strings and fragments. - URL matches regex
Displays data for all URLs that match the provided regular expression.
Enter the URL and click View heatmap.
You can click on one of the Suggested pages that appear when you start typing in the URL search bar. After clicking View heatmap, your heatmap should appear in less than 90 seconds.
Why am I not seeing a heatmap for the URL that I enter?
Here are some checks you can make to help identify why a heatmap isn't available:
- From your Recordings page, see if you have any recordings for the URL you want to view. If you have no recordings, then there is no data for this URL. Having no data can happen when you've not had users visit the specific URL, or that page doesn't have the Hotjar Tracking Code installed. Our guide on How to verify the Tracking Code using browser developer tools can help you confirm the Tracking Code is installed on that page.
- Check the tablet and mobile Heatmap views, as users might not have accessed the URL on a desktop.
- If your URL filter is URL is exactly, make sure you enter the URL exactly as it appears in the browser after any redirects. The URL may include a trailing backslash and the protocol, such as HTTPS.
- Ensure your session capture settings are not targeting a specific page or Event that would exclude the URL you're using to generate your heatmap.
If the screenshot for your heatmap isn't showing as expected, try refreshing or taking a new screenshot
Heatmap screenshots are created from the latest Recording matching the date filter range you've applied. If the screenshot you're seeing isn't as expected, see our How to Update a Heatmap Screenshot article for the steps on refreshing or taking a new screenshot.
Apply any session filters to refine your heat data.
You can view recordings that match the URL and applied filters by clicking the View recordings button. You can also download a JPG of the heatmap or CSV of the raw click data.
Change the heatmap type or apply an overlay.
Use the filters in the side panel to change the Heatmap type or add an overlay for extra context. You can also change the device type by clicking on the icons in the bottom left corner of the screenshot.
Zoom out from the All clicks or Rage clicks map type to find broader opportunities or issues
To determine whether you're seeing an isolated issue or you've found a broader opportunity or problem, select a click or a rage-click indicator on a heatmap to zoom out and view a trend (requires Observe Scale) or group of recordings filtered by the specifically clicked CSS selector on the current page (requires Observe Business).
Click Save to store your heatmap with applied filters in the Saved heatmaps list to revisit later.
This feature requires Write-level permissions. Your applied filters will be saved with your heatmap, enabling you to revisit the same heatmap and compare it against other heatmaps.