What is a website heatmap?

Kinds of heatmap

• Click map — where people click or tap. Shows which links and buttons get attention, and clicks on things that are not links.
• Scroll map — what share of visitors reached each depth of the page. Shows where attention runs out.
• Rage clicks — several fast clicks in the same spot, a common sign that something looks clickable but is not, or is too slow to respond.
• Element click share — the same click data as a ranked list of elements, easier to compare than colours.

How to read one

Heatmaps answer "do people see it, and do they use it?" faster than any table:

• If only 30% of visitors scroll to your main call to action, move it up before rewriting it.
• Clicks on images or headings that are not links show what people expect to be clickable.
• Rage clicks on a button point to a broken handler or a slow response.

Always look at mobile and desktop separately. The layout differs, and a combined map blurs both.

Heatmaps in TapCub

TapCub heatmaps are built from autocapture data, so there is nothing extra to install once autocapture is on. Each page has tabs for clicks, rage clicks, scroll reach and elements, with a device filter for desktop, mobile and tablet. Pages are grouped by URL template (/product/:id), so all product pages share one map instead of thousands of thin ones.

The data holds positions and elements, not keystrokes: autocapture does not record input values or password fields, and element text is off by default.

Common mistakes

• Too little data. A map from 50 visits shows individuals, not patterns.
• Mixing devices. Combined desktop and mobile maps are misleading.
• Dynamic pages. Content that changes per visitor (carousels, personalised blocks) makes click positions hard to interpret; use element click share instead.

Related guides: How to Read a Heatmap and Form Analytics. See also rage click, session replay and create a heatmap.